U.S. Delegation Focused on Outreach Ahead of WCIT

If portions of the revised International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) that come out of the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) next month prove objectionable to the U.S., there’s no chance the Senate would vote to ratify the revisions to the treaty-level document and make it a part of U.S. law, FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell said Wednesday. But McDowell and others at an American Enterprise Institute event said they believed a worst-case scenario coming out of WCIT could result in a “balkanization” that would disrupt the growth of the Internet. The U.S. delegation to WCIT sees controversial proposals that would expand the ITRs into the realm of Internet governance -- including cybersecurity and Internet traffic compensation -- as “non-negotiable” items, said U.S. delegation head Terry Kramer. That makes it all the more critical that the delegation focus on outreach efforts to wavering delegations in the weeks before WCIT convenes in Dubai Dec. 3, he said.

The U.S. will need to ensure its outreach to other countries highlights how revisions to the ITRs would affect telecom globally, particularly when it comes to the Internet, Kramer said. “Our messages need to be issue-oriented and fact-oriented,” he said. “Not taking shots at the U.N., not taking shots at leadership.” The U.N.’s ITU coordinates WCIT and revisions to the ITRs. Even as the U.S. tries to address other nations’ concerns and find solutions, it must continue to communicate its belief that the multistakeholder approach to Internet governance and an emphasis on market liberalization have factored into the Internet’s success, Kramer said.

The U.S. is continuing to meet with delegations from nations in Africa and the Middle East to tamp down growing interest in a controversial European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO) proposal that had fallen out of favor in Europe, Kramer said. While the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) voted last month to reject ETNO’s “sender-party-pays” proposal, nations in Africa and the Middle East have introduced similar proposals in its place (CD Nov 5 p6).

The BRIC nations -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- are also proposing “worrisome” proposals, Kramer said. Most surprising is a proposal from India that adopts an ETNO-like economic model, which he said comes “out of left field.” The U.S. hopes to use its successful pre-WCIT work with the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL) as a guide for negotiating with Brazil, which has also introduced a problematic proposal ahead of WCIT, Kramer said.

ETNO-like proposals are “a real threat to the future of the Internet as we know it today,” said Ross LaJeunesse, global head of free expression and international relations at Google. LaJeunesse is also a member of the U.S. delegation to WCIT. WCIT is not an appropriate forum for debating changes to Internet governance because revising the ITRs is not a multistakeholder process, he said, since only governments ultimately vote on proposed revisions at the conference. Extending the ITRs into the realm of Internet governance would only give nations like Iran and Russia authority to further censor their citizens, LaJeunesse said.

The U.S. has been surprisingly united in its opposition to efforts to bring Internet governance into the ITRs, McDowell said. Both houses of Congress voted unanimously to approve a resolution supporting U.S. efforts to support the multistakeholder Internet governance model ahead of WCIT -- “an unusual moment in a divided Congress,” he said. The co-chairs of the Congressional Internet Caucus bolstered that view Wednesday, saying in a letter to Kramer that Congress is “unified” behind multistakeholder governance and an Internet “free of governmental control” (See separate report below in this issue.)

Kramer said he has a “mixed” outlook on the chances for achieving a consensus decision at WCIT that the U.S. can support. He noted that ITU leaders, including ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré, have been “spot-on” in their public calls for WCIT delegates to come to a consensus on revisions to the ITRs. Still, Kramer said he was concerned about Touré’s involvement in some negotiations involving the ETNO proposals. The U.S. delegation will need to be well prepared ahead of the conference and make outreach its “No. 1 priority,” he said.