The Internet Distinction

by Seth Johnson

Introduction

Enabling Environment

Capacity Building and Digital Inclusivity

International and Regional Initiatives

Introduction

• None of the materials framing the World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS) provide a basis to recognize when the policies or technological solutions promoted as part of WSIS will affect the Internet. This basic oversight has critical implications as the World Telecommunications Development Conference (WTDC) approaches in early 2014. The implications relate not just to impacts on the Internet, but to impacts on developing countries, and on the objectives of the WSIS itself.
• The following is an analysis of the 2010 WTDC Resolutions to identify where they need to be adapted to enable recognition of how the WSIS project will impact the Internet. It is organized based on the framework of Study Groups and Programmes for the work of ITU-D outlined in the Hyderabad Action Plan, issued at the 2010 WTDC.
• We preface our commentary by first providing a description of the distinctions between the terms Internet, IP-based Networks and Next-generation Networks (NGNs), and then noting the important role of a number of 2010 Plenipotentiary Resolutions that are shaping the ITU’s WSIS activities.

• IP-Based Networks, the Internet and Next-Generation Networks IP-Based Networks, the Internet and Next-Generation Networks

  • Not all IP-based Networks represent Internet connectivity. The Internet Protocol enables interoperability between independent networks by transmitting IP packets in a way that allows the broadest flexibility in communications patterns to be supported. Among networks interoperating in this way, end users can expect that they will be able to connect to end users on other networks in a way that will support the broad diversity of applications that they may discover or create online. Networks throughout the world that have so chosen are part of a global network of networks that can be called “the Internet.”
  • The Internet empowers independent network providers to enter the communications arena and offer their users global connectivity, knowing that they can readily interoperate with other networks; and it empowers end users by providing them this global connectivity via a maximally flexible platform.
  • An individual network that uses the Internet Protocol among its own routers can be called an “IP-based Network,” but not an “Internet” made up of autonomous networks interoperating with each other. “Next-generation networks” generally use IP in a way that supports specialized functions within their own network that aren’t readily supported by general purpose interoperation between independent networks, and are thus in a subcategory of IP-based Networks that is distinct from the Internet.
  • NGNs open up the prospect of certain advantages for their network providers, including allowing them to perform network management and provide for levels of quality of service and product and price differentiation by shaping packet transmissions. However, these types of offerings will supplant the flexible, inherently neutral and general purpose Internet platform if they are not distinguished from it, or if competition in the communications arena is reduced to a few providers offering networks of this type.

• WTDC Resolutions in the Context of Key 2010 Plenipotentiary Resolutions WTDC Resolutions in the Context of Key 2010 Plenipotentiary Resolutions

  • When we examine the 2010 WTDC Resolutions we find that they only occasionally make reference to the Internet, and generally use the broader and more indefinite terms ICTs or telecommunications/ICTs to reference the technologies under discussion.
  • Instead, a narrow set of resolutions issued at the 2010 Plenipotentiary Conference provides the frame for the ITU’s usage of the key terms Internet, IP-based Networks and NGNs, including PP 101, 102, 133 and 137. The first three of these are the resolutions that provided the frame for the 2013 World Telecommunications/ICT Policy Forum (WTPF) this past May. The last, PP 137, specifically promotes deployment of next-generation networks in developing countries, and was not referenced by the WTPF.
  • These resolutions do not offer a basis for understanding the differences between these terms, encourage a confusion between the terms Internet and IP-based Networks, and in fact emphasize IP-based Networks and NGNs, rather than acknowledging key characteristics of the Internet and addressing tradeoffs that other types of networks entail.
  • Because of their relationship to these core resolutions, the WTDC Resolutions covered by the programmes of the 2010 WTDC’s Hyderabad Action Plan support the same confusion of terms.
  • More broadly, the failure of the ITU’s resolutions and initiatives in support of the WSIS project to articulate these distinctions allows it to proceed in a way that will harm the Internet unless they are corrected.
  • Of particular concern is the specific emphasis on deploying NGNs in developing countries that we find in PP 137. In the confused context created by PP 101, 102 and 133, it becomes critical as we approach the WTDC to address the confusion in the ITU’s treatment of these key terms in its resolutions.

