Study of Tariff, Charging Issues of Settlements Agreement of Trans-multi-country Terrestrial Telecommunication Cables
(Question 13/3 was discontinued as it was merged with Question 6/3 on 18 January 2021, following the endorsement by TSAG)
Motivation
As one of the greatest inventions of mankind in the 20th century, the internet is gradually becoming a strategic infrastructure for the development of human society in the information age. By causing profound changes in the mode of production and lifestyle, it constantly reshapes the economic and social development pattern and constitutes a cornerstone of the information society.
It is possible to build trans-multi-country terrestrial information channels by connecting the dispersed trans-border cables via domestic backbones, which together will be a large-capacity international terrestrial cable networks that covers regions, continents and even the whole world. This will greatly enhance the transmission capacity between countries, especially those land-locked ones. It'll be an effective and feasible solution to address countries communicate only depend on submarine cables, and is great to meet the higher transmission capacity demands brought by internet development. What's more, the cost of this solution is relatively small, because it mainly utilizes the existing domestic telecommunication networks already deployed in each country.
We are aware, however, that some intermediate countries do overcharge for the transit cable services, and severely restrict the realization of the above mentioned large-capacity international terrestrial cable network. Nowadays, trans-border terrestrial telecommunication cables are well utilized only between neighboring countries, once a third or more countries are involved, the settlements agreement among those cannot be reached, therefore the cables are under-used due to over-priced charging. By utilizing existing or new trans-border terrestrial telecommunication cables, each countries' existing domestic telecommunication networks can be opened up and linked together, to become a fully connected international terrestrial cable network, which will greatly contribute to Connect 2020, UN Sustainable Development Goal (number 9C), and the development of the Internet globally, considering the role of ITU in developing settlement Recommendations and guidelines for trans-multi-country terrestrial telecommunication cables.
Question
Study of Tariff, Charging Issues of Settlements Agreement of Trans-multi-country Terrestrial Telecommunication Cables
Tasks
To study and develop Recommendations and guidelines, as appropriate, regarding the policy, tariffs, charging and economic aspects of trans-multi-country terrestrial telecommunication cables.
The following items are proposed for study:
1. Identify difficulties facing the deployment of trans-multi-country terrestrial telecommunication cables and demands of all parties concerned;
2. Identify various issues/aspects related to the policy, tariffs, charging and economic aspects of trans-multi-country terrestrial telecommunication cables;
3. Study and develop Recommendations and guidelines, as appropriate, regarding the settlement agreements of trans-multi-country terrestrial telecommunication cables.
Other topics can also be studied as appropriate, based on contributions
Relationships
Study Groups:
– Relevant ITU-T study groups
– ITU-D SG1
