US Seen Facing Big Challenges Before ITU in Opposition to Internet Governance

The World Telecommunication Development Conference in October in Bueno Aires "really laid in sharp relief" some challenges the U.S. faces in the ITU, with sizable pushes by several nations for a much bigger ITU role in managing the Internet, Steve Lang, acting director-multilateral affairs, State Department communication and information policy office, told International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) members Thursday. Lang said the U.S. had some successes at WTDC-17 in areas such as broadband deployment, emergency deployment and connecting rural communities. There was a clear division about the ITU, with the U.S. and allies on one side and Russia, China and some developing nations on the other, he said.

The U.S. blocked some "problematic proposals" on infrastructure sharing, using ITU as a coordinating body during disaster response and on data partnerships, Lang said. He said the most contentious item was a call for a global charter for cybersecurity, with the U.S. trying to refocus the text. It was met with "strong opposition" and not much willingness to compromise, Lang said, and the same challenges are expected at the fall 2018 ITU plenipotentiary in Dubai. He said the U.S. is working on prepping for the plenipot, using what it learned from WTDC-17 about needing to be better engaged with allies and partners globally to "effectively deliver our message" on what ITU's role should be.

ITU Working Group discussions this fall also showed a split on whether to open the international telecom regulations (ITR) for review, said Marian Gordon, a State Department ITU representative. Gordon said the U.S. doesn't support a rewrite or opening up ITR revision, and some other countries disagree, Russia in particular.

ITU budgeting and staffing issues bear watching, said ITAC Director Cecily Holiday. She said ITU's radiocommunication sector already was shedding personnel due to downsizing, but other sectors weren't, and now ITU calls for across-the-board staffing cuts could disproportionately hit ITU-R. She said ITU-R has particular need for funding for new technologies to deal with emerging issues like satellite mega constellations.

ITAC members went back and forth over the candidacy of Doreen Bogdan-Martin, chief of ITU’s Strategic Planning and Membership Department, for ITU telecommunication development sector (ITU-D) secretary, and how much support the U.S. has provided her candidacy. With the U.S. not having had leadership of an ITU sector for 25 years, and with Bogdan-Martin potentially being the first woman sector head, "It's time," said Patricia Paoletta, a communications lawyer with Harris Wiltshire. Bogdan-Martin, though expected, wasn't at Thursday's meeting.

Sector leaders will be elected at the plenipot. Paoletta said the ITU-D secretaryship is traditionally held by someone from a developing nation, and there's also a Nigerian candidate for the role, which could be a big hurdle for the U.S. ITAC members said among many nations quid pro quo deals of supporting candidates are common. Lang said such that's against U.S. policy.