ITU Member States from the Africa region together with Sector members and delegates from regional and other international organizations gathered in Dakar, Senegal from 27 to 31 March for the Regional Radiocommunication Seminar 2017 for Africa (RRS-17 Africa).
This seminar was organized to address the regional radiocommunications issues and also the notification, coordination and recording of frequency assignments. It was jointly organized by the Ministère des Postes et des Télécommunications (MPT) and the Autorité de Régulation des Télécommunications et des Postes (ARTP) of Senegal, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the African Telecommunications Union (ATU). The seminar was opened by Mr Abdou Karim Sall, Director-General of the ARTP.
"In view of the next World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19) to be held in Geneva from 28 October to 22 November 2019, this seminar is a unique opportunity to strengthen our capacities in formulating and endorsing the common African proposals that will be submitted by ATU at WRC-19," said Mr Abdou Karim Sall, Director-General of ARTP in his opening statement.
The topics for discussion during the forum addressed challenges and opportunities for Africa, under the framework of WRC-19, in particular regarding:
- Emerging innovative technologies;
- 5G and IMT spectrum identification; and
- Digital terrestrial television.
"In view of the importance these matters hold for Africa, the forum programme has been devised such as to allow experts from the region to exchange views both among themselves but also with other specialists from other regions of the globe," said ITU Secretary-General, Houlin Zhao.
"The forum further addressed difficulties encountered and solutions related to the migration to digital terrestrial television (DTT) in a round table for the participating countries," said François Rancy, Director of ITU's Radiocommunication Bureau.
Over 160 participants attended the seminar and forum, from more than 35 Administrations including Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroun, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
