An interview with Luigi Salimbeni, Deputy Director of the Directorate of Telecommunications and Information Systems

Assessment of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA-24)
Artificial Intelligence is both a challenge and an opportunity. However, there is the need to impose international standards in the ethical sphere, and to continue to promote universal connectivity and digital inclusion, so that no country, region or community will be left behind. These were some of the topics addressed during the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA-24), held from 15 to 24 October 2024 in New Delhi, India. The Assembly was attended by a Vatican Delegation led by Sr. Raffaella Petrini, Secretary General of the Governorate of Vatican City State, which included Antonino Intersimone and Luigi Salimbeni, respectively, Director and Deputy Director of the Directorate of Telecommunications and Information Systems, and Sergio Salvatori, technical officer of the Technological Department of the Dicastery for Communication.
We asked Mr. Luigi Salimbeni, Deputy Director of the Directorate of Telecommunications and Information Systems, to provide an assessment of the international Assembly.
Can you highlight the positive aspects and criticisms of the Assembly?
ITU global conferences and assemblies are a crucial opportunity to prepare and outline the work that will be carried out over the next few years by study groups within the organization. The exchange that takes place among ITU member countries during these conferences, thus has a strategic and even political significance, in addition to a technological one, because discussions and positions reflect the views and situations in different countries, their expectations and their hopes with regards to telecommunications.
Continuing in the same way, WTSA-24 discussions, which took place over ten days of intense activity and were the fruit of a thorough preparation that took place years earlier within Regional Groups, reflected, on the one hand, a general agreement among all countries with regards to the development of global scenarios for standardization activities in telecommunications, and on the other, they highlighted the different perspectives regarding the future, fruit of a legitimate and natural difference in objectives in industrial strategies, geopolitics and cultural sensitivities.
This is certainly the most positive aspect of an Assembly like WTSA-2024: the fact that decisions on future standardization activities in telecommunications are made on the basis of consensus among all countries in the world, in a dialogue in which a small state like Vatican City can express its vision on the same level as economic and political super powers like the United States of America and China. Attention to ethical aspects of telecommunication technology is certainly one of the aspects on which all countries agree, each in their own way.
On the other hand, however, it is clear that from an economic and industrial point of view, aiming studies at one technology rather than another can have an enormous impact in changing large scale economic scenarios. The effects of geopolitical events, have an influence on discussions, as occurred with the choice of candidates for roles in coordinating bodies in ITU’s standardization sector.
The Assembly adopted eight resolutions. Can you briefly tell us about them?
Before WTSA-24, ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Sector, ITU-T, had 58 resolutions in effect. Out of these, one was suppressed and 44 were revised by WTSA-24. Eight new resolutions were adopted related to the standardization of digital public infrastructure, sustainable digital transformation, participation of the next generation of ITU standards experts, communication technology for vehicles, strategic planning in ITU-T and caller location information from mobile phones in emergency communications. Two new resolutions that were greatly anticipated have to do with the standardization of the metaverse and Artificial Intelligence technologies that support telecommunications.
In particular, the resolution on the metaverse states that it “is not a new technology but a platform which combines various technologies”, which must be interoperable, Moreover, it highlights that issues concerning ethics, personal data protection, inclusion and security will evolve in this platform, issues to which we are already accustomed through the current technologies in use.
What is the significance of Vatican City State’s participation in the Assembly?
For many years, global conferences and assemblies in the field of telecommunications have shown a profound interest from participants in listening to what Vatican City State, on behalf of the Holy See, has to say about the ethical values that are taken into account in planning and implementing current technological systems. They are themes that everyone views as a necessity, but that are not deeply rooted in the experience and cultural background of many of the specialists in the sector. Thus what comes from Vatican City State with regards to these topics is heard with great interest. Obviously, providing a contribution is only possible by participating in these events. Otherwise, the wealth of experience on ethical principles we can provide, would be completely invisible.
What is the impact of the resolutions adopted during these meetings on the Vatican, and in particular, on your Directorate?
Results from events like WTSA-2024 or other ITU conferences certainly influence our telecommunication activities. Perhaps not immediately and not directly, but there is no doubt that there are some influences. In the case of WTSA, the resolutions adopted indicate the objectives of the study activities for the next few years. It is thus likely that in a few years, on the basis of these studies, standards and “recommendations” will be developed, and that when we purchase a product or a technological system, we will be asking the supplier to meet those standards or “recommendations”. It is similar to what currently happens when we require fibre optics to be in line with ITU-T “recommendations” that were developed decades ago, precisely on the basis of studies that began following the adoption of Resolutions at events like the one we participated in.
What role does Artificial Intelligence currently play in the Governorate’s Directorate of Telecommunication and information systems, and what will be its role in the future?
Systems that implement Artificial Intelligence technologies are used in the most diverse areas and new applications are expected in the near future. It is interesting to note that ITU strongly underscored that its field of intervention on Artificial Intelligence is limited to new applications developed to support telecommunication. This limitation that ITU imposed in its area of competence is essential, in order to focus on the role that Artificial Intelligence will have in our Directorate. Indeed, there is no doubt that in the near future, everyone will use Artificial Intelligence applications to write emails or create tables on a spreadsheet, but these aspects of Artificial Intelligence cannot be considered typical of telecommunications and information technology.
It will also not be our Directorate’s responsibility to evaluate ethical aspects regsrding the use of Artificial Intelligence or to sstablish rules and criteria connected to the respect of the person. We know, however, that Artificial Intelligence will be used to make telecommunications more efficient, for example by implementing systems of shared and flexible use of the radio spectrum and devices with low energy consumption. Artificial Intelligence technologies instead require complex computations and significant energy consumption. These are the aspects of Artificial Intelligence that we should already be considering in the telecommunications and information systems of the Governorate, in order to foresee the technological scenarios and financial aspects of this evolution, which will undoubtedly result in the intense and pervasive use of Artificial Intelligence in our Directorate’s field of interest.