Srpski / Arhiva brojeva / TREĆI BROJ / Regionalni seminar i ministarski okrugli sto o prelasku sa analognog na digitalno emitovanje televizijskog programa, Welcome Address by dr Hamadoun I. Touré,ITU Secretary-General
On behalf of the ITU I am pleased to be here today and it is a real pleasure for me to welcome you to this important event for ICT development across Central and Eastern Europe.
I have just returned from Portugal where ITU held its 4th World Telecommunication Policy Forum last week. The World Telecommunication Forum brought together representatives from 124 Member States to focus on the future policy direction for the industry, which will guide the future regulatory and standardization efforts worldwide. This is highly relevant to our meeting here today in Belgrade, as the ICT industry is not just a rapidly evolving sector in its own right – it is also the engine driving the rapid evolution of other sectors. As it does so, it creates exciting new products, new services and new paradigms for information access and content distribution.
Not surprisingly, it is also creating major new regulatory challenges for governments and businesses and business challenges for private sector.
Around the world we are now witnessing a steady transition from analogue international broadcasting to new digital platforms. I am really fortunate to see many specialists on the transition here.
Around the world we are witnessing this transition. Europe is already well advanced along this path, several EU Member States having made the definitive switchover to digital and the remainder set to do so by the European Commission target date, by 2012.
The advantages are manifold. Digital broadcasting allows more channels to be carried across fewer airwaves than the analogue. This digital dividend will help create new distribution networks, drive technical conversions and expand the potential for wireless innovation and services. The flexibility offered by digital terrestrial broadcasting supports the mobile reception of video, Internet and multimedia data, making application services and information accessible and usable anywhere, at any time. It also opens the door for new innovations such as handheld TV broadcast and HDTV, while at the same time opening greater bandwidth to existing services, both in fixed and radio navigation services.
The landmark decision reached at the RCC06 embodied in the G06 Regional Agreement and backed by the subsequent work of WRC07 will create a level playing field that will serve as a new basis for competition. These decisions, which were developed cooperatively by the 104 nations attending the RCC06, support the ongoing systematic development of digital broadcasting. They also incorporate the flexibility that will ensure that future plans can be adopted quickly in response to the fast-changing ICT environment. Equally importantly, they will allow us to fully capitalize on the potential of ICTs to help achieve internationally recognized development targets by the Millennium Development Goals.
But, with the many benefits, come some problems. We know that, as the EU Member States progressively introduce digital technology, serious issues of interference with analogue services in neighbouring countries can emerge. This is particularly true in border zones, where digital signals from one country can compromise the integrity and quality of analogue services in another. We also know that, while countries in Euro zone are enthusiastically moving to take potentials of digital broadcasting, they are also facing constrains of legacy technologies and regulatory red tapes, which can hinder the transition to this new platform.
In convening this important event, the ITU seeks to promote a stronger and more proactive and collaborative approach to resolving the challenges ahead.
As we enter a new broadcasting age, we must establish new best practices, principles and actively foster regional and global harmonization of technical, regulatory and economic issues. We also need to identify the key enablers to transition from analogue to digital, so that we can assist governments and regulators as they prepare for switchover and help industry build a strong business case for the move, in the face of depressed markets hit hard by the global economic crisis.
I would like to state firmly this morning, that the ITU is committed to expanding its focus well beyond Brussels, to actively address the needs of the ITU Member States outside Euro zone, and especially when these members are impacted with the ITU development.
I trust that this week’s meeting therefore marks the beginning of a new, closer collaborative process with all countries in the region.
In the coming months and years, ITU will strive to leverage the success and experience of those who have already made the switchover, to actively develop technical and regulatory best practice benchmarks and to bring our own expertise to be able to assist our members in areas such as spectrum planning and quality of service.
Since we all share the same goals, the same concerns and the same desire for success, I have no doubt that together we will be able to move ahead much faster than if we worked alone.
ITU looks forward to working in partnership with you, as together we usher in a brand new digital age which will, no doubt, bring new benefits and new prosperity to the entire region.
In closing, I would like to draw your attention to the World Telecommunications and Information Society Day, May 17. The theme this year, which forms part of the year-long campaign in conjunction with the Interpol and other organizations, is Protecting Children Online.
I would like to bring this issue specially to your attention. We need to work together, to ensure that we protect our future, future of our children, and I would like to say a special word of thanks to Serbia, our host here, for this meeting and also for being one of the first countries to launch a national program in line with the ITU’s Child Online Protection. I know that this initiative here in Serbia is moving fast and we hope that we will share the experience that you will have had before other countries in the world, not only in Europe, but in the world. It is important that, when dealing with this issue, we don’t waste time reinventing the wheel, but share the best practices and best experiences, so that we move forward. Because, as we are talking, the criminals are working online, against our children and our future, our businesses and our governments. We need to do something about it in a very organized manner. When we were launching the Child Online Protection, it was with the aim of protecting the cyber space in general that we said: Let’s start with the most vulnerable, and the most likely to be attacked - this is our children. And, I am very pleased to see the enthusiasm that has been expressed worldwide for protecting children online and for our cyber security in general.