U.S. GEARS UP FOR ITU PLENIPOT, EYEING INTERNET, FINANCE ISSUES

Cost-sharing proposals on international Internet connections, ICANN administration, structure of ITU and role of private sector are among issues that ITU Plenipotentiary Conference is expected to wrestle with later this month. Plenipot, Sept. 23-Oct. 18 in Marrakesh, is held every 4 years and is billed by ITU as “key event at which ITU member states decide on the future role” of organization.

Policy debates this month are expected to dwell, in part, on Internet-related issues, such as role that ITU can play in Internet domain name administration, several sources said. Another issue that has emerged at several recent international telecom meetings is that of International Charging Arrangements for Internet Services (ICAIS), which has been backed by countries such as China and would entail administration involved in international Internet connections negotiating bilateral commercial arrangements for cost sharing. Other issues deal more fundamentally with structural reform of ITU itself, including how standards policy is handled and how much private sector members pay for services. “It is going to be a difficult conference,” industry source said. “The biggest problems we face are financial.”

Role that ITU should play in connection with Internet policy underpins several of specific issues that are expected to receive attention at plenipot meeting. While parts of the developing world have supported ITU’s taking stronger role in Internet policy, U.S. has made known its opposition to ITU’s carving out greater role in that area, industry source said. “That lurks and it pops up in various ways -- it is an underlying issue,” source said.

On constrained finances of ITU, one issue expected to emerge is role of private sector, including what companies pay for services. One thought is that private sector members are playing greater role in decision-making, “therefore why not offload some of the expenses of the ITU on to those that benefit the most,” expert said. One proposal on table would increase “contributory unit” dues of what private sector members pay, said several sources following plenipot closely. Several U.S. sources said that was of particular concern to industry given depressed economic conditions of telecom sector now. Other financial proposals address cost recovery, which generally center on ways of trying to directly assess beneficiaries of particular ITU service for cost of providing it. Industry attorney gave example of operator requests for coordinating new satellite applications, for which ITU now charges fees to recoup its costs. Some cited possibility that ITU would charge for costs of attending certain conferences in radiocommunications sector that now are free. Under those proposals, cost recovery also would apply to member countries seeking special assistance, source said. “You would have to pay for what you eat,” another said. “It would be the worst time to be increasing what the [private] sector members are paying.” Other cost-cutting measures under consideration include how frequently World Radio Conference is held.

Japan submitted proposal Aug. 9 for conference that said “ITU requires greater powers to propose and formulate policy in order to assume a greater leadership role in the development of global communications.” Proposal would create policy sector within ITU in 2-stage process: (1) General Secretariat and Radio, Telecom Standardization and Development Sectors would remain intact but Policy Dept. would be created within General Secretariat, including “strategic policy unit.” (2) Policy sector would be created and 3 new sectors would be Radio, Telecom Standardization and Policy, which would include Development Dept. Separate proposal submitted by several European countries would transfer some work that now is part of ITU-Telecom (ITU-T) sector to nontreaty work of World Telecom Standardization Assembly (WTSA). Transfer, which several industry observers said would give more private sector control over standards policy, was submitted by Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Switzerland, U.K. It would require changes in ITU constitution and convention. Proposal said it would “allow WTSA greater flexibility to review and enhance the organization of the work of the sector to ensure that it meets the requirements of those participating in the work, and to maintain ITU-T as a viable organ for efficient standardization.” Several industry sources said Europeans had been interested in creating separate standards sector in ITU, although they said how much support such measure would receive during plenipot still was unclear.

“One of the key structural issues will be the future of the [telecom] standards sector,” source said. One element involves whether private sector members should be able to be observers at ITU Council, right that they currently don’t have, source said. If that right is granted, question is whether private sector should be able to participate on financial committee. Such issues now are “jealously guarded” rights of member countries that are interested in continuing to restrict private sector participation, source said. “There are those who are concerned that if you give them any more rights, that the governments then have a tougher time asserting their authority. There is a real tension there.”

Another issue expected to arise is attempt to reopen International Telecom Regulations (ITR) -- obligations that cover issues such as cost-based accounting rates for international telecom traffic and that were developed in treaty conference in Melbourne. “A lot has changed since 1988 with IP telephony” and other Internet-related advances, industry source said. One concern among some in U.S. industry is that if ITRs are reopened during plenipot, that could provide opportunity for advocates of ICAIS language to insert new definitions for telecom services that included new Internet-based services, several sources said. Two years ago, World Telecom Standardization Assembly in Montreal approved recommendation that administrations involved in international Internet connections negotiate bilateral commercial arrangements for cost-sharing. U.S. position has been to oppose ICAIS on ground that it amounts to Internet regulation that ultimately would stifle its development. Bilateral arrangements have been seen in U.S. as sole purview of commercial arrangements and not govt. intervention. However, some developing countries have viewed ICAIS as opportunity to even imbalance in Internet traffic and revenue it generates. China in recent months has backed proposal on how to charge for Internet interconnections when 2 countries had disproportionate traffic flows. “If the ITRs are opened, it gives governments who want an ICAIS model to put in definitions of Internet data and international telecommunications traffic as it pertains to those services,” source said. Several sources said there was fairly wide range of views going into plenipot on what fate of ITRs should be, with some advocating that they be subject of world conference on international telecom and others saying they should be abrogated altogether or folded into ITU’s constitution.

Several industry observers said they expected that resolution from 1998 plenipot in Minneapolis on Internet domain names and addresses would re-emerge for discussion in Marrakesh. Resolution 102 is expected to come up for reconsideration at time that ITU is examining ways to become more actively involved in Internet governance issues, several sources said. “There is a movement by the ITU itself to become more actively involved in the domain name space,” industry source said. Support of developing countries may be enlisted as ITU examines ways “to get more control over the Internet,” source said. Another source said plenipot would be occurring just as ICANN memorandum of understanding with Commerce Dept. is up for renewal. “They have to figure out how to renew that contract,” source said. “That issue will sort of be at a peak during the plenipot.”

Another topic that insiders are watching closely at plenipotentiary involves electronic numbering (ENUM), which translates telephone numbers into Internet addresses in domain name system. U.S. govt. officials said recently that FCC and NTIA were discussing whether U.S. should participate in ITU’s ENUM implementation process. Outcome of those discussion was expected to lead to recommendation to State Dept. on U.S. position to be presented at plenipotentiary. “There have been some efforts in the telecom standardization sector of the ITU, particularly because the ITU has done numbering in the past and some people are comparing ENUM to numbering resources,” one source said.