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[FYI] ITU addresses digital convergence
- To: debate@fitug.de
- Subject: [FYI] ITU addresses digital convergence
- From: "Axel H Horns" <horns@t-online.de>
- Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2000 12:44:41 +0100
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- Organization: PA Axel H Horns
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[Mir scheint, als ob die ITU sich eine Rolle als Dachverband aller
Oberregulierer des Internet erkaempfen moechte. --AHH]
CORDIS RTD-NEWS/© European Communities, 2000.
Record Control Number: 14517
Date: 2000-03-17
Category: Miscellaneous
General Information:
A Reform Advisory Panel, set up by the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) Secretary-General, Yoshio Utsumi, to
advise on the future of the ITU, has recommended that the
international organisation should become a public/private partnership
to preserve and strengthen its credibility.
Meeting for the first time at ITU headquarters in Geneva,
Switzerland, the 27-member panel, comprising high-level government
and industry representatives, stated the new ITU should reflect
today's competitive telecommunications marketplace where the private
sector takes the lead while regulators act as arbitrators for the
wider public interest. Set up in 1865, the ITU is an international
organisation within which governments and the private sector
coordinate global telecom networks and services.
'Achieving the goal of transforming our organisation into one which
we can serve the membership well in the changing telecommunications
environment is our aim,' said Mr Utsumi.
The international importance of the ITU was also emphasised by the
Panel. Marc Furrer, director of Swiss company OFCOM, argued in favour
of ITU providing a global forum for regulators to meet and discuss
issues of mutual concerns. He said that he could easily meet his
counterparts in the European Union, but doing so in Asia was more
difficult.
The Panel also recommended that the ITU act as a policy think-tank
for collecting best-practice regulatory policies, and a centre for
regulatory expertise. ITU's role in dispute settlement could also be
expanded, as members considered the Union well placed to provide
governments and the private sector with a neutral and effective
mechanism to resolve international disputes.
ITU's role in Internet governance was high on the reform agenda. The
Internet is branching into telecommunications, and it was questioned
whether the Internet should continue to evolve without formal
structure or government regulation as it has in the past.
In the Information Society, 'ITU is bound to have a role but it must
dramatically change,' said Internet Society chief executive Donald
Heath. However there was agreement that the ITU should not intervene
on issues outside its core expertise such as content.
The Panel felt the management of the ITU should be left to the
Secretary-General, whose remit should be increased to include greater
responsibility for the operation of the Union. It was felt that a new
process for the nomination and approval of senior officials needs to
be put in place.
The Panel's recommendations will be submitted to the next meeting of
the ITU working group on reform which meets in April. The EU is
represented on the Panel by Director General of the Information
Society DG Robert Verrue.
Data Source Provider: ITU
Document Reference: Based on ITU press release
Subject Index Codes: Information Processing, Information Systems
Contact Person:
Further information on the ITU is available at: http://www.itu.int/