It's that time again, where large numbers of telecoms and ICT (Information and Communications Technology) companies are faced with the un-nerving prospect of a United Nations agency regulating fundamentally important aspects of the internet, as well as significantly increasing its jurisdiction over the ICT and telecoms industries.
The UN agency in question this time is the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a highly specialised agency created to focus solely on telecommunications and ICT over 100 years ago. The ITU has previously disclaimed any authority to regulate domestic communications, stating specifically in their constitution the: 'sovereign right of each state to regulate its telecommunication'.
The ITU has a wide array of responsibilities and performs all manner of tasks, from working to improve the conditions for telecoms accessibility in under-privileged communities through to allocating global satellite orbits and radio spectrum.
Although ITU regulations do not carry the weight of the law, per se, they set out detailed regulation suggestions and requirements for all national level regulatory authorities, and address a wide range of topics including standardisation and economic and technical issues.
The 2012 World Telecommunications Conference will be taking place later this year in Dubai, where it is expected that one particular treaty - referred to as the ITRs (International Telecommunication Regulations) will be re-negotiated for the first time since its inception nearly 25 years ago.
The ITRs was instrumental in providing a framework of governing principles concerned with international telecommunication transport and services along with the interconnection of telecommunications facilities. The ITRs also provided the guidelines for mutual and private agreements between countries and non-governmental organisations respectively.
Although they will not be passed as law, any decisions made during the course of the world conference will send a clear message to both domestic and international regulators alike concerning the most appropriate course of action to be taken, and it will very likely be that the decisions made at the conference will go a long way to defining the internet and telecoms regulations for the 21st century.
So as to whether or not the changes (which seem inevitable) will have any long lasting or far reaching implications it remains to be seen. But one thing that is for sure is that a review of the regulations is long overdue, and whatever changes are made, it is certain that the ICT and telecommunications industries will continue to grow at an alarming rate for many years to come, guaranteeing that another review will never be far away.
The UN agency in question this time is the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a highly specialised agency created to focus solely on telecommunications and ICT over 100 years ago. The ITU has previously disclaimed any authority to regulate domestic communications, stating specifically in their constitution the: 'sovereign right of each state to regulate its telecommunication'.
The ITU has a wide array of responsibilities and performs all manner of tasks, from working to improve the conditions for telecoms accessibility in under-privileged communities through to allocating global satellite orbits and radio spectrum.
Although ITU regulations do not carry the weight of the law, per se, they set out detailed regulation suggestions and requirements for all national level regulatory authorities, and address a wide range of topics including standardisation and economic and technical issues.
The 2012 World Telecommunications Conference will be taking place later this year in Dubai, where it is expected that one particular treaty - referred to as the ITRs (International Telecommunication Regulations) will be re-negotiated for the first time since its inception nearly 25 years ago.
The ITRs was instrumental in providing a framework of governing principles concerned with international telecommunication transport and services along with the interconnection of telecommunications facilities. The ITRs also provided the guidelines for mutual and private agreements between countries and non-governmental organisations respectively.
Although they will not be passed as law, any decisions made during the course of the world conference will send a clear message to both domestic and international regulators alike concerning the most appropriate course of action to be taken, and it will very likely be that the decisions made at the conference will go a long way to defining the internet and telecoms regulations for the 21st century.
So as to whether or not the changes (which seem inevitable) will have any long lasting or far reaching implications it remains to be seen. But one thing that is for sure is that a review of the regulations is long overdue, and whatever changes are made, it is certain that the ICT and telecommunications industries will continue to grow at an alarming rate for many years to come, guaranteeing that another review will never be far away.
About the Author:
Saul Saresi writes regularly about Voip communications and technologies for his site which can be found here voip system previous examples of his work can be found here voip for business