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Cyber resilience in an era of uncertainty

Over the past year, we’ve seen businesses tap into resiliency to meet customer needs, take their workforce virtual and transform their operations because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, as the Delta variant sweeps across the globe, it will be this resiliency that organizations can use to overcome emerging challenges – particularly in cybersecurity.

Today, cyber espionage groups and cybercriminals are conducting malicious cyber activity while businesses and government organizations are impacted by the global crisis— leading to a lack of resources, disorganization and lower attention to cybersecurity management. If it were measured as a country, cyber crime would be predicted to inflict damages totalling $6 trillion USD globally in 2021 alone, making it the world’s third-largest economy after the U.S. and China.

Despite this resiliency and increased cybersecurity investment during 2020, nearly 80% of senior IT and security leaders feel they do not have sufficient protection from cyberattacks, according to IDG Research Services. Only 57% of these organizations reported conducting a data risk assessment in 2020. This is particularly concerning as cyber criminals are leveraging new methods to target vulnerabilities and attack vectors including zero-day exploits that may take months to detect and often leave huge windows of exposure.

The lack of risk assessment may be due to limited financial or staff resources, but it may also suggest security leaders fear what they don’t know when it comes to their data and security landscape. This unknown leads to uncertainty and a lack of ability to make strategic and weighted decisions. Intelligence as a domain has been created for decision-making, and if it doesn’t let us make decisions, it is an obvious waste of time and resources. Leveraging actionable intelligence, leaders have the data to answer “when”, “who”, “why” and “how” questions to improve security controls and make a pivot to a more optimized strategy to defend their infrastructure.

This leaves an immense opportunity for security leaders to build their cyber resiliency by using actionable cyber threat intelligence. To quickly adapt, organizations must first understand where their risk landscape is today, have the ability to monitor and identify incidents rapidly, and finally, have a plan in place to respond when incidents do happen. While seemingly basic, the research tells us the need still exists for this type of cyber resilient strategy. These attributes will allow security leaders to build a long-term security strategy that will boost their ‘pandemic immunity’ in the future.

Understanding and Managing Your Risk Landscape

Given the increase of remote work, cloud adoption and use of third-party vendors, security leaders have more risk than ever to identify. This is where conducting a data risk assessment is critical. While limited resources may be a barrier to these assessments, risk detection and management platforms are one solution for organizations to quickly identify risks within their security ecosystem and threats that lie outside of it. Identifying risks like network, identity, technology and geographical risks provide a look from the inside out for teams to build a security strategy around.

Increasing Visibility into Your Organization

To successfully monitor and respond to threats in today’s hybrid world, it is essential organizations go beyond just protecting endpoints. Taking an Extended Detection and Response (XDR) approach, security teams can have a holistic view and control across endpoints, networks, servers, applications and the cloud.  Combined with a strong understanding of the risk landscape, security teams can successfully monitor and manage security risks and incidents.

Using Actionable, Big Data to Your Advantage

While organizations conduct many of these steps, they use the massive amounts of data that comes with it to their security team’s advantage. Today, the industry requires solutions to analyze the data and produce actionable cyber threat insights that allow security teams to do more with less by categorizing attacks into low, medium, and high categories. The hunt for data has already started and will be a never-ending challenge– both for defenders and attackers.

Streamlining Solutions

A priority for many business leaders is consolidating tools and solutions to not only simplify and save costs but reduce some of the risks that come with third-party vendors. It is critical to decrease fragmentation and exclude overlapping solutions. By tapping into full-service platforms that do more with the data teams are already collecting, security teams can streamline efforts and contextualize findings to be more effective in today’s world.

Ecosystem Protection

It is important to treat your enterprise as a dynamic ecosystem. It is not limited just to endpoints but consists of a constantly growing volume of data and the complexity of modern telecommunication technologies. Furthermore, these technologies leverage hybrid clouds, micro-services, containers, virtualized environments and principally new technologies and standards, including 5G, to deliver information in the electromagnetic spectrum.

Cyber Sovereignty and Supply Chain

Countries and business leaders should develop their own cyber capabilities to get rid of “dependency” that often leads to significant risks. Partially, the root cause of this issue is in education (“brains potential”) leading to domination of a certain technology or a product. This aspect may lead to significant supply chain security risks— organizationally, financially and technologically. Adding more transparency into the actual risk associated with the supply chain will be one of the most important questions to resolve for the industry.

These elements will be essential for security leaders to develop cyber resilient strategies that can adapt and evolve over time. While security strategies will never be immune to cyberattacks, we can certainly help prevent them with strong cyber hygiene, solutions and practices in place.

The mission of modern security leaders should be focused on protecting what matters and delivering good to our society both on and offline in order to decrease tensions in cyberspace. By establishing collaboration between the key stakeholders across the globe in various sectors, we will be able to achieve stability in the economy, trade and technology progress and help deliver cyber peace.

Follow the debate on cybersecurity at the ITU Digital World 2021 session on Securing cyberspace and protecting privacy: meeting the challenges of a digital world on 30 November 2021

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Mobile broadband and digital inclusion: Telecom in the 2000s

The new millennium opened with high optimism over the industry’s resilience – and relentless progress — after the non-disruption of Y2K and the burst of the dotcom stock bubble. Renewed expansion focused on emerging markets, cutting-edge mobile technologies, and new services and applications beyond network infrastructure.

“You do not have to create new demand in the world,” said Yoshio Utsumi, then-Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), at the organization’s flagship Telecom conference in 2003. “It is there waiting for you in the developing world.”

The world by then had nearly 2.5 billion fixed telephone lines – a billion more than four years earlier. More than two-thirds of these were installed in developing countries, with Africa in 2001 becoming the first major region where mobile use outstripped fixed lines.

