May 20, 2002, Vol. 13, No. 3 ISSN 1346-5317

The ITU Council 2002 was held from April 22 through May 3, 2002 in Geneva, Switzerland. About three hundred persons, including those from 46 Member States of the ITU Council and observers, participated in the meeting. Rep. KATAYAMA Toranosuke, Minister of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications; Mr. TAKAHARA Kouzou, Director-General of Telecommunications Bureau; and, Mr. UCHIDA Koichi, Director-General of International Affairs Department, etc. represented Japan at this Council.

Financial and staff matters as well as the strategic plan and the ITU Reform, among other items, were discussed at this Council, in preparation for the Plenipotentiary Conference.
In the second week, Minister KATAYAMA delivered a speech on the importance of IT in terms of socioeconomic activities, the need to bridge the digital divide, preparations toward the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and Japan's contribution to ITU activities toward the Plenipotentiary Conference.
Furthermore, Minister KATAYAMA had a meeting with Mr. UTSUMI Yoshio, Secretary-General of ITU, and expressed Japan's financial contributions to ITU's activities for WSIS.

Outline of the Minister's speech

[Current status, etc. in the IT field in Japan]
IT is an important social infrastructure for the world economy including Japan. Considering the strategic importance of IT, the Japanese government as a whole has developed the "e-Japan Strategy" and has been making comprehensive efforts to implement plans based on the Strategy.
Moreover, since international harmonization and cooperation in the IT field are indispensable for IT's development, both the public and private sectors in Japan have been working hard with ITU activities.

[Efforts to bridge the digital divide]
The importance of bridging the digital divide was recognized at the G8 Kyushu-Okinawa Summit meeting and at the APT Asia-Pacific Summit on the Information Society.
The Istanbul Declaration and the Istanbul Action Plan adopted at the World Telecommunication Development Conference 2002 held in Istanbul in March 2002 presented a basic programs and initiatives to bridge the digital divide. It is hoped that ITU will make efforts to narrow the global digital divide based on these programs and initiatives.

[WSIS]
Toward construction of an information society of the future, it is hoped that not only governments and international organizations but also private enterprises and NGOs that play a significant role in the information society will take up active roles in WSIS. As a result of this participation, it is hoped that WSIS will lead to the establishment of a collaborative system that deals with issues derived from the information society, through cooperation between ITU and other organizations.

[Plenipotentiary Conference]
The Plenipotentiary Conference will be held in Marrakech, Morocco from September through October in 2002. In order to contribute to the development of a global information society, it is necessary for ITU to become an organization capable of making adequate and prompt decisions. At the Plenipotentiary Conference, Japan will make every effort in enabling ITU to present a future direction in order to appropriately meet the changing needs.
 

	Minister KATAYAMA (left) had a meeting with Mr. UTSUMI Yoshio, Secretary-General of ITU (right). (C) ITU/A. de Ferron
Minister KATAYAMA Toranosuke at ITU Council 2002 (C) ITU/A. de Ferron

 
 
 

Participants:

Japan:	Mr. UCHIDA Koichi, Director-General of International Affairs Department, Telecommunications Bureau, and others, MPHPT
Germany:	Mr. Horst EHRNSPERGER, Director-General of Directorate-General VII (Telecommunications and Posts), Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWI)

[Results of the meeting]
1. Telecommunications policy and regulation
Both sides agreed on exchanging information on further improvement plans for competition policies in each country and also agreed on maintaining cooperation in order to further promote competition in the telecommunications field.

2. IT Policy
Both sides agreed on maintaining close cooperation in order to realize an IT Society by such activities as establishing broadband network and realizing e-government listed in IT strategies of both countries.

3. New developments in the field of mobile communications
Both sides agreed on exchanging information on study and standardization of the fourth-generation mobile communications system in cooperation with private sectors.

4. International organizations
Both sides agreed on the following issues:
- Active contribution to the ITU Reform
- Proceeding further exchange of opinion on each agenda of WRC
- Maintaining closer relationship and support toward success of World Summit on the Information Society

5. Current Developments of Postal Policy
Both sides exchanged information on the postal service field.
 

MPHPT and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) have been holding the "CRYPTREC (Note 1) Advisory Committee" (Chair: Prof. IMAI Hideki, the University of Tokyo) since May 2001 in order to promote information security measures, by the widespread use of secure cryptographic techniques.

This committee has been working on expert evaluations of cryptographic techniques in cooperation with Telecommunications Advancement Organization of Japan (TAO) and Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan (IPA) in order to contribute to the establishment of the "List of the Recommended Cryptographic Techniques for e-Government."

