Every 3 to 4 years the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) holds a World Radio Conference, commonly referred to as WRC, to manage the radio spectrum and review where new technologies fit in. The last WRC was in October and November 2023 and the next one will be in 2027 – WRC27.
The Department of communication and digital technologies represents South Africa at these conferences supported by experts from industry and academia.
To develop positions on the various agenda items, the department established the National preparatory working group) NPWG at which experts from the department, industry and academia develop the positions that are to the country’s best interest and support the National Development Plan (NDP).
On 27 May the WRC27 NPWG met in Pretoria. The agenda included a review of how the South African delegation to WRC23 fared and the lessons learned. Mr Dick Sono of the Department of communication and digital technologies who led the delegation expressed his thanks to the team for a job well-done. As far as the lessons learned he said that it is important that the rapporteurs who lead agenda items should be available to attend the full four weeks of the conference as decisions made early in the conference could change right up to the final plenary.
Recently the ITU held its first WRC27 Conference Preparatory meeting (CPM) at which various working parties were stablished who will study the agenda items which were agreed for WRC27 at the final plenary of WRC23. The NPWG selected rapporteurs to follow the output of the work parties and develop South African positions for discussion and agreement at NPWG meetings and lobby at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (ATU) meetings to arrive at an African position that supports South Africa’s.
NPWG has an important role to play in the WRC process. Dick Sono urged companies and institutions to make their telecommunication experts available to support the NPWG. He also referred to the ITU’s gender equality policy and to keep this in mind when selecting their representatives.
