US Priorities at ITU Plenipotentiary Include Better Transparency, Plus AI and IoT Issues, FCC Staffer Says

Top U.S. priorities at the ITU plenipotentiary meeting this fall in Dubai include improved ITU transparency and management, and avoiding a global regulatory framework for emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and IoT, said FCC International Bureau Multilateral and Regional Affairs Branch Chief Kelly O’Keefe at an FCBA event Wednesday. Roxanne McElvane Webber, bureau deputy chief-global strategy and negotiation division, said the U.S. has waged "a big campaign [with] big people behind it" for Doreen Bogdan-Martin, chief of ITU’s Strategic Planning and Membership Department, to be elected ITU telecommunication development sector secretary. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and NTIA Administrator David Redl have endorsed her (see 1803130029). McElvane Webber said broadband investment globally outside the U.S. is principally mobile, with "a very, very pronounced disparity" by gender in uptake. She said the division wants and is trying to promote more formal talks with industry about what companies are finding in different countries and international regions. O'Keefe said that, like the U.S., numerous countries are trying to extend broadband networks to remote and rural areas, though methods of doing so vary. She said other countries also are following how the U.S. approaches 5G deployment issues such as spectrum availability and infrastructure. She said the division also fields a lot of questions from other countries about over-the-top regulation, though the FCC doesn't do that.