August 2023

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Recent Events:

·        The 2nd Meeting of the SATRC Working Group on Policy, Regulation and Services

·        The 11th Meeting of the Working Group of MC on APT Legal Instruments (WGMC-11)

·        The 3rd Meeting of the Correspondence Group on the Strategic Plan of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity for 2024 – 2026 (CGSP-3)

Upcoming Events:

·        The 6th Meeting of the APT Conference Preparatory Group for WRC-23 (APG23-6) 

·        The 16th APT Policy and Regulation Forum for Pacific (PRFP-16)

·        The Meeting of the SATRC Working Group on Spectrum

·        APT Symposium on Inclusive Connectivity

·        The 24th Meeting of the South Asian Telecommunication Regulators' Council (SATRC-24)

·        The 20th APT Telecommunication/ICT Development Forum (ADF-20)

Recent Events

The 2nd Meeting of SATRC Working Group on Policy, Regulation and Services: 4-6 July 2023, Maafushi, Maldives 

APT organized the 2nd Meeting of the SATRC Working Group on Policy, Regulation and Services from 4 to 6 July 2023 in Maafushi, Maldives. The meeting was hosted by Communications Authority of Maldives (CAM), and attended by 38 delegates including the enlisted experts of this Working Group from 9 SATRC Members and 7 Affiliate Members of APT. 

This Meeting of SATRC Working Group on Policy, Regulation and Services is a part of the activities of SATRC Action Plan Phase VIII (SAP-VIII) which was adopted by the 22nd Meeting of SATRC (SATRC-22) held virtually in 2021. It was the 2nd Meeting of the Working Group under SATRC Action Plan Phase VIII. 

The Work Items of WG PRS under the SATRC Action Plan Phase VIII (2022-2023) are as follows: 

·        Work Item 1: Development of enabling policy and regulatory environments, in the context of   SATRC, to embrace the new ecosystem brought by 5G 

·        Work Item 2: Telecom active infrastructure sharing 

·        Work Item 3: Regulatory issues related to OTT services and applications 

·        Work Item 4: NGSO satellite constellations: Requirements, challenges and impact in South Asia 

The meeting discussed and adopted the draft Work Item reports assigned to the Working Group by the Council.

Click here for more details.

The 11th Meeting of the Working Group of MC on APT Legal Instruments (WGMC-11): 1 - 2 August 2023, Bangkok, Thailand

The 11th Meeting of the Working Group of Management Committee on APT Legal Instruments (WGMC-11) was held in hybrid format on 1-2 August 2023 at APT Headquarters, Bangkok, Thailand. The meeting was attended by 61 participants from APT Members and Secretariat.

As MC-46 adopted the Code of Conduct to be observed in all APT Work Programmes, WGMC-11 further discussed and developed guidelines for implementation including complaint handling mechanism for consideration by the MC-47.

WGMC-11 also developed a guideline to set out the procedure and criteria for selecting an external auditor to be in line with the revised Financial Regulation adopted at the last MC. In addition, WGMC-11 also proposed revision to Financial Regulations to conduct the selection of an external auditor in accordance with the guideline above.

Furthermore, WGMC-11 discussed issues for increasing the number of preparatory meetings and revising the Working Methods of APT Preparatory Groups which will be submitted to the next MC for further consideration.

Click here for more details. / Click here for Photo Gallery.

The 3rd Meeting of the Correspondence Group on the Strategic Plan of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity for 2024 – 2026 (CGSP-3)

3 - 4 August 2023, Bangkok, Thailand

APT organized the 3rd Meeting of the Correspondence Group for the Strategic Plan of the APT for 2024-2026 (CGSP-3) in hybrid format on 3-4 August 2023 at APT Headquarters, Bangkok, Thailand. The meeting was attended by 65 participants representing 22 APT Members and 1 Affiliate Member of APT. 34 delegates participated physically.

The CGSP-3 reviewed and deliberated further on inputs received from the members and continued the discussion on the draft Strategic Plan.

The meeting successfully adopted the draft Strategic Plan of APT for 2024-2026. Based on the Work Plan of CGSP, the meeting agreed to consult whole APT membership with the draft Strategic Plan for a period of one month starting from the end of August.

Click here for more details. / Click here for Photo Gallery.