Mobile phone subscriptions reached the one-billion mark worldwide by 2003 – a figure rising to 4.6 billion by the end of 2009. Internet use exploded in parallel, from 680 million users in 2003 to 1.8 billion, half of them with broadband access, by end-2009.

Broadband and Wi-Fi were the rising stars as the industry sought to overcome high spectrum prices, overcapacity, and price-slashing amid fierce competition.

Satellite services complemented optical fibre and broadband as voice, data and video continued to converge. Wireless local area networks and prepaid services offered possibilities to close the digital divide in rural, remote and low-income areas.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs), observed microfinance pioneer and Grameen Bank founder Mohamed Yunus at Telecom 06, could “offer an opportunity unprecedented in all of human history to end poverty” – but only if women and marginalized communities were enabled to tap into the benefits of market forces.

Services soar

New services spurred growth as technologies reached into practically all aspects of everyday life. Third-generation (3G) networks, mobile devices with built-in digital and video cameras, and innovative Internet apps heralded the era of consumer services. With it came industry calls for lighter-touch regulation to let innovation flourish; along with increased industry collaboration to harmonize standards and boost access through globally interoperable services.

Financial services came to be combined with mobile devices – a key breakthrough for inclusive finance in emerging economies.

Front-runner Kenya’s M-PESA mobile banking services, launched in 2007 by national telco Safaricom with global giant Vodaphone, attracted 7 million customers in its first two years, transforming lives in rural communities.

The growth of mobile broadband services put the spotlight on cybercrime – identified by Telecom delegates as a threat needing global solutions in the borderless world of international data flow.

Tech for good – and for all

High-profile speakers at Telecom 03 envisaged an information society founded on inclusion, non-discrimination, and gender equality, where technological progress would enhance individual well-being.

“The vast potential for this industry to bring about social and economic progress is within our reach,” enthused Carly Fiorina, chief executive at Hewlett Packard (HP) at the time.

But efforts were needed to spread the benefits to everyone.

Switzerland’s President Pascal Couchepin called the digital divide “a blemish on this new millennium”, adding: “Access to information for everyone is at the very heart of development.”

Reaching out to Asia

ITU Telecom World 2006 headed to Hong Kong – the first time the global event took place outside Geneva, ITU’s headquarters city in Switzerland. The change of venue paralleled the industry’s shifting geographic focus, with China by then becoming the world’s largest market for fixed and mobile telephony.

Telecom 06 stressed the importance of education – including digital literacy – to eliminate poverty and bring opportunity to all. Cisco increased the funds to for its Training Centre Initiative for Developing Countries, first launched with ITU in 2002 and active in 56 nations worldwide.

Nicholas Negroponte, Chairman of the One Laptop per Child association and a partner in ITU’s Connect the World initiative, urged the public and private sectors to work together to put low-cost laptops into the hands of children in developing economies.

 

A girl holding a low-cost laptop at ITU Telecom World 2006

Telecom 06 features education as a tool to bridge the digital divide

At ITU Telecom World 2009 back in Geneva, then-United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reinforced the wider impact of education: “Connected schools can become connected community ICT centres. They can provide a vital link to marginalized and vulnerable groups. They can become an information lifeline for women, indigenous people, persons with disabilities and those living in rural, remote and underserved areas.”

Sustainability centre-stage

Telecom 09 also featured discussions on how ICTs could serve to mitigate climate change. Mobile technologies, for example, could supply critical information to farmers in Africa on the frontline of the environmental crisis, while smart tech could save energy and cut harmful emissions from industry, transport and households everywhere.

The ICT industry was urged to examine its own performance on power consumption, recycling, e-waste, and renewable energy use.

The ongoing dichotomy – between technology as part of the problem and a key tool in any solution – remains high on the agenda at ITU Digital World 2021.

In this blog series marking the 50th anniversary of ITU Telecom, we look back at five decades of change for the industry, the specialized international agency, and the flagship conference and exhibition series. In the next episode, ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao will review his personal and professional experiences over the last decade.

This year’s edition, ITU Digital World 2021, takes place online between September and December. Explore the full event calendar and register now.

This blog was originally published on ITU News.

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Data and the global networked society: Telecom in the 1990s

As the industry expanded, so did its impact on an increasingly interconnected world.

And so, too, did the definitive industry conference and exhibition.

In its inaugural 1971 edition, the flagship Telecom event convened by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) had welcomed some 70,000 visitors and 250 exhibitors.

By the end of the 1990s, ITU Telecom attracted more than 175,000 participants and 1,100 exhibitors and was firmly established as the world’s largest event dedicated to the telecommunications and information technology industries.

The data decade

The nineties heralded the age of data, bringing an enormous increase in the capacity to manage, store, process and transmit voices, videos and images. The evolution of computing, improved data management, and the expansion of transmission and switching facilities over the previous 20 years had radically changed the structure of the worldwide telecommunication network.

Network-wide intelligence sharing simplified network management and boosted performance. Ground-breaking technologies like synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) paved the way for new, previously unimagined services.

But from the outset, the pace of uptake varied widely.

“The speed of introduction of new technologies in the network will vary in different parts of the world according to local needs and priorities,” observed ITU’s then-Secretary-General, Pekka Tarjane, at Telecom 91.

“The final goal of their introduction should, however, be the improvement of quality and the introduction of widespread services whilst responding to the real needs and requirements of users.”

Convergence goes mobile

The convergence of telecoms and computing with broadcasting and entertainment became the hallmark of the decade. Updating networks with sophisticated, intelligent switching equipment and harmonizing global standards enabled new applications, giving rise to the multimedia experience.

