WCIT12 myth busting presentation

 Background
 Why the ITRs are important
 The need to revise the ITRs
 Preparatory process
 Some key proposals
 Myths and misinformation
 Expectations for WCIT-12
 Useful links

Background: origin of the ITRs

Why the ITRs are important
The International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs):
 Establish general principles on the provision and operation
of international telecoms
 Facilitate global interconnection and interoperability
 Underpin harmonious development and efficient
operation of technical facilities
 Promote efficiency, usefulness, and availability of
international telecommunication services
 Treaty-level provisions are required for international
networks and services

The ITRs underpin how we communicate with
each other by phone or computer, with voice,
video or data, and across the globe.

What is in the ITRs?
• Article 1: Purpose
• Article 2: Definitions
• Article 3: Right to communicate at good technical quality;
countries to coordinate their infrastructure
• Article 4: International telecom services to be made available to
the public
• Article 5: Priority to be given to emergency communications
• Article 6: Charges for services, and accounting rates between
carriers
• Article 7: Suspension of services when “dangerous for national
security, or contrary to national laws, public order or decency.”
• Article 8: ITU to gather and circulate information on suspended
services
• Article 9: Special arrangements not affecting all countries
• Article 10: Entry into force; reservations

The ITRs coordinate, countries implement

• Only governments can
implement the ITRs, through
national legislation or regulation

• There have been NO proposals
for a global body to impose
implementation of the ITRs

The ITRs need to be revised

The current version of the ITRs has
remained unchanged since 1988.

ITRs
1988 (came into 2012
force in 1990)

In 1988, there were very few
countries with a liberalized market.
Most operators were a monopoly
regime, under government or
state control

The ITRs need to be revised

Shift from fixed to mobile,
from voice to data as the
drivers of traffic and main
sources of revenue
 The international  Increased use of  As technology evolves,
telecom IP-enabled governments are
environment has infrastructure and evaluating their policy
changed greatly in applications mean and regulatory
technology and opportunities and approaches to ensure
policy. It continues challenges an enabling
to evolve rapidly for the ICT sector environment

The preparatory process for WCIT-12

 Council Working Group to Prepare for the WCIT 12
(CWG-WCIT12) held three meetings in 2010, two in
2011, and three in 2012 (in February, April and June)

 Regional preparatory meetings were held in the
Asia-Pacific, Africa, Arab region, RCC (CIS Countries),
Europe, and Americas – all open also to Sector Members

 124 input documents have been submitted by the ITU
membership; over 450 proposals under consideration

The preparatory process for WCIT-12

Wide consultations on the issues with:
• ITU Member States (193)
• Private-sector members of ITU (567)
• Associates and academic members of ITU (217)
• Civil society – through such venues as the WSIS Forum

On the ITU website:
• WCIT Background Briefs and FAQs (www.itu.int/en/wcit-12/
Pages/WCIT-backgroundbriefs.aspx)
• Site for anyone to post opinion or material on WCIT-12
(www.itu.int/en/wcit-12/Pages/public.aspx)

Proposals made during preparatory process

Human right to
communication Security in the use of ICTs
including fair & equitable accessuse including privacy and preventing spam
of networks & services Protection of critical
national resources
Including communication networks

International Charging and accounting
frameworks - including taxation
(Market-based costing, Llberalization of
international gateways, Transparency obligations on ROAs)

Interconnection and
interoperability Quality of Service

Convergence Enforcement measures
(including possible binding effect of
certain ITU Recommendations)

Key Issues

 What core principles should
guide discussions?

 Do some provisions belong elsewhere?
(e.g. ITU Constitution/Convention, ITU-T
Recommendations)

 What provisions should be added to
cover new issues?

