The International Telecommunication Union’s 19th Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-14) concluded successfully last week in Busan, South Korea, after three weeks of intense discussion, debate, and negotiation over critical issues affecting global telecommunications and the Internet. I had the privilege of participating on the United States delegation to this important conference, led by Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, and I am pleased to say that the outcomes were positive.
In contrast to the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12) in December 2012, a spirit of collaboration and cooperation pervaded the conference and all outcomes were reached via consensus. Outgoing Secretary General Hamadoun Touré deserves congratulations for setting the tone. Congratulations are also due to the newly elected leadership of the ITU which is now tasked with evolving the ITU in the years ahead in a manner that will positively contribute to the future of communications – Secretary General, Houlin Zhao (China), Deputy Secretary General, Malcolm Johnson (U.K.), Radiocommunication Bureau (BR) Director François Rancy (France), Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) Director Chaesub Lee (South Korea), and Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) Director Brahima Sanou (Burkina Faso).
The ITU is the oldest of the United Nations’ agencies – celebrating 150 years next year. In that time, communications have evolved from the telegraph to fibre, satellite, and mobile wireless networks that enable the Internet that we know and use today – and the ITU has evolved along the way. It now works to harmonize spectrum allocations and facilitate telecommunications capacity building in developing countries. In part, PP-14 was about the appropriate next phase of evolution of the ITU as telecommunications networks evolve to support a multiplicity of services and grow in an increasingly complicated and interconnected world – an environment very different from the fixed-line telephony markets of just a decade ago. Many of the proposals that were debated were “Internet” issues – such as privacy and personal data protection, cyber security, content services, IP routing and numbering systems – all of which are currently being addressed in other organizations and via other processes.
The resolutions ultimately adopted do not expand the ITU’s authority into these areas, but they do focus on the need for increased capacity building, increased network access, and increased global cooperation between the ITU and other organizations, including the IETF, ICANN, ISOC, the RIRs, and W3C. Ambassador Sepulveda deserves a lot of credit for his skilled negotiation and behind-the-scenes engagement with other delegations that were critical to achieving the positive outcomes.
PP-14 was a success – but the number of proposals on Internet issues, and the types of substantive issues discussed, demands that the global industry and Internet institutions continue to be excellent stewards of the Internet and continue to work hard to ensure that all stakeholders are heard in the Internet governance process. The success of future Internet governance outcomes will also require that the new ITU leadership and member state administrations become more transparent, more inclusive, and more collaborative they work with, and within, those institutions that are tasked with managing the Internet. We look forward to working with ITU and its new leadership in the months ahead.