Bell Atlantic chief executive Ray Smith, speaking at Telecom 95, highlighted the enormous potential on the horizon for the everyday TV or personal computer user.

“Soon we will have televisions that can listen, PCs that can speak, and telephones you can watch,” he said.

“The myriad of new technologies will make it possible for a user to communicate with anyone, anywhere, at any time, and will conquer the barriers of time, national boundaries, and languages.”

Sweden’s telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson demonstrated the first commercial wireless application protocol (WAP) terminal at Telecom 99 – also billed as the eighth World Telecommunications Forum. This marked a first step towards mobile Internet and third generation (3G) mobile technologies offering banking, shopping, entertainment, and other services on the go. General packet radio services (GPRS) and ITU’s IMT-2000 global standards for 3G, meanwhile, opened the way for seamless global roaming.

Convergence with mobile phone wireless technology was starting to have an impact on people’s daily lives – a trend clearly appreciated by Microsoft’s then-Chairman and CEO, Bill Gates.

As a keynote speaker at Telecom 99, he called for collaboration between the computing and telecommunications sectors and anticipated the digital transformation we see today.

“People will not have to think about moving their information around,” Gates said.

“Any files or favourites or messages that they are interested in should just immediately show up wherever they are, whether it is the television that will be connected to the Internet, their mobile phone, their computer in their car, or their PC in all its various forms. In order to make this happen, we are completely dependent on forming strong partnerships with telecommunication.”

In a forum high point, Microsoft’s Gates debated Oracle’s Larry Ellison on the shape of future networks.

Recognizing the digital divide

True to ITU’s mandate, Telecom events promoted inclusivity, encouraging the industry to address youth, the elderly and persons with disabilities and special needs.

President Nelson Mandela, as guest of honour at Telecom 95, urged ITU to keep driving skills transfer, cooperation, international policy and industry development. Expanding Africa’s communication networks, he added, would help to “eliminate the information gap between rich and poor.”

Telecom 1991, Geneva: Nelson Mandela, President of South Africa stressed the need to work towards eliminating the divide between information-rich and information-poor countries.

Geneva, Telecom 1991: Nelson Mandela, President of South Africa, stressed the need to work towards eliminating the divide between information-rich and information-poor countries. Image credit: ITU

Equitable access to the benefits of technology had emerged as a key theme.

Kofi Annan, addressing Telecom 99 as Secretary-General of the United Nations, spoke out against the growing digital divide.

“The capacity to receive, download and share information through electronic networks, the freedom to communicate freely across national boundaries — these must become realities for all people,” he said.
For people living in developing countries, he added, “the great scientific and technical achievements of our era might as well be taking place on another planet.”
Digital skills training – then as now – was crucial to extend the benefits of the worldwide network to as many people as possible.

 

In this blog series marking the 50th anniversary of ITU Telecom, we look back at five decades of change for the industry, the specialized international agency, and the flagship conference and exhibition series. The next instalment revisits the 2000s.

This year’s edition, ITU Digital World 2021, takes place online between September and December. Explore the full event calendar and register now.

This blog was originally published on ITU News.
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The dawn of mobile and e-mail: Telecom in the 1980s

After the introduction of computer-led network operation in the late 1970s, the telecommunications industry was in for even bigger changes in the 1980s.

The new decade would usher in enormous changes in technology, industry structure, policy and regulation.

The innovative eighties heralded mobile telephony, the first standards for e-mail, and an accelerating convergence between computing and communication technologies.

The flagship conference and exhibition series of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) kept pace with the industry’s exciting evolution.

At World TELECOM ’83, then ITU Secretary-General Richard Butler called for debates on “the planning, financial management and implementation of the world telecommunication network” to accelerate the transfer of information, infrastructure and development.

Telecom 1983, Geneva: Telecom 83 was an Exhibition of ITU member countries, their entities and industries, in other words “an exhibition for all”, as ITU Secretary General Richard E. Butler put it

Telecom 1983, Geneva: An exhibition of ITU member countries, their entities and industries, in other words “an exhibition for all”, as ITU Secretary General Richard E. Butler (pictured above) put it. Image credit: ITU

The expanding power and global reach of telecommunications and information technology had brought with it a renewed commitment for government and industry to work together for social good, especially in developing or less developed nations.

Standard-setting for the digital dawn

Policy and regulatory issues centred on network ownership and operating monopolies.

Other topics of the 1980s remain highly relevant today: the regulation of trans-border data flow in a global communications network; ensuring security and control of content and services; and the need for data skills – or, as Mr Butler put it at World TELECOM ‘87, “a large increase in the number of qualified personnel” joining the telecoms sector.

“Enormous potential for growth and development for the underprivileged countries of the world,” he said, “will only be guaranteed if the right people can be found and educated to perform the mission which awaits them.”

The beginning of the decade saw the launch of the first commercial cellular radio systems. These were on prominent display at Telecom, alongside integrated services digital network technology (ISDN), optical fibre and rural communications systems. For industry insiders, however, the clear star of World TELECOM ‘87 was a highly promising series of recommendations known as X.400.

These defined international standards for the data communication networks to support message handling systems (MHS) – what would soon become famous as electronic mail or e-mail.

Twenty-one companies came together on one exhibition stand for the biggest demonstration to date of a fully global messaging network.

While working together to set up the basic infrastructure and increase the global market for X.400 products, the same vendors would compete vigorously over user interfaces and services. This fine balance of competition and collaboration called for sensitive regulation. International standards – then as now – were essential to allow for convergence and harmonization across the new networks.

Too much of a good thing?

Mobile, satellite and e-mail became firmly established as the technologies of the future. Convergence between telecoms and computing was intensifying.