Some key proposals
 Mobile roaming
 Misuse and fraud
 Taxation
 Transparency of routing
 New general principles on economic issues
 Allowing differentiated traffic management
 Cooperation on cybersecurity
 Cooperation to combat spam
 Energy efficiency
 Accessibility
All to be implemented by national authorities

Proposals: Mobile Roaming

 Helping to prevent “bill shock”

 Transparency of prices for users
 Price levels could be capped

 Draft ITU-T Recommendation D.98
 OECD Recommendations

Proposals: Misuse and Fraud

Preventing misuse/hijacking of numbering resources
 According to GSMA, such misuse is a major
factor in fraud against mobile networks and
their customers
 It is used for fraudulent and artificial
inflation of traffic

Combating fraud
 Identifying the origin of communications and
sending this information to the receiver

Proposals: Taxation

 Clarify existing provision to prevent
international double taxation (carriers being
taxed twice for the same asset or service
because it operates in two jurisdictions)

 Prevent or discourage taxation of incoming
international calls
(A delicate issue because there is a trade-off
between raising revenue and encouraging the use
of telecommunications)

Proposals: new general principles

 Price transparency
 Cost orientation, presumably cost
intended to include:
• Return on investment
(including dividends to
stock owners)
• Taxes
• Creation of reserves for
future investments
• Risk premiums
• Etc.

Proposals: new general principles
• Foster investment in high-bandwidth infrastructure
Adequate return on investment in infrastructure
Compensation for traffic carried
Compensation for traffic terminated
• No proposals to create new international regulatory
agencies or mechanisms
• Proposals that national authorities should
implement the ITRs
First, ratification of new ITRs in accordance with
national procedures, then, transposition into
national laws and regulations
• Possibly, new or revised ITU-T Recommendations

1/13

Myth: The mandate of ITU is restricted to telephony

FACTS:
• Many ITU standards (including ones under development)
relate to data networks
• The first standardized data network was ITU’s
X.25, developed in 1976, widely used until the 1990s and
still used for specialized networks
• X.25 is a packet-switched, connection-oriented architecture
• End-user data network access devices (modems, xDSL) have
long been based on ITU standards
• The ITU development sector activities cover all aspects of
telecommunications, including in particular data networks
• The ITU radio sector activities cover all aspects of radio
communications, including satellites

2/13

Myth: ITU’s scope does not include the Internet

FACT:

The ITU Constitution defines telecommunications as:

“Any transmission, emission or reception of
signs, signals, writing, images and sounds or
intelligence of any nature by wire, radio, optical
or other electromagnetic systems.”
Many consider that this includes communications via the
Internet, which runs on telecom infrastructure

3/13

Myth: WCIT is about ITU or the UN extending
their mandate so as to control the Internet

FACTS:
• Numerous ITU Resolutions, (e.g. 101, 102, and 133) specify
ITU’s mandate with respect to the Internet
• Numerous ITU-T Recommendations relate to the
Internet, including on combating spam
• WCIT’s main preparatory document includes NO
proposals related to ITU control of Internet domain names or
IP addresses
• Some older proposals referred to IP addresses
• Some current proposals relate to routing (including of IP
traffic) and to billing (including of IP traffic)

4/13

Myth: WCIT may extend the scope of ITU to include
charging and accounting for Internet traffic

FACTS:
• All Internet traffic moves under Art. 9
of the ITRs
• An existing ITU-T Recommendation, and its
Supplement, concern charging and accounting
for the Internet
• Some proposals could affect the way costs are
shared between users and suppliers

5/13

Myth: WCIT is about imposing censorship

FACTS:
• The ITU Constitution (Art. 34) gives Member States the right
to cut off, in accordance with national laws, any private
telecommunications which may appear dangerous to the
security of the State or contrary to its laws, to public order
or to decency
• The ITRs cannot override or conflict with the Constitution
• There is a proposal to ensure that interception and
monitoring of international telecommunications be subject
to due process authorized in accordance with national laws
• Provisions on transparency of routing and call identification
might facilitate some types of oversight by governments

