African Telecommunications Union Members ‘Mixed’ on U.S.’s Position on ITRs, Kramer Says
The African Telecommunications Union’s meeting to prepare for the World Conference on International Telecommunications produced a mixed set of opinions on the U.S.’s position and on a proposal the U.S. opposes as allowing Internet regulation, said Terry Kramer, the head of the America’s WCIT delegation. The U.S. has opposed a proposal by the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO) that would establish a “sender-party-pays” principle for Internet traffic compensation that could require the sender of any Internet content to pay for its transmission. Kramer made the case for the U.S.’s position on the possible revisions to the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) during the ATU’s meeting in Accra, Ghana, which ran Tuesday and Wednesday of last week (CD Sept 24 p5).
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"There are a fair number of nations that are still trying to get their head around the issues, figure out what they're going to do on broadband build, and unfortunately are making some proposals that either are ETNO-like or they actually restrict traffic,” Kramer said in an interview last week. “They basically all touch on censorship issues that we're concerned about. You have a variety of nations in that camp, and then you have a variety of nations that are much more into the liberalized camp. And I think they've had a lot more success.” The ATU meeting was productive in that the diversity of views became clearer, Kramer said: He is concerned that some member nations “aren’t fully considering the consumer and economic growth” associated with broadband.
ATU members also delivered a “mixed” response to the U.S. position on revisions to the ITRs, Kramer said. “I think you have some people who are saying ‘Hey, listen, the U.S. is providing some great thoughts on the way things can develop in a variety of economies, they're talking about success in different nations, they're not just talking about success in the U.S.,'” he said. “But I also think you have some nations that are saying ’the Internet is controlled by the U.S., and we want to rebalance the world order here.’ I think that’s an inaccurate view, and one that doesn’t lend itself to good solutions happening for those nations or for other nations."
Kramer said he agrees with the substance of a speech that NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling delivered Sept. 24. In the speech, Strickling said the U.S. “unequivocally” opposes the ETNO proposal (CD Sept 28 p18). “We should be doing the things that are right for society and individuals, not get caught up in what could be sub-optimal transfer pricing,” Kramer said Thursday.
Now that the ATU meeting has concluded, it’s important for the U.S. to engage in additional discussions with ATU-member nations, Kramer said. “Getting senior people in all these nations that are focused on economic growth, on human rights, etc., who can tell the people engaged in the WCIT process that this stuff is critical,” he said. “This is important for society. This is what has to happen.”