This collection contains the conference papers from the

19th ITS Biennial Conference
Bangkok, 18-21 November 2012

"Moving Forward with Future Technologies: Opening a Platform for All"

The merging of previously separate technical worlds has ushered in a new era of openness in telecommunications technology. With the integration of fixed and mobile Web 2.0 technologies; for example, third parties are increasingly being given open access to telecommunications networks as a platform through which to communicate, to interact and to innovate. But what does this mean for the future of telecommunications?
For service providers and for consumers, this translates to reduced costs, improvements in service quality and greater choice. This change has also brought new commercial opportunities and, through the emergence of online social networking, has prompted changes in marketing strategies. Service users and consumers, meanwhile, are now being transformed from passive consumers to confident, active players, capable of generating their own news and information. Online technologies also now permeate public policy areas, as the emergence of e-government, e-healthcare and e-education demonstrate. Efficient and environmentally friendly technologies also offer ways of combating global energy dependency and of supporting green movements.
But these benefits should not, however, obscure the associated challenges posed by telecommunications technologies. A significant digital divide still remains between industrialized and developing countries as well as between different socio-economic groups within these societies. At the same time, governments face the challenge of implementing a new regulatory paradigm with the integration of new technologies and the establishment of greater open access capabilities. Ultimately, this process requires ongoing international cooperation; it requires government, private sector, the internet technical community, civil society and individual users to jointly shape the development of new technology and the policy environment for the future of the telecommunications economy.