Upcoming Events

The 6th Meeting of the APT Conference Preparatory Group
for WRC-23 (APG23-6)

14 - 19 August 2023, Brisbane, Australia (Hybrid)

The meeting will be hosted by the Australian Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (DITRDCA). The provisional objectives of APG23-6, as decided by APG23-5,

are as follows:

·        review the results of APG23-5

·        review the outcomes of CPM23-2 and 30th meeting of the RAG

·        finalise APT views on WRC-23 Agenda Items based on input contributions from APT Members

·        develop Preliminary APT Common Proposals for WRC-23 Agenda Items

·        review issues related to RA-23 activities and develop APT views, if any

·        develop Preliminary APT Common Proposals for RA-23, if any

·        review the activities of other regional organisations, in particular, their positions and common proposals with a view to fostering inter-regional cooperation

·        arrangement of coordination for RA-23 and WRC-23

The 16th APT Policy and Regulation Forum for Pacific (PRFP-16)

30 August - 1 September 2023, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

The forum will be hosted by the National Information and Communications Technology Authority (NICTA), Papua New Guinea, and supported by the generous contributions from Department of Infrastructure,
Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, Australia and
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan.

PRFP-16 will be preceded by the 4th Pacific ICT Ministerial Meeting (28-29 August 2023), which would adopt a Ministerial Declaration on the theme "Connected Pacific - Enabling Aspirations through ICT". Accordingly, synergizing these events, PRFP-16 will organise its sessions based on the priority areas agreed in the Ministerial Declaration to support the development of telecommunications and ICT policies in Pacific countries.

The sessions of the PRFP-16 will be organised on topics such as Digital Infrastructure, Digital Innovation, Security and Trust, Digital Capacity Building and Skills, and Disaster Management. PRFP-16 will have a Roundtable for Ministers and Head of Regulators to share their recent policy and regulation issues and experiences. In addition, it will also allocate time for a Business Dialogue to provide an opportunity for the ICT industry to share their insights and experiences and for ICT policymakers and regulators to discuss new challenges and opportunities for empowering the Digital Transformation.

APT Symposium on Inclusive Connectivity

11 - 12 September 2023, Bangkok, Thailand (Hybrid)

APT Symposium 2023 will be held with physical attendance as well as virtual/online participation through Zoom meeting platform (hybrid meeting). The Symposium will be hosted by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), Thailand.

The theme of this symposium is inclusion and connectivity, which are key pillars of the APT Strategic Plan
for 2021-2023. The objectives of this Symposium would be to discuss and

facilitate regional cooperation on the following issues:

·        Policy and regulatory implications and actions required with regard to emerging issues in the field of connectivity and innovation

·        General policy and regulatory requirements, as necessary:
- Analysis of impacts of new technology and service at the national and regional levels;
- Sharing of best practices and experiences in handling new policy issues among Members.

Additionally, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is also organizing the Regional Development Forum for Asia-Pacific (RDF-ASP) in close collaboration with APT. This event will follow the APT Symposium, running from 13 – 15 September 2023, in the same venue.

The Meeting of the SATRC Working Group on Spectrum

19 - 21 September 2023, Colombo, Sri Lanka (Hybrid)

The meeting will be hosted by Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL). The meeting is a part of the activities of SATRC Action Plan Phase VIII (SAP-VIII) which was adopted by the 22nd Meeting of SATRC (SATRC-22). This will be the second meeting of the Working Group under SAP-VIII and it is expected to discuss and finalize the draft reports of the Work Items assigned to
the Working Group by the Council.

The 24th Meeting of the South Asian Telecommunication
Regulators' Council (SATRC-24)

3 - 5 October 2023, Dhaka, Bangladesh (Hybrid)

The SATRC-24 will be held with physical attendance as well as virtual/online participation through Zoom meeting platform (hybrid meeting). The meeting will be hosted by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).

The SATRC-24 will discuss the key policy and regulatory issues in the SATRC countries, approve the outcomes of SATRC Action Plan Phase VIII and adopt SATRC Action Plan Phase IX. SATRC-24 will include special sessions for Regulators’ Roundtable, Industry-Regulator Dialogue, Sharing Regulatory Experiences and Industry Sessions to facilitate the development of the telecom/ICT sector in South-Asia.

The 20th APT Telecommunication/ICT Development Forum (ADF-20)

9 - 10 October 2023, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Hybrid)

The ADF-20 will be hosted by the Ministry of Communications and Digital Malaysia (MCD), and
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

There will be also the Capacity Development Conference 2023 (CDC23) on 11 October 2023, organized by MCMC and APT, and the ADF-20 participants are kindly invited to join the CDC23.

The ADF-20 will consist of the following:

1.     Thematic Sessions: Information and Communication Technologies that are currently being used to close the digital gap in the Asia-Pacific region, various strategies and policies to accelerate the digital economy and artificial intelligence technology

2.     Sessions for EBCs: A platform to share the current status, outcomes, and achievements of the ICT Pilot Projects implemented by APT Members based on the Extra-Budgetary Contributions (EBCs) from People’s Republic of China, Japan, and Republic of Korea. The ADF-20 includes a poster-style exhibition presenting the contents of these projects.

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