On Publishing Feature Articles on International Standardization Trends

1.1 Need for international standardization

Vital prerequisites for the success of services in the information and communication field are that the devices needed for these services must be interconnected and operate as designed. This means that the interfaces between terminals, networks, and network operators must be specified. Since information and communication involves a wide range of technologies, it is practically impossible for a single company to provide all the technologies and devices. Thus, it is essential, for example, to standardize physical interfaces and signal conversion protocols. Long time ago, international standardization in the information and communication field was promoted to provide telegraph and telephone services across national borders. Therefore, standardization topics were centered around interface specifications, numbering, and settlement of accounts for international telecommunication services. However, today, the scope of the study for standardization is broadening to include environmental and climate change countermeasures, multimedia, and security. As a reference, the issues studied in the International Telecommunication Union - Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), the United Nations specialized agency in charge of international standardization in the telecommunications field, are listed in Table 1.

Table 1. ITU-T Study Groups (study period 2022–2024).

As information and communication services become more advanced and complex, the need for international standardization has become ever more pressing. To spread and deploy the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN), a concept the NTT Group seeks to implement, international standardization activities will also play a pivotal role.

1.2 Economic benefits of international standardization

One of the benefits of international standardization that first comes to mind may be better interconnectivity, but there are many other benefits: (1) the specification of device interfaces is expected to boost competition among device suppliers, resulting in improved quality and lower prices; (2) the incorporation of standardized technology in many products will boost the expected profits from and efficiency of research and development (R&D); and (3) standardization will establish criteria for quality and safety and contribute to the establishment of a fair competitive environment.

While it is difficult to quantify the economic benefits of international standardization, by way of example, some estimates from other countries are listed in Table 2. These should give the reader some idea of just how huge the economic benefits generated through international standardization are.

Table 2. Analyses of economic impact of international standardization.

1.3 WTO agreements

With a view to maintaining free and fair trade, the World Trade Organization (WTO) put into effect in 1995 the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement). The agreement obliges member countries to harmonize their mandatory or voluntary standards and conformity assessment procedures with international standards [1]. With the de jure standard defined by ITU and other bodies in mind, WTO also stipulates the Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), which requires that technical specifications for the performance of goods procured by governments and their related organizations must be based on international standards, if such standards already exist.

GPA applies not only to central and local government agencies, but also to their affiliated organizations. NTT (the holding company), NTT EAST, and NTT WEST are listed as applicable organizations in the Annex of the agreement. Therefore, should these three companies procure telecommunications devices that do not conform to international standards, they would risk being accused of violating the WTO agreement. A case in point, although not one involving the NTT Group, is a complaint filed with the WTO’s relevant committee against East Japan Railway Company for violating the above agreement when the company announced the adoption of the Felica e-money system, which was not a de jure standard at the time [2].

While international standardization brings economic benefits, it is also attended by the risk of violating WTO agreements. It is therefore more important than ever to involve ourselves in standardization.

2.1 Standardization organizations

Standardization organizations can be classified into the following three categories in accordance with their formation, standard development process, and their effective regions.

Each of the three types of standardization organizations has its strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, it is important to maintain a balance among the activities of the three types and coordinate these activities as necessary. A well-known example of working with each of them is to use a forum, which works relatively fast, to establish forum standards then submit them to a de jure standard organization to establish de jure standards. To use this process, it is vitally important to have an accurate understanding of each organization’s situation and establish and maintain channels for collaboration with each of them.

2.2 Ministerial Declaration of the G7 Digital and Tech Ministers’ Meeting

At the G7 Digital and Tech Ministers’ Meeting held in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture in April 2023, discussions were held on safe and resilient digital infrastructure, and recommendations for international standardization were presented in the outcome document [3]. Some of the recommendations are introduced below.

• Annex 2: In addition to these efforts to improve security and resilience of current digital infrastructure, we note the importance of sharing a vision of the next-generation network in the Beyond fifth-generation mobile communication system (5G)/6G era, and endorse the G7 Vision for future networks in the Beyond 5G/6G era. We are committed to enhancing cooperation on research, development, and international standards setting, toward building digital infrastructure for the 2030s and beyond.
• Annex 3: We endorse the G7 Action Plan for Building a Secure and Resilient Digital Infrastructure that outlines the above efforts to build a secure and resilient digital infrastructure. In supporting such infrastructure in developing countries, we seek to cooperate with international organizations and development agencies such as the World Bank and ITU.

The G7 ministers’ meeting recognized the importance of international standardization and presented a policy on future cooperation.

2.3 NTT Group’s efforts

As shown in Fig. 1, the main standardization organizations which the NTT Group participates in or is associated with are classified into one of the above organization categories of de jure, forum, and regional/national.

Fig. 1. Major international standardization organizations in which the NTT Group participates.

In de jure standard organizations, especially in ITU, we pursue a wide range of activities in fixed-line and wireless networks, environment and operations, and applications and services.

Regarding regional standardization organizations, we use APT, the world’s largest body of this kind, to compile proposals from the Asia-Pacific region and submit them to ITU. Within Japan, we are working on national standardization (downstream) of ITU standards at national standardization organizations such as the TTC (see TTC President’s message at the end of this article) and ARIB.

For the fora, we have been particularly active in the IOWN Global Forum, of which NTT is one of the founding members, and 3GPP, which formulates and oversees mobile technology standards.

Going forward, with a view to making IOWN and a 6G world a reality, we will enhance our activities within each organization and strengthen standardization efforts across the NTT Group to facilitate collaboration among standardization organizations.