Enabling Environment

• Various topics: resource mobilization and partnerships, applied research and technology transfer, strengthening cooperation of Member States and Sector Members, effective utilization of mobile communications, non-discriminatory access to modern telecommunications and ICTs, protecting consumers of ICTs, Internet access in developing countries and charging principles for international Internet connection, international alternate calling procedures and allocation of international telecommunications revenues, strategic and financial framework for Hyderabad Action Plan

• (Click to See Enabling Environment Resolutions) (Click to Hide Enabling Environment Resolutions)

  • WTDC Resolutions

    • WTDC 13: Resource mobilization and partnerships for accelerating telecommunication and information and communication technology development
    • WTDC 15: Applied research and transfer of technology
    • WTDC 20: Non-discriminatory access to modern telecommunication and information technology facilities, services and related applications
    • WTDC 22: Alternative calling procedures on international telecommunication networks, identification of originand apportionment of revenues in providing international telecommunication services
    • WTDC 23: Internet access and availability for developing countries and charging principles for international Internet connection
    • WTDC 30: Role of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector in implementing the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society
    • WTDC 53: Strategic and financial framework for the elaboration of the Hyderabad Action Plan
    • WTDC 64: Protecting and supporting users/consumers of telecommunication services/ information and communication technologies
    • WTDC 71: Strengthening cooperation between Member States and Sector Members of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector, including the private sector
    • WTDC 72: More effective utilization of mobile communication services

    WTSA Resolutions

    • WTSA 20: Procedures for allocation and management of international telecommunication numbering, naming, addressing and identification resources
    • WTSA 29: Alternative calling procedures on international telecommunication networks
    • WTSA 69: Non-discriminatory access and use of Internet resources

    Plenipotentiary Resolutions

    • PP 21: Special measures concerning alternative calling procedures on international telecommunication networks
    • PP 22: Apportionment of revenues in providing international telecommunication services
    • PP 23: Apportionment of Revenues in Providing International Telecommunication Services
    • PP 64: Non-discriminatory access to modern telecommunication/information and communication technology facilities, services and applications, including applied research and transfer of technology, on mutually agreed terms
    • PP 140: ITU’s role in implementing the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society

