CTO to mobilise Commonwealth ICT ministers

An intensive week of bilateral and multilateral activities at London headquarters has secured the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) a leading role in the final build-up for the next World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

Anthony De Bono, chairman of the CTO, told The Sunday Times that last week's meeting, which dealt with the Commonwealth Action Programme for Digital Divide (CAPDD), conducted by the Commonwealth Secretariat at Marlborough House, was attended by the Commonwealth Business Council, Comnet-IT, Commonwealth of Learning, and representatives of the Malta Government, in addition to the CTO.

CAPDD was established by the CHOGM in March 2002 to promote wider use of information telecommunications technologies in Commonwealth countries to bridge the digital divide between and within countries and to harness effectively the revolutionary potential of ICTs to strengthen democratic values and institutions as well as to promote sustainable development and poverty reduction.

After a series of meetings in London, the Commonwealth agencies decided to prepare a strategy document for the attention of the next World Summit on the Information Society debates and for consideration and potential adoption by CHOGM, in Malta, in November to execute the Commonwealth Action Plan for Digital Divide.

More importantly, it was decided that the proposed strategy document, which will be fine tuned next June in London by a high level group of experts, will be submitted to an ad hoc meeting of ICT Ministers, whom the CTO have been tasked to invite at the CTO Council in the Cameroon, thereby consolidating an elevated support for the document and an excellent opportunity for the CTO to stake a position firmly in the global ICT map.

The ICT Ministers will have the opportunity to debate broad World Summit on the Information Summit and ICT for Development issues, especially as these apply in the five principal regions of the Commonwealth: Europe/Mediterranean, Asia, the Pacific, the Caribbean and Africa.

This development was further elaborated at a meeting which Mr De Bono held at the Embassy of Ghana in London, with Dr Nana Akufo-Addo, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ghana, who will be supporting the CTO in its initiatives.

Ghana has just hosted the African Regional Preparatory Conference for the World Summit on the Information Society and has taken a principal role in the African region by developing an accelerated Development Policy to serve as a roadmap for their country's information society and economy as a whole.

During his visit to London Mr De Bono, who was the key speaker at the opening ceremony of the Digital Broadcasting Switchover Forum 2005 organised by the CTO, OFCOM (the UK telecommunications regulator) and the BBC, called for greater understanding of the policy, regulatory and operational dimensions of digital broadcasting.

In addressing more than 60 experts representing 30 countries from Africa, Europe and the Americas, Mr De Bono emphasised the importance of enhancing an overarching international understanding, which should focus on national aspirations. Considering that the development of the sector depended on achieving the optimum path of switchover to take account of the realities of affected on the ground in the countries and most importantly the affected communities.

The technological convergence and competition for the scarce resource of radio frequencies were among the reasons why digitalisation had become important. Much more so when digitalisation would make possible increased consumer choices in programming that could enable especially developing countries to reach many of their Millennium Development Goals as well as various targets set in the Action Plan of the World Summit on the Information Society.

The fast development of Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting in the UK, which is surpassing all expectations was given prominence at the Forum.

During the course of the week, besides chairing the meeting of the CTO's Executive Council and the Interviewing Board for the recruitment of a director of Programmes and Development, Mr De Bono signed an agreement with the International Telecommunications Users Group (INTUG) to collaborate on a number of critical issues as part of the organisation's aim to develop multi-stakeholder partnerships that will extend their efforts in the development of telecommunications and ICTs.

Following the signing of the agreement Sergio Antocicco, chairman of INTUG, gave an encouraging outlook of the future collaboration with the CTO and he was convinced that with this partnership INTUG's objectives will be even closer to being achieved, especially with regard to consumer broadband and Internet access in developing countries.

Mr De Bono said the agreement was a critical milestone to benefit current as well as future telecommunications users worldwide.

A memorandum of understanding between BesTelcom and the CTO was also finalised in the same interlude when BestTelcom met Mr De Bono and the CTO's CEO Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah. BestTelcom is a joint venture between ZTE Corporation of China and Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CYTA).

ZTE provides, among other opportunities, vendor financing and equity participation ventures that could benefit from their extensive products. Mr De Bono stated that ZTE is already a leading company in the rapidly emerging Chinese telecommunications scenario and its association with the CTO presented a major breakthrough for his organisation and its 53 member countries.

The development of the SeaGateway project, another business venture being pursued by the CTO, featured prominently in the discussions that Mr De Bono held with the chief executive and the chief technical officer of the project at CTO headquarters.

The CTO is a partner of this major maritime ICT application product and service, aimed at using new technologies to improve security, monitoring and operational efficiencies of sea-going vessels and holds the chairmanship.

The SeaGateway project is targeting a potential market of 30,000 large vessels - tankers, container ships, bulk-carriers, large fishing vessels and more than 20,000 business users.

Unlike any existing ship monitoring system, the CTO product will deliver business information and services in one single and integrated platform to optimise visibility and control, both for the maritime industry itself (ship owners, charterers, ports, coastline authorities, auxiliary service providers, country flags, protection and indemnity, insurances and regulatory authorities) as well as for supporting organisations, such as Inmarsat, Lloyd's, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the International Maritime Satellite Organisation (IMSO) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The SeaGateway Project is believed to be superior to any existing ship monitoring and management system.

During his stay in London, Mr De Bono, accompanied by Dr Spio-Garbrah, took the opportunity to pay a courtesy call on the Malta High Commission and meet the new High Commissioner, Dr Michael Refalo, who was very pleased to welcome the CTO chairman and CEO (Dr Spio-Garbrah is a former Minister of Communications and Minister of Education of Ghana and Ghana's Ambassador for three years in the United States).

This was the first official delegation to visit Dr Refalo at the Malta High Commission since he took office in London. Dr Refalo was briefed on the initiatives of the CTO and will be exerting all his efforts to further enhance the relations between Malta and the CTO.

On its part the CTO will work in close liaison with the Malta High Commission, notably in the final run-up of the CHOGM. It was agreed that regular meetings will be held with these objectives in mind.