The looming impact of these breakthroughs on economies and societies was obvious. But so, too, was the need to consider negative aspects and to anticipate potential misuse or unwanted side effects of the ongoing revolution in communication.

“Perhaps we could set a course which would avoid effects such as human contacts being largely replaced by electronic communication or an excess of communication which people would be unable to escape from,” said Mr Butler in 1987, with evident foresight.

It might well be one of the first calls for digital detox on record.

 

In this new series of articles marking the 50th anniversary of ITU Telecom, we look back at five decades of change for the industry, ITU and the flagship conference and exhibition series. The next installment revisits the 1990s.

Find out more on the 50th anniversary of ITU Telecom events – and on this year’s edition, ITU Digital World 2021, taking place online from September to December.

Header image depicts Telecom 1983, Geneva: The Exhibition was an excellent setting for international contacts and business relations. Credit: ITU

This blog was originally published on ITU News.

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Satellites and switching: Telecom in the 1970s

When the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) opened World TELECOM 1971 in Geneva 50 years ago, officials proclaimed the dazzling new conference and exhibition a “message to the 21st century.”

“All those who had the opportunity to visit the various stands were able to appreciate the fundamental role played by ITU in the spectacular evolution of telecoms techniques and in the rapid expansion of the world,” observed the ITU Secretary-General of the time, Mohamed E. Mili.

The event launched a global platform for leading industry players, ITU members from the public and private sectors, international organizations, and academia to meet and greet, showcase innovation, and share knowledge.

Inauguration of Telecom 1971: Mohamed E. Mili, Secretary-General of ITU (left) with Robert Galley, France’s Minister of Posts and Telecommunications (right)

Inauguration of Telecom 1971: Mohamed E. Mili, Secretary-General of ITU (left) with Robert Galley, France’s Minister of Posts and Telecommunications (right). Image credit: ITU.

 

Fifty years later, the now annual series achieves the same goals.

But much, of course, has changed.

18 cities around the world have hosted Telecom over the years, with several acting as hosts more than once.

The event changed format and name several times to meet the evolving needs of the industry. And for the past two editions, it has moved online in response to the global pandemic.

More substantially, people’s access to communications technology has blossomed, the structure of the industry and role of governments is radically different, and the technologies themselves are evolving faster than ever before.

The landscape then

Back in the 1970s, the telecommunication landscape was all about sending the voice over a fixed infrastructure, which was run by national operators out of government departments.

The cutting-edge technology exhibited at the very first Telecom included switching and transmission equipment, audio-visual equipment, and high-capacity submarine cables, along with wave guides and radio relays, data transmission equipment and a new generation of computers.

An impressive videophone demonstration included the ambitious prediction that at least 150 million such devices would be in use by the year 2000.

Satellites had already become a key part of public telecommunications, research, and television broadcasting services. The importance of satellite communications to reach remote and rural communities, no matter how challenging the terrain, would become increasingly clear over the decade.

By 1974, space radiocommunications systems were helping communities hit by natural disasters, keeping channels open with support centres and aiding the flow of emergency relief.

World TELECOM 1979 heralded a major technical breakthrough: electronic telephone switching.

System X, the result of industry-wide collaboration, made its public debut as an electronic system integrating telephone switching and transmission. The system allowed for the additional use of advanced electronic modules, which could expand the basic exchange into a highly sophisticated network operator. By replacing electro-mechanical switching systems with computers, System X provided the basis for a modern, flexible telecom system.

A force for growth

After the success of the 1971 inaugural event, ITUs Member States opted to carry on with Telecom on a regular basis – initially every four years – to gather “all the members of the great family of telecommunications,” in the words of Mr Mili.

Linking countries and companies would stimulate international trade, allow for the exchange of ideas and knowledge, and help to bridge the development gap, he said.

Telecommunications in the 1970s represented progress and a force for social, economic and cultural growth that could be applied universally for the benefit of all.

ITU Telecom continues to uphold those aims today.

 

In this new series of blogs marking the 50th anniversary of ITU Telecom, we look back at five decades of change for the industry, ITU and the flagship conference and exhibition series. The next episode revisits the 1980s and the dawn of mobile and e-mail.

Find out more on the 50th anniversary of ITU Telecom events – and on this year’s edition, ITU Digital World 2021, taking place online from September to December.

Header image from Telecom 1971: Telephone sets from the International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT) Corporation. Image credit: ITU

This blog was originally published on ITU News.

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ITU Telecom celebrates its 50th anniversary

One of the key annual events of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has just turned 50. ITU Telecom has evolved over the years to reflect a rapidly evolving industry ecosystem. But international cooperation to connect the world remains at the core of the conference and exhibition series.

The first-ever Telecom, featuring a high-level conference combined with a major international telecommunications exhibition, happened in June 1971.

World TELECOM 71, as it was called, launched a regular series of key global gatherings of the ITU family. Governments, industry, academia and international organizations came together to trade insights, showcase and share technological innovations, exchange knowledge – and work together to ensure everyone, everywhere could benefit from technology’s enormous potential.

The past half century has seen rapid advances in telecommunications, including the emergence of unprecedented technologies, sector-wide privatization, and new facets of regulation. New markets, competitors, and partnerships have made the industry, along with the world of ITU, look very different today than they did in the early 1970s.

The key areas of ITU’s work back then, as the name of the event implies, were telephony and telecommunications. Telecom’s focus has since shifted, in line with the industry, to information and communication technologies (ICTs), reflecting the irreversible convergence of two separate sectors. Digital technologies and services are now at the forefront, with the annual Telecom event provisionally rebranded since last year as ITU Digital World.

But even as ITU’s membership has diversified and the scope of Telecom events has broadened, much has stayed the same.

