​​​The main objectives are the following:

(a) To disseminate information on the relevant work of ITU-T Study Group 20;

(b) To facilitate the participation of member states, sector members and academia of the region in ITU-T Study Group 20 and related meetings on topics relating to IoT and SC&C, at least when these meetings are held in Latin America¹;

(c) To act as liaison hub between the region’s administrations, regulators, operators, manufacturers and academia of the countries in the region, in matters as per the SG20 mandate;

(d) To encourage the active participation of administrations, regulators, academia and operators in the work of ITU-T Study Group 20 and in the implementation of ITU-T Y-series Recommendations;

(e) To boost the standards-developing capabilities of the countries in the region, with a view to facilitate the interoperability of IoT services within smart cities and communities;

(f) To support initiatives, projects, programmes, or activities leading to the Group’s strengthening and evolution, inside and outside the region;

(g) To act as a liaison body between administrations, regulators, operators, manufacturers and academia of the countries in the region and ITU-T on topics relating to IoT and SC&C.

(h) To encourage substantive contributions from the region to traditional and emerging areas of interest for ITU-T Study Group 20;

(i) To foster participation of countries in the region to capacity building, workshops, seminars and other ITU-T Study Group 20 related events;

(j) To strengthen standard-making capabilities within the region in accordance with Resolution 44 (Rev. Hammamet, 2016) on Bridging the Standardization Gap between developed and developing countries;

(k) To advance on issues such as (but not limited to):

• standards and protocols for the development and implementation of IoT;
• interoperability between IoT devices and applications for different IoT verticals;
• quality of service (QoS), quality of experience (QoE), and information security of IoT;
• end-to-end performance for IoT and its applications, including services for SC&C;
• development of big data with IoT, which improve the development of SC&C;
• applications, services and technical platforms for SC&C;
• IoT and SC&C data analytics and intelligent control;

(l) To identify and study key technologies and trends to be promoted within the region, and to share them within ITU-T SG20;

(m) To collaborate (if necessary) with the Inter-American Telecommunications Commission (CITEL), the Telecommunications Regional Technical Commission (COMTELCA) and any other regional organizations and/or group on items related to IoT and SC&C in order to create synergies at the regional level,

Working methods:

The frequency and locations of meetings will be determined by the Regional Group.

The Regional Group will be encouraged to hold physical meetings, but it will use remote collaboration tools to the maximum extent, and collocation with existing meetings to the maximum extent.

The overall meetings plan will be announced after the approval of the terms of reference, as well as the appointment of a Chairman and a Vice-chairman for a period of four years.

Such designations should be ratified at the SG20 Plenary.

List of participants:

A list of e-mails will be created for the Regional Group so all participants should have a TIES account or a guest account.

¹ Countries include: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Perú, República Dominicana, Uruguay and Venezuela.​
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