Tight race, no majority

At this morning’s Plenary meeting, the first round of election to the post of Secretary-General took place.

A total of 173 countries had the right to vote. 156 ballots were cast, one of which was invalid. There were no abstentions. The required majority was therefore 78.

The results of the first round were as follows:

After the first round, two of the candidates — H.E. Ms Muna Nijem (Jordan) and H.E. Mr Montasser Ouaili (Tunisia) — withdrew their candidature.

A second round was held later in the afternoon. This time, 157 ballots were cast, one of which was blank and there were no abstentions. The required majority was therefore 79.

The results were as follows:

A third round will take place tomorrow, 10 November, 09:30 (Antalya time).
 

World Summit on the Information Society: keeping the momentum

The Working Group of the Plenary began its first session with organizational matters. This included the suppression of obsolete resolutions referring to the holding of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

The Chairman outlined four clusters for consideration:

1. Implementation of WSIS outcomes
2. The internet
3. Developmental issues
4. Various other topics of a cross-sectoral nature including standardization, humanitarian assistance, and NGN

The Netherlands, speaking on behalf of Europe, said that ITU had been accorded the lead role in implementing WSIS action lines C2 and C5 (on infrastructure development and cybersecurity), noting that the Union was also a partner in a number of other action lines, such as C1, C3, C4, C6, C7 and C11. The Netherlands also observed that ITU had been called to play a coordinating role to bring all actors on the same page and develop a comprehensive approach as it involves all Sectors. The ITU secretariat will have to maintain close contact with the Council which, in turn, must keep the membership informed.

However, in the view of that country, the work on implementation of WSIS outcomes should be taken up in the normal course of work in the Union and be done within the financial budget.

The Syrian delegate, speaking on behalf of Arab States, emphasized that action line C8 (Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content) should be added as a main action line for the Union, as decided by the Council in April 2006. ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) should be tasked to undertake implementation. Syria referred to the work done in the past in facilitating the use of all languages, including non-Latin scripts, in telex and data transfers. The joint meeting with UNESCO in Geneva earlier this year on Action Line C8 recognized ITU-T’s expertise to implement it.
 

Let me repeat

Committee 6, meeting in the afternoon, debated the text that would accompany the hypothetical figure as a basis of calculation of the contributory unit that would be submitted to the Plenary. The amount of CHF 318 000 based on a ratio of 1/5 for Sector Members was proposed by the Council. Suriname remarked that the proposal could be the working figure, even though it was the worst case scenario as it represented a shortfall of CHF 33.3 million.

Indonesia reminded delegates that the purpose of the exercise was not merely to cover the deficit but to look at the health of the Union and its productivity in the future.

The Chairman of the Council Working Group on the draft Strategic Plan made a presentation outlining the goals, objectives and outputs based on the new result-oriented budget. She placed the plan in the context of the rapidly evolving ICT environment and its implications for the Union and outlined the seven goals set for ITU to achieve its overall mission. She also laid out the objectives and outputs of the Union broken down by Sector.

Presenting the Arab proposal, the Syrian delegate said the Plan was comprehensive. The delegate said that taking into account the outcomes of WSIS, the goals of the Strategic Plan should include performance indicators for least developed countries as well as those that are indebted (HPIC), those that are under occupation, and those that are emerging from conflict and natural disasters.

Indonesia called for the suppression, or deletion, of Goal 7 that implied interference in national affairs as a means of introducing foreign investors. The delegate also said that scarcity of finances and human resources in the Union was not acceptable and that every effort must be made to enhance the capacity of ITU to meet the challenges ahead.

Brazil said that the implementation of WSIS should be set as a top priority and necessary resources should be made available.

Senegal called for the participation of new stakeholders from civil society and to expand ITU’s mandate in tune with the changing ICT environment.

The Chairman of the Council Working Group presented the Report on the draft Financial Plan 2008-2011 and the revision of Resolution 91 on cost recovery. She said new savings were possible through economies and efficiency measures, but without resorting to a global cut. Options had also been outlined to increase the ratio payable by Sector Members.

Reference was made to the Canadian suggestion of “Unfunded Mandated Activities” which was introduced at PP-02 to accommodate activities not within the income limits. Should the Plenipotentiary decide that the Union must implement programme activities in full, the contributory unit would have to be increased.

Regarding arrears, the Inter-American proposal called for a review of the repayment schedules, including the maximum duration of 25 years for Member States and five years for Sector Members. CITEL proposed compelling administrations to be up-to-date with payments, including their annual contributions, as a means of facilitating the financial normalization of ITU.