Enduring engagement

The people who come together through ITU – in all its initiatives, study groups, focus groups, conferences, and events – represent every part of what is known as the industry ecosystem: government, regulatory bodies, academia, international organizations, private sector companies (from multinational corporates to small and medium enterprises) and media. They are still truly global, drawn from all 193 member states. They still span industry sectors, from satellite to mobile, broadcasting to broadband, fintech to smart cities, artificial intelligence and beyond.

Through the second decade of the 21st century, ITU Telecom events have continued to engage on key industry issues, including connecting the unconnected and narrowing the digital divide. Today, as in 1971, this means sharing knowledge and resources, exhibiting innovative technologies, projects and products, and networking across private and public sectors.

What connecting the unconnected means in practice has arguably changed over the years. It is no longer just about ensuring affordable devices and access, along with infrastructure and coverage worldwide – whether in the form of telephony, satellite services, mobile telephony, or even broadband Internet.

Nowadays, it is increasingly about fostering digital skills and awareness, driving demand through relevant content and services, and providing vital information and updates in local languages.

Bringing these benefits to underserved people and communities depends on cooperation and collaboration, cross-sectoral and cross-border partnerships – to meet the challenges and explore the opportunities of an industry upon which the world now relies more than ever.

telecom 50 years

Interactive exhibits in 1979


A platform for innovation

Throughout the years, Telecom has provided a platform for innovations on display in its renowned world-class exhibition to the policies, strategies and technologies shaping the industry.

Important topics echo down the decades: the incredible potential of exponential technological growth; bridging the digital divide to leave no one behind; the role of regulators in balancing industry competition and consumer needs; the influence – both positive and negative – of ICTs on our environment and climate; the importance of empowering women and girls, youth, persons with disabilities and the marginalized throughout the world; the critical need for skills, training and expert personnel; the social and cultural impact of technology; the interplay and partnerships between public and private sectors; rights and responsibilities in a global, networked world where no country, industry or organization can act alone.

Annual Telecom events continue to provide a window on the increasingly complex world of ICTs. Another 50 years from now, technology may well have reshaped our societies and economies beyond imagination. As the world and the industry keep changing, however, ITU remains committed to improving lives everywhere through technology.

Explore the history of ITU Telecom on the 50th anniversary page.

Find out more on this year’s ITU Digital World 2021. And follow our blog series looking back at the highlights of ITU Telecom over the decades

Photo credit: ITU

Top image shows delegates connecting at Telecom ’71
This blog was originally published on ITU News.
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Greening the Blue – and ITU

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are crucial building blocks for a greener and more sustainable, connected world.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations agency for ICTs, is at the forefront of this transformation, cultivating global cooperation in fields ranging from smart cities and Earth observation to tackling natural disaster risks, e-waste, and energy consumption.

In addition to raising awareness, ITU has made its own operations effectively climate neutral in recent years, aiming to maximize efficiency and reduce the environmental footprint of its own buildings, for instance.

A new methodology should help to assess and improve the sustainability of office buildings in ten key areas: energy, water, air, comfort, health and wellness, purchasing, custodial, waste, site, and stakeholder relations.

Sustainable events

Much of what the organization does, however, involves bringing people together, either at traditional conferences or, increasingly, via online events.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made virtual meetings almost the only channel for engagement with member countries, companies, and organizations over the past year. Some of the practices born out of lockdown adaptation have prompted rethinking how we work and travel, with a view to meeting ambitious emissions reduction targets for the UN system by 2030.

Still, international activities and operations produce emissions. ITU aims to keep its carbon footprint in check.

Climate science has made the situation clear: we all must do more.

ITU has recently introduced an Environmental Management System (EMS) to integrate sustainability in all operations and continually improve environmental performance.

The organization is also stepping up long-standing greening initiatives such as digitizing paper processes, server virtualization, holding meetings virtually and strengthening remote participation capabilities. Restrictions prompted by the pandemic have also accelerated the move to the cloud to ensure service reliability and accessibility from anywhere.

The EMS initiative forms part of the broader UN sustainability strategy.

ITU has been effectively climate neutral since 2015, offsetting residual operational emissions through Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) within the Clean Development Mechanism.

Annual Greening the Blue Reports detail the whole UN System’s environmental footprint and efforts to reduce it. The latest edition also provides UN system-wide data on the environmental impact areas identified in the UN Sustainability Strategy 2020-2030, Phase I: Environmental Sustainability in the Area of Management.

Sustainability centre stage

The last ITU Telecom World event, held in Budapest, Hungary, in 2019, put environmental sustainability at centre stage.

The host country and the venue, Hungexpo, committed to ITU’s greening aim, and sustainability criteria were included into the evaluation process for prospective event contractors. A “Greening our event” webpage kept delegates and exhibitors up to speed on environmental initiatives, while the online exhibitor and sponsor manual offered practical advice on how to reduce individual and company footprints.

Various greening measures were implemented onsite, from providing speakers with jugs of tap water rather than individual plastic bottles to replacing cut flowers with potted plants and edible decoration in networking and lounge areas.

After the event, leftover lanyards were given to Parafitt, a Hungarian NGO working with young people with disabilities, who upcycled them into handles for small purses.

ITU upcycled lanyard

Notably, the venue agreed to measure waste and energy consumption to provide a baseline for future ITU events. Participants also provided information on how they travelled to the conference.

Closer to climate neutrality

The next ITU Telecom event, ITU Digital World 2021, aims to get closer to climate neutrality. Virtual elements, including SME Awards and Forum sessions, will enable greater global participation, keep all involved safe – and dramatically reduce the carbon footprint inherent in a major international meeting.

