The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) is the public authority in Sweden that is responsible for monitoring the areas of electronic communication and mail. As part of their mission, they are responsible for ensuring that Sweden has safe and accessible communication and are participating in national and international standardisation.
PTS has been a member of both ETSI, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, and ITS, Sweden’s national standard organisation for the IT and telecommunication industry, since both organisations were founded. We sat down with Peggy Haase from PTS to find out more about how standards play a significant role in their work and her thoughts on their membership in ITS and ETSI.
Start by telling us a little bit about PTS and your main focus areas? How do you usually work with standards?
“The area of responsibility of PTS is quite broad, which is why PTS has different sections. For example, we work with accessibility, number, name, and address questions, as well as emergency communication questions,” Peggy explains.
“I work in a department that focuses on radio frequencies and radio equipment. Our mission also includes being the market control authority for radio equipment.”
”The radio equipment law follows a legislation model built on harmonised standards. These standards contain the technical requirements that a product must fulfil to be sold within the EU,” she explains. “You could say that the harmonised standards are the benchmark for market access. We also use these standards when we do market controls of radio equipment.”
Tell us a little about why you’re involved in standardisation development?
“The Swedish government assigned the mission to partake in national and international standardisation to PTS as a public authority,” Peggy begins to explain.
“The development we’re currently seeing in electronic communication is that it is largely driven by technology, which in its turn is mainly driven by market actors, that are globally active. Therefore the area has a huge need for global interoperability – which is made possible by common standards.”
“At PTS, we need to have a good understanding of what governmental measures might need to be taken going forward. In order to do so, we first need a broad understanding of the development in the sector as a whole. That’s where our involvement in standardisation comes in. Since research, development, and standardisation often go hand in hand, our involvement in standardisation gives us a good insight into the entire sector’s development,” she explains.
Being part of both ITS and ETSI
As mentioned previously, ITS is Sweden’s national standardisation organisation for IT and telecommunications. That means we also have important assignments connected to the standardisation deliverables used for the EU’s legislation and policy.
“Therefore, it’s important for us to be a part of the decision-making processes within ITS. Our membership in ITS also allows us to collaborate with industry representatives. That, in its turn, lets us contribute even more to a well-functioning public/private partnership, which, of course, is what standardisation is all about. PTS actually has at least one representative in all of ITS work groups at the moment,” Peggy answers when asked why they’ve chosen to be part of both ITS and ETSI.
“PTS is also responsible for frequency management in Sweden, which means that we work a lot with frequency harmonisation on both European and international levels. Through our membership in ETSI, we’re able to actively participate in the standardisation of the radio equipment’s radio and EMC properties. Long-term, that means that we influence the standards that are crucial for the efficient use of the spectrum,” she explains.
“In other words, the standardisation on a European level contributes to efficient frequency planning and well-functioning radio and electronic communication services. Additionally, it increases the possibility for different radio services to co-exist. Both organisations’ work is essential to our business, so it’s very valuable that we can be involved in both of them,” Peggy says as we wrap up the interview.
Do you want to know more about the possibilities that come with a membership in ITS?
Our network gathers Swedish industry experts within IT and telecommunication to help shape the development of the industry’s standards. Read all about how you can be a part of shaping the communication of the future by becoming a member of ITS here!