More on policy and legal issues

Committee 5 is faced with many proposals and may have to change its initially agreed working methods to cope with the workload, said its Chairman. One of the most complex issues is the International Telecommunication Regulations (see Highlights 3), for which an ad hoc group of the committee is likely to be set up on Friday afternoon, the Chairman announced.
 

Committee 5 reaches first agreement

Due diligence and advance notification

The first agreement reached in Committee 5 was the consensus to delete Resolution 85 on the “Evaluation of the administrative due diligence procedure for satellite networks adopted by the World Radiocommunication Conference.” France, making the proposal on behalf of European countries, said that evaluation of due diligence was a matter for world radiocommunication conferences (WRC). Resolution 85 was adopted in Minneapolis following WRC-97, which had underlined that the problem of having too many notifications was a serious and an increasing one and that it was, therefore, necessary to adopt “due diligence measures”. The proposal to abrogate the resolution also came from the Arab States, Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. As the United States put it, the resolution had fulfilled the purpose for which it had been established.

Other resolutions for which agreement was reached to delete include Resolution 86 on “Advance publication, coordination, notification and recording procedures for frequency assignments pertaining to satellite networks.” European and Asia-Pacific countries had proposed to modify the resolution but the US proposed its deletion, believing that WRC is the appropriate place to deal with radio matters. The Syrian delegate, on behalf of the Arab group, also called for deletion expressing surprise that resolutions dealing with such specialized radiocommunication issues had been endorsed by a Plenipotentiary Conference.

Broadcasting going digital

Agreement was also reached to suppress Resolution 117 on the “Determination of the planning area for terrestrial television and sound broadcasting in the VHF and UHF bands at the regional radiocommunication conference.” France, presenting the proposal for deletion on behalf of 37 European countries, said that they were proud of the achievements reached in June 2006 at the ITU Regional Radiocommunication Conference (RRC-06), which had been organized in keeping with Resolution 117. So the resolution had served its purpose. The delegate was referring to the landmark agreement signed in Geneva at RRC that will form the basis for digital television and radio broadcasting in more than 100 countries for years to come. The agreement sets out a plan for ending almost all analogue broadcasts by 17 June 2015 in Africa, Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, parts of Asia, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Alternative calling procedures

The Syrian Arab Republic, on behalf of the Arab group, proposed to modify a resolution that says that some forms of alternative calling procedures, often referred to as “call-back” may have an impact on traffic management and network planning and degrade the quality and performance of the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Resolution 21 “Special measures concerning alternative calling procedures on international telecommunication networks,” was last updated at Marrakesh.

Sharing revenues in international telecommunication services

The Arab group presented another proposal to modify Resolution 22 on the “Apportionment of revenues in providing international telecommunication services”, also last updated at Marrakesh. This resolution recognizes that the uneven access to telecommunication facilities globally results in a widening of the gap between the developed and the developing world in terms of economic growth and technological progress. It recalls the recommendation in "The Missing Link" that Member States should consider a rearrangement of their international traffic accounting procedures in relations between developing and industrialized countries in such way that a small proportion of call revenue is used for development purposes.The Arab group is proposing change in the wake of a new principle, which as the Syrian delegate put it, was being recommended by ITU-T Study Group 3 for adoption. This is the principle of “network externality”. On the other hand, Sweden speaking on behalf of European countries proposed the resolution’s suppression saying that it was obsolete.

New Partnership for Africa's Development

Kenya, on behalf of African countries, proposed that Resolution 124 (Marrakesh) ― which deals with support for the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) should be amended to take into account the outcomes of WSIS. The proposal calls on ITU to continue providing assistance to the development of ICT in Africa, for example, “by reinforcing its close working relationships with the African Telecommunications Union.” Suggested activities in support of NEPAD include:

• Preparation of master plans for ICT infrastructure development.

• Facilitation of the introduction of digital technologies, especially for broadcasting.

• Support for all projects which promote ICT development and subregional and regional integration, for example, the East African Submarine Cable project (EASSy), the NEPAD e school initiative, RASCOM, e Post Africa, COMTEL, SRII, INTELCOM II and the African Regional Action Plan for the Knowledge Economy (ARAPKE).

• Establishment and interconnection of national internet exchange points.

• Evaluation of the impact and adoption of measures for strengthening functional capacities and the new missions of subregional maintenance centres.