Supporting the event is Sustainability Partner Immersion4, winner of the ITU Telecom World Global SME Excellence Award and the ITU Telecom World SME Award for the Most Innovative Use of ICT in 2019 with its innovative new cooling solution for data centres, which enables waste heat to be reused as an energy source.

“The eco conversation is the way to enhance our quality of life, to enhance progress, to connect people, but not at the cost of our own lives,” says Immersion4 Founder and CEO Serge Conesa.

“This is just the beginning of a long journey we have ahead, but it has started well. People here at ITU understand the problems and really want to make a difference.”

 As a basic principle, all emissions must be cut as much as possible before an event or activity or while offsetting the unavoidable remainder. UN-backed CERs are available via the UN Carbon Offset Platform and the Climate Neutral Now initiative by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat, providing recognition to all those striving to measure, reduce and compensate their emissions.

Proposed activities for the next event can be found on the Greening ITU Digital World page.

ITU’s broad membership – encompassing 193 Member States and over 900 companies, universities, international and regional organizations – drives public private partnerships and collaboration, within and across sectors. This unique forum, spanning digital and sustainability issues, can help to shape critical mechanisms for future ecosystem conservation, as well as for tackling the complexities of climate change.

This blog was originally published on ITU News.

 

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Appy Saude: The Angolan e-health start-up unlocking accessible healthcare

Searching unsuccessfully for a specific medicine prescribed by his doctors, a very sick man living in rural Angola listened by chance to a radio interview with Appy Saude, an e-health start-up based in the capital city of Luanda. He contacted Appy, who promptly sourced the very last units available on the Angolan market of the drug he so desperately needed – saving him time, money and even his life.

This is one of many success stories highlighting the major change in access to healthcare information and services offered by Appy Saude, winners of the ITU Virtual Digital World 2020 SME Awards in the e-health category. It is also demonstrates the company’s founding principle: to connect as many people as possible to the healthcare professionals, medicine and knowhow they need using available digital tools.

In this case, that tool was a simple phone call: the ill man did not own a smartphone. But most Appy Saude users access their services through an online portal listing pharmacies, pharmaceutical products and prices, healthcare facilities, doctors, accepted insurance policies and appointment scheduling.

“We are trying to improve accessibility to healthcare services using the digital tools we have available today.“
– Pedro Beirão, co-founder and CEO, Appy Saude

“’Saude’ means health in Portuguese,” explained Pedro Beirão, co-founder and CEO of the three-year old platform, outlining how the start-up began. “We identified a major need to put information on health establishments online – instead of people having to walk around to find a pharmacy or hospital or clinic. We think having information available to everyone makes society more just, allowing people to make better decisions: the final user, the patient, but also hospitals, pharmacies and decision-makers in the healthcare sector.”

Democratizing access to health information

Creating a directory of hundreds of pharmacies online was just step one. Appy then added online access to pharmacy stock listings, enabling price comparison across a sometimes-volatile market, where the same product could be offered at double – or half – the price in neighbouring pharmacies. The platform also allows medicines to be purchased online and picked up in-store or delivered at home; lists doctors and clinics; and provides an online appointment booking system.

Appy Saude home delivery e-health

“Just the fact of placing the information on one platform and allowing people to choose helps the market to readjust and reduce the inequalities in terms of pricing and availability,” noted Beirão. This kind of market disruption naturally led to resistance from established pharmaceutical players, but convincing just one major player of the value of providing wider access to their products was enough.

Concerned that the platform was defining market costs, and keen to share increased visibility and consumer engagement, the other pharmacies quickly came on board, too.

“Today, people are more used to having information to make better decisions,” said Beirão. “There is no stopping the future: we are just trying to enable it.“

New markets, new partners

Appy is taking its model of information transparency in the healthcare sector international, with operations up and running in Rwanda, and Kenya within its sights. Both these markets are less heavily regulated than Angola, where stringent healthcare legislation has proved challenging. For instance, some products are not authorized for home delivery, and showing images of prescription products is not allowed.

Beirão believes that the lessons learned from this difficult environment will make international expansion easier. Strategic alliances with mobile operators, based on the successful partnership Appy has established with Angolan market leader Unitel, will be key to future success, according to Beirão.

“Working with Unitel, it was an open discussion where we identified our common aim: to reach more people and allow them better information on health,” he highlighted.

“In terms of expansion, we see mobile operators as an important part of our growth, and of the digitization of health services. They have coverage everywhere, they are looking for solutions that people can use to access healthcare or other digital services, and they can help collect data on pharmacies and doctors on our open platform.” And the mobile operator stands to gain more subscribers and visibility in a win-win partnership.

Appy is also planning new products to add to its portfolio. These include a tool to codify the different names under which the same pharmaceutical products are sold, a problem affecting up to 15 per cent of all products in Angola, said Beirão. Doctors often prescribe medicine under the market name used in Brazil, Portugal or Cuba, where many Angolan medical professionals completed their training. Identifying the correct local name for the same product is expected to be much easier with Appy’s database for patients, and its planned electronic prescription system for doctors.

Expansion is not just international, however. Some 35 per cent of Angola’s population of 30 million lives in Luanda, where around 60 per cent of all pharmaceutical markets and medical appointments are concentrated. Moving beyond the well-connected urban centre to rural areas means addressing different market segments  – and developing new ways to connect people to information. Smartphone penetration is typically much lower in rural areas, so Appy needs to find alternative solutions to making reservations via the mobile app, website or WhatsApp. Initial ideas are focused on USSD or SMS services, taking advantage of their agreement with partner Unitel, who do not charge customers airtime for using Appy’s service over their network.

As a start-up, Appy is also working to align itself with more established partners, including the Angolan Ministry of Health, companies, and NGOs working for social impact through healthcare.

