Welcome Address by Marcel Belingue, Senior Manager, Programmes, CTO

The Honourable Minister Tissa Vitharana
The Director of the Telecommunication Standardisation Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union, Mr Malcolm Johnson
The Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka, Mr Priyantha Kariyapperuma
The Chief Operating Officer of Telekom Malaysia International & Dialog, Mr Hans Wijeysuriya
Distinguished Delegates, Guests and Participants
Ladies & Gentlemen


On behalf of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, it is a true honour to welcome you at this special event on Next Generation Networks Standardisation organised in association with the International Telecommunication Union and hosted by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka.

I would like to start by saying a few words about the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation. The organisation is an international development partnership between Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth countries, businesses and civil society. The organisation is focused on promoting the use of information and communication technologies to help bridge the digital divide and achieve social and economic development through a range of knowledge-sharing and capacity-building programmes for governments, regulatory agencies and industry.

With the rapid convergence of information and communication technologies, in terms of policy, regulation and technology, and in particular the move towards IP-based Next Generation Networks, the need for globally accepted and enforced standards has become more paramount. As you know and also expect, Next Generation Networks will provide easy access to communication networks and allow end-users to choose among several competing service providers offering similar or alternative applications and services over the same infrastructure.

As such, Next Generation Networks are expected to make it easier and cheaper for consumers to gain access to content and services such as video, gaming, or the Internet, as well as routine voice and data services all on the same platform. In this mobile era, Next Generation Networks are also expected to support generalised mobility, which will allow consistent provision of services to end-users.

For all these consumer-related reasons, most operators around the world have been moving towards Next Generation Networks in the last few years, and those in some developing countries that feel left behind are taking the necessary steps to migrate their legacy equipment to a Next Generation Network infrastructure. These are some of the reasons why standardisation is so important.

With internationally agreed standards for Next Generation Networks, equipment manufacturers could benefit from savings due to economies of scale from mass production; operators will be better able to integrate their networks, resulting in savings in operational costs, as well as savings in time to roll out new services. Next Generation Networks should also make it easier for operators to offer new services, such as IP-based telephony and IPTV. Such cost-savings will lead to greater competition among operators, and allow the more rapid convergence of fixed and mobile telephony. Ultimately, these networks will enable consumers to become more active creators of content, especially through such social networking sites as My Space, Facebook, Second Life, YouTube, and so forth.

Migrating to Next Generation Networks therefore involves reaching out to the widest possible range of equipment manufacturers, and encouraging them to agree on common standards. Clearly, this process will take time and will require a lot of good will from all stakeholders. This is why we at the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation consider this Forum such an important landmark event that can help to propel the ICT world to new heights of scientific and technological collaboration.

With participants from over 25 countries present here today, the CTO is hopeful that this Forum will address all key aspects of migration to Next Generation Networks, including the issue of what to do with the many legacy network elements which are at the end of their lives but which must be disposed of sustainably.

We wish you all a memorable and rewarding experience and we thank all institutions that have played various roles to organise the event. We also thank the leadership and the staff of the host organisation, the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka, who directly or indirectly, contributed to the preparations for this event, and who as I speak continue to provide their invaluable support within and beyond the walls of this magnificent room.

Thank you!