• Encourage the establishment of technological alliances in order to promote research and development at a regional level.

“Agenda for Connectivity in the Americas and Quito Action Plan”

In spite of the impressive growth and expansion in ICT services recorded in the Americas region in recent years, many areas of major concern still exist and considerable disparities persist. So, the narrowing of the digital divide continues to be a priority. This was highlighted in a proposal supported by eight countries from the Americas. These countries say that ITU should release appropriate financial resources under the ITU financial plan for 2008-2011 (and subsequent plans) to support and stimulate the implementation of projects aimed at fulfilling the objectives set in the resolutions and recommendations of WTDC-06, particularly by mobilizing the surplus income from ITU TELECOM WORLD exhibitions and forums. In addition, they want ITU to continue paying particular attention to the implementation of the provisions of the Istanbul and Doha Action Plans relating to the initiatives under the framework of the Agenda for Connectivity in the Americas. ITU is also urged to strengthen support to the Member States in the region through its Regional Office for the Americas.

Economies in transition

The Russian Federation on behalf of members of the Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications (RCC) proposed an addition to the definition of developing countries. The RCC proposal notes that the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly in 2004 and the World Telecommunication Development Conference in 2006 agreed that documents of ITU-T and of the Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) relating to developing countries would now also apply to countries with “economies in transition.” Therefore, the RCC proposal is that all ITU documents relating to developing countries should be extended in this way. Some countries have asked for clarification of the nature of documents being referred to in the RCC proposal.

Other resolutions to delete include Resolution 106 on the review of the ITU structure and Resolution 105 on the “urgent need for prompt action to address the year 2000 problem”.
 

Question of interference

During the Plenary session in the morning as the votes of the second round for the post of Secretary-General were being counted, Cuba made a statement claiming that “the United States had failed to comply with the provisions of the Constitution, the Convention and the Radio Regulations of ITU in regard to broadcasting transmissions against Cuba.” The delegate explained that since the 1960s, the United States had maintained, towards Cuban territory, broadcasting transmissions having a content contrary to the spirit and letter of the Preamble to the ITU Constitution. More recently, in 1990, the government in question “placed in service a television transmitter aboard a tethered aerostat at an altitude of 3000 metres covering part of Cuba's national territory with the same sort of programming, thereby additionally causing harmful interference to Cuba's television services, whose stations are duly recorded in the Master International Frequency Register”. He said that the Administration of Cuba had asked the Radio Regulations Board (RRB) for assistance in solving the interference problem, and that the matter had been taken up at several meetings of the Board (from 6 September 2004 to 24 February 2006). During that period, the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR), in pursuance of decisions by RRB, had sent several communications to the United States authorities, requesting that they eliminate interference to Cuban stations. The delegate put forward a proposal to PP-06 that would require the ITU Secretary-General and Director of BR to urge the Administration of the United States “to cease, with the least possible delay, these transmissions towards the territory of Cuba in the sound and television broadcasting bands.” The proposed resolution also instructs the Council “to examine the outcome of the measures taken pursuant to this resolution.”

Responding to Cuba’s claims, the United States delegate said that his country took seriously its obligations under ITU Constitution, Convention and Radio Regulations. He added that the United States also affirmed the importance of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that "everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; that this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." He underlined that this was recognized by both in paragraph 4 of the Geneva Declaration of Principles and paragraph 4 of the Tunis Commitment, adopted at World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Both documents were agreed by the Cuban Administration.

Turning to the allegations from the Cuban Administration as to harmful interference, the delegate said that the United States followed “the relevant procedures on harmful interference set forth in Article 15 of the Radio Regulations, as would any Member State in dealing with such a matter”. He stressed that the record was clear on this issue, and listed what he described as the relevant facts.

The delegate also stated that the United States remained very concerned about Cuban actions that cause harmful interference to US broadcasts. He added that the United States had notified the BR of repeated, ongoing and longstanding harmful interference by the Administration of Cuba to HF broadcasts by US stations (on frequencies correctly notified to ITU) inconsistent with provisions of the Constitution and the Radio Regulations. He pointed out that BR and RRB, not the Plenipotentiary Conference, were the appropriate forums for dealing with the bilateral dispute between the Administration of the United States and the Administration of Cuba concerning allegations of harmful broadcast interference.

On 9 November, there were 1470 delegates from 159 countries and 74 representatives of 34 entities present at the Conference.

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