This is the main benefit of winning the ITU Virtual Digital SME Award, according to Beirão: finding partnerships that help their solution to grow, become sustainable, and maximize its impact.

“Our vision is to connect everyone to our health service, which is what most NGOs and governments are working for – so let’s find a way of actually doing it in partnerships in Angola and in other countries, too,“ he concluded.

Appy Saude are hoping to join ITU Digital World 2021 in Hanoi, Viet Nam, to share more stories and good practices, increase their visibility, and build on their relationships with mobile operators, NGOs and the broader UN network.


The ITU Digital World Awards 2021 will launch in March 2021 – find out more here.

 Image credit: Appy Saude

This blog was originally published on ITU News.

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Meet OKO Finance: Building climate resilience through digital financial inclusion in Africa

Israeli start-up OKO Finance have a clear objective: to be known and trusted by smallholder farmers across Africa as the market leader in crop insurance, to protect farmers from loss of income due to adverse weather and to provide access to financial tools.

And by winning the ITU Virtual Digital World 2020 SME Awards, the fledgling fintech is one step closer to meeting its goal.

The Awards focus on the innovative use of digital technology for social impact. OKO creates and distributes crop insurance to smallholder farmers in emerging markets using simple mobile technologies and automates claim verification with satellite data and images. The company‘s success, according to CEO Simon Schwall, lies in adapting existing basic mobile capacity to the specific customer environment rather than in advanced technological innovation.

“There is nothing revolutionary here, but we use a different set of tools to make our product as inclusive as possible.“ -Simon Schwall, OKO Finance

Chatbot innovation

Payments are collected through mobile money accounts, embedded in most African networks, meaning that even those without smart phones can take part. Communication with customers who may be illiterate, or uncomfortable writing in local languages, happens through a voice messaging service and a newly-launched WhatsApp chatbot, as well as automated text messages.

“We saw that our customers who have WhatsApp don‘t chat with text messages, but prefer to exchange voice notes, because it is easier,“ explained Schwall. “So we created a voice note chatbot so people who cannot read or write can still listen to information, respond by choosing an option and then navigate through a menu to access more information and register for insurance.“

Finding a customer journey to match levels of literacy and digital skills on the ground in Mali, where OKO started out, was a process of trial and error. Case studies and best practice from other markets could not simply be replicated – a Facebook campaign to recruit new customers, for example, would fall flat as the platform is little used and largely irrelevant for this target group, said Schwall. An initial SMS chatbot, asking a series of questions by voice or text to establish basic criteria to build an insurance quote, such as where a potential customer lives or what crops they grow, also failed miserably.

“Many customers couldn’t read or are not confident [reading], so they didn’t want to use it,“ explained Schwall. “And the people who used it saw there were many steps, with an SMS to pay each time, so it started to become too expensive.“ OKO learnt that all good ideas in theory need to be tested in reality at small scale in the context of local markets – even if it means starting from scratch.

Financial inclusion and climate resilience

The impact of its crop insurance business model is two-fold. By providing insurance to people who have never previously been served by financial institutions, OKO is not only reducing farmers‘ risk of losing income when bad weather hits, but also providing much-needed access to microcredit to buy seeds or fertilizer and grow businesses.

Financial inclusion is accompanied by climate resilience. As seasons become ever more unpredictable, and weather events intensify in many parts of the world, crop insurance can stabilize farmers‘ income streams and better equip them to face the effects of climate change.

“We have a solution that makes people who are vulnerable to climate change (and to climate risk in general) more resilient,” noted Schwall, “while bringing compensation for lost income.“

Scaling up across Africa

In the short term, OKO is planning the second full season of insurance in Mali, aiming for 30,000 paying customers, covering more crops and more regions. Full-scale commercial services are scheduled to launch across Uganda throughout 2021, following a series of successful pilots. Beyond geographical expansion, the fintech hopes to establish itself as a bigger player in the microfinance space. And as smartphone usage and network bandwidth increase across the content, OKO intends to provide new services such as weather alerts, agricultural advice, or market information.

“Our goal is to be the leading service for crop insurance in Africa,” affirmed Schwall.

Scaling up calls for new partners and investors – and winning awards is an important opportunity to gain credibility here. OKO have some experience with this, having won first place in the AFI Alliance competition for financial inclusion in 2019.

Now Schwall hopes the telecommunications sector will also be on board: “Winning the ITU Digital World SME Award will be reassuring to mobile operators we want to partner with and investors who sometimes doubt our capacity to find key partners to allow us to scale. It will also make us more credible when we go and talk to other UN organizations we would like to work with, such as UN Women, UNDP or UNDCF.”

Schwall notes that the presence of start-ups from other countries can act as a catalyst, transferring technology and services: “In some cases companies come from eastern Africa to western Africa, or the other way round, so countries need to be open to bringing innovations from abroad, replicating the benefits of good practices and services. This will eventually lead to more people launching their own businesses, more people being trained, more jobs in the ecosystem.”

Overcoming challenges

OKO Finance sees the major challenges to increasing access to digital services in Africa as connectivity, cost, and digital literacy. The majority of the company’s customer base also suffer from basic illiteracy, a further cause of exclusion and marginalization. Schwall suggests governments and industry work together to develop basic networks for rural areas providing essential services at low or no cost, re-examining taxation policies on over-the-top services such as WhatsApp, and even exploring whether privacy policies should be considered only after meaningful connectivity has been established.

Schwall is also keen for international organizations to provide standards or open APIs across multiple markets so that companies such as OKO can scale up without having to redesign customer journeys or sign new local partnerships in each new market. This would also make it easier for innovations from bigger markets, such as Kenya or Nigeria, to be launched in smaller neighbouring countries, he said.