This committee's major activities in FY2001were as follows:
1. Study on the "List of the Recommended Cryptographic Techniques for e-Government":
- To determine candidates for the Recommended Cryptographic Techniques for e-Government; and
- To conduct research on technical requirements of cryptographic techniques.
2. Specific Evaluation on Signature Schemes Listed for the Japanese Electronic Signature Law (Note 2):
- To conduct security evaluations on Signature Schemes concerning e-signature methods which meet standards pertaining to designated certification service as stipulated under Article 3 of the e-Signature Guideline (Note 3).
This committee continues to conduct evaluations, etc. on cryptographic techniques in FY2002, and will prepare the "List of the Recommended Cryptographic Techniques for e-Government" during FY2002.

Notes: 
1: CRYPTREC: Cryptography Research and Evaluation Committees
2: Law Concerning Electronic Signatures and Certification Services
3: Guideline on Accreditation of Designated Certification Services based on the Law Concerning Electronic Signatures and Certification Services
 
 

On May 7, 2002, MPHPT received a report from the Telecommunications Council (Chair: Mr. AKIYAMA Yoshihisa, Chairman of Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc.) concerning "Technical Conditions for 5GHz Band Wireless Access System" (Inquiry No. 2004).  The report addresses "technical conditions" and "conditions for frequency sharing with the existing systems for the wireless access system to be realized."
 In addition, based upon this report, on May 15, MPHPT consulted the Radio Regulatory Council  concerning draft amendments of relevant ministerial ordinances and the Frequency Assignment Plan that are needed to introduce this wireless access system.

The outline of the report is as follows:
[Background]
With regard to wireless access systems, in addition to wireless access systems that have been introduced using 2.4 GHz band, quasi-millimeter wave and millimeter wave bands (22/26/38GHz), a legal framework for 5.2 GHz band wireless LAN system for indoor use was established.  This time, in response to strong demands for an outdoor-use 5 GHz band wireless access system, the Telecommunications Council compiled the report on necessary technical conditions for introducing the wireless access system, which enables access to the high-speed Internet, and frequency sharing with existing systems, using a portion of 5 GHz band (4900-5000 MHz and 5030-5091 MHz).

Fig. 5 GHz band wireless access system in use 

Major technical conditions for 5-GHz band wireless access system

Frequency band	4900-5000 MHz, 5030-5091 MHz (see "Others")
Major applications	Internet access at hot spots (NWA service) - Systems capable of communications at a maximum distance of 300 m in outdoor public space Internet access at home, such as in dwellings, condominiums, etc. (FWA service) - Systems capable of communications at a maximum distance of 3 km at home
Channel allocation	- 20 MHz per channel, 7 channels in total (4900-5000MHz: 4 channels, 5030-5091 MHz: 3 channels) - Allowing narrow-band channels (10 MHz/5 MHz per channel) in a portion of the band.
Modulation method	- OFDM, Direct spread spectrum methods - amplitude modulation, phase modulation, frequency modulation, pulse modulation, or hybrid systems of these modulation methods
Antenna power	250 mW or less
Transmission speed	20 Mbps or more (10Mbps / 5Mbps or more, in case of narrow-band channels (10 MHz/5 MHz), etc.
Communications mode	Subscriber stations are allowed to communicate only with base stations, and frequencies are selected by control of base stations.
Coexistence measures for operators	Frequency sharing by carrier sense
Conditions for frequency sharing with other systems	Criteria for frequency sharing with the existing fixed microwave communications system was developed, including - Propagation loss from the wireless access stations to the fixed microwave communications station, and - Spurious emission level of the wireless access station (in cases where the wireless access system uses the frequency band adjacent to the fixed microwave communications system).
Others	-  4900-5000MHz shared with fixed microwave communications systems until 2007  -  5030-5091MHz temporarily available until 2007  -  Licensing framework:   Base station: requiring license  Subscriber station: requiring/exempted from requiring license

For details refer to the Japanese website:
http://www.soumu.go.jp/s-news/2002/020507_1.html
http://www.soumu.go.jp/s-news/2002/020515_4.html
 

On April 26, 2002, Mr. Klaus SCHWAB, chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), paid a courtesy call on MPHPT Minister KATAYAMA Toranosuke.
Changes in lifestyles, ways of thinking, etc. triggered by progress of the IT revolution came up during this talk. Minister KATAYAMA pointed out the importance of e-Learning, e-Government and e-Commerce. The Chairman invited the Minister to the next World Economic Forum in Davos, since IT will be a key agenda at the annual WEF meeting (Davos conference).