On the recommendation of the European Postal and Telecommunications Administrations, Anthony De Bono, who is currently chairman of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, has been elected to serve as vice-chairman representing Europe, at the World Telecommunications Standardisation Assembly (WTSA).
The first WTSA is, at present, being held in Florianopolis on the island of Santa Catarina, Brazil. The WTSA is held every four years by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a specialised agency of the United Nations to fulfil its mandate to co-ordinate the development of global standards for telecommunications networks and services.
The ITU is charged with co-ordinating the development of the systems and technologies, which constitute the global information infrastructure. Areas under study include Broadband and ISDN, Internet Protocol-based networks and ground-breaking technologies related to multi-media systems.
World telecommunications standardisation assemblies determine the priorities, urgency and timeframe for completion of work relating to the preparation of standards that ultimately underpin national economies.
During the assembly a thorough revision of working methods is undertaken to devise efficient processes and to develop procedures for co-operation with external organisations.
At the inauguration ceremony the Governor of Florianopolis, Henrique da Silveira, and Mayor Angela Heinzen Amin Helou expressed their pride at hosting the biggest event in the telecommunications sector ever held in Brazil and that Florianopolis was chosen as the venue, where the potential impact of the rapidly evolving telecommunications environment is being evaluated.
On his part Mr Yoshio Utsumi, ITU secretary general, stressed that today's telecommunications marketplace is no longer just about human voice but it is predominantly focusing on "video images, data transfer and multi-media interaction between people and even between machines and chips" and that "we are just beginning to understand the potential impact this will have on our society and economy".
Hence the importance of the ITU's role to develop global agreements among all of its stakeholders which include governments, operators, manufacturers and users for concept of new services, which have the potential to form a basic global infrastructure.
The secretary general highlighted the fact that the ITU was instrumental in having set the foundation for the development of 3G technologies and networks, and more importantly that the ITU was the only intergovernmental organisation in the world that can bring governments and industry together to develop a common agreement on what new communications services are needed.
The United States, China, Russia and Syria are vice-chairing, alongside Malta, on behalf of the other regions of the globe.
Mr De Bono, in a comment to the press, expressed his profound satisfaction for Malta and for him personally to have been chosen to work closely with such world leaders in the sector to develop a vision for the communications services that will serve humanity's needs.
Before the world assembly cyber security experts met in Florianopolis and called on the ITU to intensify work on standards for securing information communication technologies (ICT).
The meeting, which was attended by private sector and government representatives, concluded that standardisation should form a vital part of the global cyber security effort. Attendees also agreed that multilateral international co-operation to increase awareness and information sharing among stakeholders is equally important.
A number of best practices for manufacturers and operators were also highlighted, as well as the need to consider cyber security in all its dimensions - technical, policy and regulatory.
On addressing the need for securing mobile phones, one speaker advised that it was unwise to assume that the lack of virus attacks on today's mobile networks so far means that they are less susceptible. With mobile phones increasingly replicating the functionality of PCs, he stressed that mobile networks were ever more susceptible to malicious attacks.
A successful attack on mobile networks has the potential to be very damaging, given that mobile subscribers worldwide by far outnumber PC users. In fact, ITU records show that there are 593 million PCs worldwide, or 9.97 per 100 inhabitants, compared with 1.34 billion mobile phones, or 21.91 per 100 inhabitants.
The recent strategies by operators to migrate to the Internet Protocol infrastructure (like Voice over the IP) would therefore lead to greater challenges in addressing cybersecurity. Most essential is the need to build in security at the development stage, rather than "bolt on" after problems arise.
The one-day event examined cyber security threats, experiences with and responses to cyber security threats, standards, policy, regulatory and legal aspects. Lessons learned and what kinds of good practices, approaches and initiatives might further secure cyberspace were topics appraised during a lively round-table debate at the end of the symposium.
The ITU's deputy secretary general, Roberto Blois, concluded that the increased use of ICTs has been matched by increased security vulnerability. The growth in these technologies is not likely to peak for a number of years.
It was his conviction that it was possible to support an increasingly diverse and open communication infrastructure safely and without compromising the data exchanged on it. He underlined the fact that part of the answer lies in developing sufficiently robust specifications that security threats to any area of the communications infrastructure can be countered.