[ncdnhc-discuss] ICANN Reform: Role of ITU

[Hill, Richard]

Marc Schneiders stated "The ITU is made up of Telco's. Telco's are
receiving, and will receive, more and more, competition from 'the internet'
as a carrier for voice data."
Telcos are, by regulation (if my memory is correct, but I may be wrong),
prevented from offering certain types of data services in the USA, but this
is not the case elsewhere in the world.  In Europe, telcos are major ISPs
and use the Internet both to offer services and as a carrier for voice data.
ITU's membership today includes Internet companies such as Cisco, Sun, AOL
Time Warner, European ISPs, etc.  You can see the full list of members at:
 
http://www.itu.int/cgi-bin/htsh/mm/scripts/mm.list?_search=SEC&_languageid=1

In response to comments of the type "The ITU should not be involved in
Internet because in the past it tried to block the development of the
Internet in order to protect local phone monopolies",  I would reply,
speaking purely personally: (1) I wish we could stop talking about what may
have happened 15 years ago and focus on the future and (2) whatever ITU may
have done 15 years ago was, I think, a reflection of government policies at
the time, which, at the time, were thought to serve the public interest.
Best,
Richard

-----------------------------------------
Richard Hill
Counsellor, SG2
International Telecommunication Union
Place des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 20
Switzerland
tel: +41 22 730 5887
FAX: +41 22 730 5853
Email: richard.hill at itu.int
Study Group 2 email: tsbsg2 at itu.int