World Forum Says New Telecom Rules Would Ensure Global Interconnection
Countries may want to consider calling line identification, disputes, spam and malware, emergency telecoms, numbering misuse and telecom fraud, in preparations for a 2012 treaty conference to update the International Telecommunication Regulations, according to a nonbinding opinion adopted by the World Telecommunication Policy Forum in Lisbon. The regulations outline general principles to support global interconnection and interoperability for international telecommunications. A World Conference on International Telecommunications is expected to amend the treaty in 2012, participants said.
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An experts group identified several amendments for consideration when the regulations are updated, Malcolm Johnson, the director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, told us (CD Jan 28 p9). The opinion adopted at the forum will aid the creation of proposals for revising the regulations, an official said. Attitudes toward the regulations have changed since they were last updated, in 1990, Egypt said.
Countries may want to consider emerging telecom issues as they prepare for the treaty conference, the draft opinion said. Operators should be required to use ITU-T recommendations for safety of life, priority telecommunications, disaster recovery and emergency telecommunications, the opinion said.
The U.S. called the debate on misuse and fraud many- sided, a participant said. The meaning of “fraud” varies with the context, a meeting document said. Some define telecom fraud as using a network with the intention of avoiding payment or by making someone else pay, it said. Some countries believe numbering-resource misuse takes place when there isn’t adherence to the assignment criteria in ITU- T recommendations or when an unassigned numbering resource is used to provide a telecom service, the document said. Following ITU-T recommendations is voluntary, the U.S. said.
Opinions also differed on defining “hubbing.” A draft document defined it as routing traffic “to final destinations via a transit centre (hub), with payment being made, solely to the latter, of the termination … prices indicated in its hubbing offer.” The ITU Council and a policy-setting meeting in 2010 will seek to clarify the meanings ahead of the treaty conference, participants said.
The U.K. said technical capabilities and national and legal regulatory frameworks should be considered in the opinion’s call for transit administrations to “identify and transmit the origin of traffic that they receive, in particular by supplying the Calling Line Identifier (CLI) or other origin identifier.” But a proposal by the U.K. would allow one administration “cheat” another simply by declaring it can’t include traffic identification information, Syria said. The provision “has items which member states may wish to consider in any future revision of” the regulations, the U.K. said. The caveat shouldn’t be used “as a reason to misuse or to cause fraud,” Syria said.
Countries should consider countermeasures against spam, phishing and malware in the treaty update, the opinion said. Service quality is hurt by spam, malware and other malicious code transmitted via telecom networks, the opinion said. The proposed provision “shall be construed to prohibit connection of terminals that cause harm to technical facilities or personnel,” subject to national law and practicality, documents said.
Countries may want to consider broadening a treaty provision from “avoid technical harm” to “avoid financial and/or technical harm,” the opinion said. Countries may want to address telecom disputes to take into account unequal international bargaining power between operators, the opinion said.
The U.S. stressed the importance of maintaining alignment between the treaty conference and an ITU review process agreed to by member countries in 2006. Not mentioning the review process in the opinion “would be shaping the outcome,” the U.S. said.
The regulations should have a provision recognizing a country’s right to apply national regulations for international calls in the country, Cuba said, referring to a 2006 decision by ITU member countries that asks international operators to account for countries that don’t allow alternative calling procedures, such as re-file and call- back. The 2006 decision also covers general problems with traffic origin. “Sender-keeps-all” shouldn’t be included as an example of appropriate use of billing models, India and Syria said. Ghana and Syria said perhaps the treaty’s name should be changed to include information and communications technology.