Mr. Chairman,
Ladies & Gentlemen,
Distinguished Guests & Participants
I am honoured by this opportunity to be here with you today to give this Key
Note Speech on behalf of the Secretary-General of ITU and share with you some of
my insights into Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the role
for public policies in shaping future telecommunication markets.
I am impressed by both the size and breadth of scope of this Congress, which
seeks to bring into the spotlight some of the key issues at this crucial time
for the industry. And this is a crucial time for the industry – there is no
doubt about it. Today, we stand at a crossroads in an era of transition, seeking
to cope with the many challenges of a new digital world. The bicentenary
celebration in Argentina is a good time to address these challenges.
The last two decades have witnessed not only the birth of the digital era (as we
heard from Cisco’s Gustavo Bernales yesterday, discussing key technological
trends). They have also seen the ascendancy of the Internet touching upon nearly
every facet of our lives, professional and private; they have heralded the
privatization of the telecommunication market in many countries, the rise of
telecommunication regulators around the world and the advent of mobile
telephony. Any single one of these trends can be described as revolutionary.
In this digital converged era, where the marginal cost of providing information
over many of our networks is virtually zero and precepts of charging customers
according to time, distance or call duration are evaporating, many of the
traditional assumptions on which our telecommunication business models are based
no longer apply. Today, a single search algorithm or revolutionary piece of
software can now overturn an established industry worth many billions of dollars
in the space of a few years.
So what role for public policies in all of this?
In this era of transition, this is a very important question which deserves
careful consideration. Because the way in which our generation answers these
questions has far-reaching consequences for ICTs and the Internet that we must
learn to live with, for generations to come.
I see the primary role of government and public policy as providing a framework
for the subsequent growth and expansion of the industry. To illustrate this,
allow me to reach back just beyond the last two decades of liberalization, back
to 1988, when 178 ITU Member States ratified a specialized, but vastly
important, treaty called the International Telecommunication Regulations or ITRs
at the World Administrative Telegraphy & Telephone Conference (WATTC-88) in
Melbourne, Australia. This major treaty laid down the foundations for our modern
communications industry by setting down guidelines for the treatment of
international telecommunication traffic, provided for the expansion of the
Internet, and established some of the key industry norms that govern the
settlement of international traffic even today.
The treaty established the framework for the subsequent and stunning growth in
international telecommunication traffic, proliferation in new entrants and
operators and the explosion in investment for rolling out network infrastructure
around the world. It included some very important principles and definitions
that are still with us today, such as privilege telecommunications receiving
priority within international transmission, the conditions governing the
suspension of international telecommunication services, the right of any
end-user to send telecommunication traffic (subject to national laws) and a
short, but vital clause stating that carriers are not responsible for the
content of the traffic they carry.
Revising and updating these core principles to take into account the digital
transition and convergence in ICTs will be the main task for ITU Member States
at the World Conference on International Telecommunications scheduled for
November 2012. And it is vital that ITU sets out clear guidelines to ensure the
continued growth and reliable provision of international ICT services as it did
twenty years ago, before liberalization.
With liberalization, however, critics allege that such treaties are no longer
required. Governments should not try to “control” or interfere in the
development of ICT services and especially the Internet. Even more extreme
critics allege that ITU is trying to “take over the Internet”.
Let me deal with the broader criticism first. Arguments that governments should
not get “involved” in controlling the Internet are entirely without foundation
and misleading. Indeed, the Internet originated from government-funded research
at the US Department of Defence [the US government DARPANET was an early
forerunner of the Internet]. The very creation and development of the Internet
is intimately linked with funding and government involvement, so for critics to
say that government should “opt out” of regulating the Internet altogether is
entirely misleading – government has always been an inherent part of the
Internet since its earliest origins. Today, as the Internet comes increasingly
to provide a virtual world mirror of the real world, government, law
enforcement, and indeed, broader public sector services are just as critical a
part of the Internet as it is of the real world. You would not expect to, nor
wish to, live in a society without laws – the online world is no different.
With regards to the second allegation that ITU is trying to “take over the
Internet”, this seems to be based on a fundamental misconception of not only
what the Internet is, but also what the ITU is. ITU consists of a secretariat
and a membership of 192 governments and over 700 private sector entities. Most
of the Internet community is part of the ITU. ISOC, RIRs, IETF and the major
companies supporting the Internet are members of ITU. The Internet is
intrinsically dependent on ITU standards. But of course it is also dependent
upon other standards, other bodies, and other players. No one owns the Internet
and so no one can take it over. However, the World Summit of Information Society
(WSIS) made it clear that governments have a vital role to play in Internet
governance, and as the lead UN agency for ICTs it is clear that ITU will
continue to play a key role, especially in the area of public policy issues, and
technical standards. I am personally committed in my capacity as Director of the
Telecommunication Standardization Bureau to ensuring that we produce
communication standards of the highest possible quality, involving the world’s
most eminent telecommunication and Internet engineers, to provide the
communication infrastructure over which the Internet runs.
ITU can also promote the implementation of a host of online e-government
services; the rolling out infrastructure to developing countries to bring their
citizens online; by managing spectrum to ensure seamless mobile broadband
communications; and by ensuring that Quality of Service does not suffer through
Net shaping.
Without clear leadership and guidance from the ITU Member States, we risk
finding ourselves in an uncertain no-man’s land where the provision of ICT
services including the Internet may be arranged according to private contracts
between commercial entities cloaked in secrecy and not in the public interest.
There are a host of new and vitally important issues emerging in relation to
privacy, data protection, identity theft, hacking and security risks,
intellectual property rights, violation of copyright or distribution rights in
which government and public policy have a vital role to play in establishing
clear guidance and rights to protect consumers and ensure their ultimate
well-being.
When we take into account the sheer size, power and influence of some of the new
Goliaths of the online world, some of them enjoying revenues the size of the
combined GDP of many developing countries taken together, there is a clear need
for government and industry to work together to establish ground-rules and best
practices for the online world through consensus and collaboration. This in my
view is the role for ITU today – government and policy-makers doing what they
have always done and establishing in partnership with industry a clear public
policy international framework within which the ICT sector can continue to grow
and flourish.
This is what I would hope can be achieved at the World Conference on
International Telecommunications in 2012. As soon as the ITU Plenipotentiary
Conference in Guadalajara, Mexico is concluded next month, we will be preparing
for this conference with a series of regional preparatory meetings, including of
course in this region. These preparations will include consideration of the next
World Telecommunication Standardisation Assembly which will be held back to back
with the conference over a three week period. The purpose of these regional
meetings is to develop a consensus on what the content and direction of the
revised ITRs should be, taking account the incredible developments that have
occurred in the 22 years since they were adopted. I very much hope you will be
able to contribute to this vital task for the ICT sector and all the citizens of
the world.
Thank you for your attention. |
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