Interviews with ITUs next top officials Mario Maniewicz
In order to maintain and increase relevance in today’s telecommunication ecosystem, ITU should evolve on three fronts, says Mario Maniewicz of Uruguay, Director-elect of ITU’s Radiocommunication Bureau (BR).
“Firstly, we must focus on our core competencies,” said Mr. Maniewicz during a video interview just days after being elected at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Dubai. “Secondly, we should increase the effectiveness of the organization by better adapting to the changing needs of its members and increasing our responsiveness to them. Thirdly, we should … unite the efforts of the three sectors … in order to avoid duplication of work and to increase synergies of the three sectors.”
By increasing focus and efficiency, the ITU’s Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) will be “better equipped to tackle the main challenges that lie ahead, notably increasing the broadband penetration and deceasing the digital divide,” said Maniewicz. ITU-R would “do so by simultaneously catering for new services and technologies while striking the right balance between protecting investment and fostering innovation and, of course, ensuring the timely availability of spectrum and orbit resources.”
Maniewicz said his top three priorities would be to increase efficiency, transparency and inclusiveness in the activities of the Radiocommunication Sector.
“I would firstly promote digital transformation in order to increase the agility of the ITU-R’s processes, in particular by modernizing its databases and practices in order to have better response times in order to achieve consistent compliance with the regulatory deadlines,” he said. “Then, secondly, to ensure that the provisions of the Radio Regulations are applied in a fair and transparent manner. And, thirdly, I would foster more receptiveness of the Bureau to the needs of its members by attracting more developing, least-developed and small island developing states to the work of the ITU-R, and by providing a neutral platform for countries to collaborate.”