This year’s competition, the ITU Digital World Awards 2021, will launch in March, and are open to any start-ups or SMEs using technology innovatively with real social impact – like OKO Finance.

Image credit: Shehzad Lokhandwalla via OKO Finance

 

This blog was originally published on ITU News.

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Meet Astrome: The deep tech start-up aiming to bridge India’s digital divide

BENGALURU, KARNATAKA, INDIA. Dr Neha Satak (left), known as a pocket dynamo, promoter for Astrome Technologies Private Limited working to fabricate Indias first private sector satellite capable of delivering Internet from space. Magnificent Indian women, who play with what were till recently toys for big boys! Breaking the glass ceiling, Indian women are making a mark in space exploration. Indian women scientists and Engineers are making an immense mark as they help the country fly its rockets, missiles and help fabricate satellites. One third of the work force at the Indian Space Research Organisation comprises of women and ladies are breaking the glass ceiling and reaching leadership positions. India’s mission to Mars, Moon and the first Indian inter-continental ballistic missile all had women contributing in a big way, breaking the prevailing stereotype. A special collection of photos celebrating women power in Indian science and technology. (Photo by Pallava Bagla/Corbis via Getty Images)

India-based deep tech start-up Astrome sees its innovative wireless solution as a way to connect the country’s rural and semi-urban areas.

Its use of millimetre wave wireless communication to provide fibre-like backhaul capacity for 4G and 5G infrastructure has won Astrome the SME Award in the Connectivity category at ITU Virtual Digital World, the 2020 online edition of leading UN tech event ITU Digital World.

“We help telecom operators and governments bridge the digital divide by enabling them to deploy quality telecom infrastructure in rural and semi-urban areas at five times lower cost than fibre and an order of magnitude lower time of deployment,” said co-founder and CEO Dr Neha Satak, in a conversation with ITU News.

Delivering last-mile connectivity

Astrome’s first product is a multi-beam E-band radio called GigaMesh. By packing six point-to-point E-band radios in one, the cost of the device is distributed over multiple links.

Astrome believes in Gigamesh’s potential to decongest dense urban networks and rapidly deploy 5G by extending broadband coverage in rural areas.

In India, government initiatives have been working towards bringing connectivity to villages around the country, notes Satak.

“But the last mile of connectivity from a grama panchayat [village council] to a village is typically a distance of between 3 to 7 kilometres depending on the state. And that last mile is key to getting  connectivity delivered to the villages,” she added.

To bridge the digital divide and unlock economic potential, Satak pointed out the importance of linking up village councils that are difficult to connect, while also connecting them by a backbone “which can be deployed in a matter of days, compared to the years fibre takes to get deployed.” According to Satak, “That’s where we believe we can play a major role in getting rural India fully connected.”

From satellite to the field

Astrome was not founded with the mission to connect rural India. They began as a company that wanted to build wireless technologies for the satellite communication domain. Their multibeam technology for low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to deliver 10 times more capacity on the ground aimed to bridge digital divide using satellites.

“Along the way, we realized that the technology can be much more effective today if we use it to bridge the last mile connectivity [gap] on the ground infrastructure itself. That’s how we took a pivotal decision in our journey about three years ago,” explains Satak. “[Gigamesh] can do the job of fibre but at one-fifth the cost. And it can be deployed in hours between two locations compared to the months it takes to deploy fibre.”

Astrome is working towards overcoming regulatory barriers, added Satak. “The frequencies in which we operate will be opened up soon in India. There is some delay in that, but we are hoping that it will happen this year. The path we have taken is talking to the regulators,” she explained. The company has also shared their readiness to provide solutions with the government, and these have been received favourably, according to Satak.

Astrome is also looking into entering markets where the frequencies in which they operate are open already. Satak and her team intend to keep their original ambition intact.

Astrome’s vision is to enable high-bandwidth, low-cost connectivity across land, air and sea by building terrestrial wireless and satellite communications products.

“Our ultimate goal is also to build satellite communication payloads and user ground terminals that can help make LEO constellations as effective as fibre in terms of cost,” said Satak.

Building credibility and trust in deep tech

Satak credits her team’s positive attitude towards problem solving for their success in creating an innovative deep tech solution. “If you think: ‘I can solve it,’ there’s always a way,” she said.
But what made the project stand out in a competitive, global field at the ITU Digital World SME Awards?

“We believe that we have won because our product can truly help telecom operators and governments deploy quality rural telecom infrastructure at record cost and time. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of rural connectivity and action to bridge the digital divide has [quickened] due to it,” Satak noted. “There is an opportunity for the world to move to a better telecom infrastructure in a short period of time,” she added.

For Satak, the best part of the Awards was “the opportunity to present our solution to a diverse set of judges and audience”.

“This award is a strong validation that our technology and product is desired all around the world to bridge the digital divide,” explained Satak. “It gives [Astrome] encouragement to scale our business and reach its maximum potential. We are already using the award in our customer conversations to build credibility and trust,” she added.

It’s a key benefit enjoyed by many Award winners over the six years of the programme at ITU Telecom events.

Satak’s message for applicants this year? “Make the most of this fantastic opportunity to be on a world stage by submitting a good application.”

The SME programme at ITU Digital World 2021, scheduled to take place in Ha Noi from 12 to 15 October 2021, will provide support, visibility, investment and networking potential to tech SMEs and start-ups from around the world. Applications for the ITU Digital World Awards 2021 will open in the second quarter.

Learn more on how to take part in ITU Digital World as an SME here.

Image credit: Pallava Bagla/Corbis via Getty Images

 

This blog was originally published on ITU News.