6/13

Myth: Proposals related to security could hinder
the free flow of information
FACTS:
• There are proposals to:
- encourage cooperation to combat spam
- improve network security and the protection of privacy
• In Article 33 of ITU’s Constitution, Member States recognize
the right of the public to correspond through international
telecommunications
• Most countries already have measures to e.g. protect
copyright owners, prevent defamation, etc. Such measures
are permitted by Article 34 of the ITU’s Constitution
• The ITRs cannot contradict the Constitution

7/13

Myth: Consumer interests could be harmed by WCIT

FACTS:
There are proposals to:
• limit roaming prices - based on costs, prices in the visited
country, or prices in the home country
• ensure transparency of prices, wholesale and retail, in
general and for roaming
• encourage cost-based pricing
• ensure transmission of calling party identifiers
• combat fraud, especially from misuse of telephone numbers
• improve access for people with disabilities

8/13

Myth: Proposals to give binding force to certain
ITU-T Recommendations are unprecedented

FACTS:
• Many Recommendations (standards) were widely considered
to be binding prior to 1988
• In other fields, it is common for laws or regulations to give
binding force to standards developed by private
organizations: electricity, plumbing, accounting, etc.
• Recommendations can only be made mandatory if a national
authority makes them so

9/13

Myth: WCIT is a top-down process

FACTS:
• The ITU Secretariat serves the wishes of the membership. All
discussions are based on proposals from ITU Member States
• There have been wide consultations, including beyond the
ITU membership
• 124 input documents were submitted to the WCIT
preparatory process. After discussion, over 450 individual
proposals were retained for Member States to use when
preparing their proposals
• Countries can compose their delegations at WCIT-12 as they
wish. They usually include ITU Sector Members, and may
include any other organization, whether an ITU member or not

10/13

Myth: The WCIT process is not open or transparent

FACTS:
• All ITU members have full access to all WCIT documents and
audiocasts of discussions
• Member States are expected and encouraged to consult
their citizens and give them access to WCIT documents,
preferably in the national language
• ITU offers information on its website, and a space for any
stakeholder to add comments
• The conference plenary sessions and some committee
meetings will be open to the public (to be formally decided
on the opening day)

11/13

Myth: WCIT could be dominated by authoritarian countries

FACTS:
• All of the ITU’s 193 Member States have equal rights:
the principle is one nation, one vote
• No proposal will be accepted unless it has wide support
• Decisions can be made by majority vote, but this is very
unusual: decisions are usually made by consensus
• Each country is free to refuse to sign or to ratify the
finally agreed text from WCIT-12

12/13

Myth: WCIT could result in decisions that are
bad for developing countries

FACTS:
• Many ITU Member States are developing countries, and their
representatives are well informed and well prepared to
represent the interests of their citizens
• One of ITU’s top priorities is to spread connectivity to every
community – especially broadband. WCIT-12 is an opportunity
to establish a framework to support this into the future

13/13

Myth: There has been a spontaneous wave
of protest against WCIT

FACTS:
• Organized lobbying groups have been active
• Many articles concerning WCIT repeat the same
misinformation, at times in the same words
• Documents have been leaked selectively
• Documents are described as concerning WCIT, when in fact
they have no formal relation to WCIT
• There are many articles and other comments giving a
balanced and positive view

Expectations for WCIT-12

 WCIT-12 is a key opportunity to increase positive
collaboration among countries
 It can help countries reach new levels of
economic and social development through
better ICT services
 The aim is to make the ITRs relevant and
valuable to all stakeholders, so that they address
and alleviate many current concerns
 It is an opportunity – not to be missed - to create
a pathway to a sustainable and inclusive global
communication system of the future

Useful links

WCIT-12 website:
http://www.itu.int/en/wcit-12/Pages/default.aspx

WCIT Background Briefs and FAQs:
http://www.itu.int/en/wcit-12/Pages/WCIT-backgroundbriefs.aspx

ITU Council working group CWG-WCIT12:
http://www.itu.int/council/groups/cwg-wcit12/index.html

Draft of the future ITRs, and site for public comments:
http://www.itu.int/en/wcit-12/Pages/public.aspx

WCIT12 myth busting presentation

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