  (Overview of WTDC Resolutions) Overview of WTDC Resolutions

  • WTDC Resolution 30, on the ITU-D sector’s role in implementing the WSIS, is among the core resolutions defining the broad framework of ITU activities since the last WTDC. It is also the WTDC resolution that serves as the basis for the ITU-D sector’s treatment of the enabling environment.
  • WTDC 30 invites the ITU-D sector to facilitate an enabling environment encouraging ITU-D Sector Members to invest in development of telecommunication/ICT infrastructure, assisting Member States and developing countries in finding innovative financial mechanisms and advancing their legal and regulatory frameworks to further infrastructure development and other WSIS goals. It invites ITU-D to pursue statistical work on telecommunication development, using indicators to evaluate progress with a view to bridging the digital divide, and to propose appropriate funding mechanisms for activities in support of the WSIS Action Lines.
  • WTDC 30 encourages ITU-D to develop and implement the ITU-D strategic plan, placing a priority on building infrastructure at national, regional, interregional and global levels, working in cooperation with the other ITU sectors and development partners, with particular regard to the needs of developing countries, and encouraging the principle of non-exclusion from the information society. It calls on Member States to give priority to development of telecommunication/ICT infrastructure, including in rural, remote and underserved areas, and requests the Secretary-General to transmit the resolution to the 2010 plenipotentiary conference for consideration in updating PP Resolution 140.
  • WTDC Resolution 13 concludes that the main players in the field of ICT should act in a way that encourages investments and innovative partnership schemes, that joint ventures should be explored for financing ICT development, that administrations should act to make the ICT sector more attractive for investment, and that a continuous dialogue should continue among telecommunication operators, service providers, and finance sources to prepare projects where BDT can play a catalyst role.
  • WTDC 13 instructs the BDT Director to act as a catalyst in the development of partnerships, by encouraging regional ICT initiatives, organizing training seminars, signing agreements with national, regional and international development partners, and collaborating on initiatives with other relevant international, regional and intergovernmental organizations, to encourage partnerships with high priority given the WSIS outcomes, to coordinate with international bodies involved in ICT development, to encourage international financing agencies, Member States and Sector Members to address the building, reconstruction or upgrading of networks and infrastructure in developing countries as a priority, to promote conditions required for a successful knowledge-based enterprise incubator process and other projects for small, medium and micro enterprises in developing countries, to assist developing countries in responding to global telecommunication restructuring, especially regarding financial issues, and to promote human capacity building in developing countries relating to the ICT sector.
  • WTDC Resolution 71 resolves that appropriate steps should be taken to create an enabling environment at the national, regional, and international levels for encouraging ICT development and investment by Sector Members and ITU-D should act to encourage the private sector to become Sector Members and take part in partnerships with telecommunication/ICT entities in developing countries, that ITU-D should take the interests and requirements of Sector Members into account to enable them to participate effectively in the Hyderabad Action Plan and the WSIS objectives, that a permanent agenda item on private sector issues will be included on the TDAG agenda, and that operational plans should respond to sector Member issues by strengthening communications between BDT, Member States and ITU-D Sector Members. It concludes that in implementing the ITU-D operational plan the BDT Director should consider actions to facilitate public-private partnerships for global, regional and flagship initiatives, to improve regional cooperation through regional meetings on issues of common interest, in particular for Sector Members, and to promote an enabling environment for investment and ICT development.
  • WTDC 71 instructs the BDT Director to facilitate communications between Member States and Sector Members on issues which contribute to an enabling environment for investment, particularly in developing countries, to continue to organize the Global Industry Leaders Forum, possibly back-to-back with the Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR), to foster exchange of information between Member States, Sector Members and regulators, and to further deploy and strengthen the ITU-D Sector Members’ portal to exchange and disseminate information about Sector Members.
  • WTDC Resolution 22 encourages all administrations and international telecommunication operators to give effect to ITU’s recommendations in order to promote an accounting regime that would help limit the negative effects of alternative calling procedures and calling party number delivery on developing countries and limit the negative effects of misappropriation and misuse of international telecommunication numbering resources. It requests ITU-D to collaborate with ITU-T on the issue of refile to eliminate duplication of effort and achieve an outcome in line with PP Resolution 21, to play an effective role in implementation of PP Resolution 22 with respect to apportionment of revenues in favor of developing countries where cost-oriented accounting rates reflect asymmetric costs for terminating international traffic, requests administrations and international operators that permit alternative calling procedures but do not provide calling party number delivery in accordance with their national regulations to respect decisions of other administrations that do not permit such services and that request calling party number delivery for security and economic reasons, and urges cooperation in implementing WTSA Resolution 20 with respect to telecommunication origin identification and misuse of numbering, addressing and naming resources.
  • WTDC Resolution 23 addresses provisions of § 50 of the Tunis Agenda recognizing the concerns among developing countries that charges for international Internet connectivity should be better balanced to enhance access, and calling for the development of strategies to increase affordable global connectivity. It notes that Internet service provider operators in developing countries have expressed concern that the commercial agreements between parties providing international Internet connectivity have not achieved the required balance in regard to charges between developed and developing countries.
  • WTDC 23 asserts that continuing technical and economic development require ongoing studies in this area, while commercial initiatives by service providers have the potential to deliver cost savings for Internet access. It urges service providers to negotiate commercial arrangements for direct international Internet connectivity based on factors such as geographical coverage, number of routes and the cost of international transmission, instructs the BDT Director to conduct activities to promote information sharing among regulators on the relation between charging arrangements for international Internet connectivity and the affordability of international Internet infrastructure development in developing countries, and reaffirms the quest to ensure everyone can benefit from the opportunities that ICTs offer, recalling that governments, private sector, civil society, the UN and other international organizations can work together to pursue improved access to ICT infrastructure and technologies and other WSIS goals. It invites Member States to create policy conditions for competition in the international Internet backbone network access market and in the domestic Internet access service market, as means to lower the cost of Internet access for users and service providers, and urges regulators to promote competition among all service providers in the context of national policy, with a focus on reducing connectivity costs.
  • WTDC Resolution 64 instructs the BDT Director to support the raising of awareness with decisionmakers regarding ICTs and with regulators regarding the importance of keeping users/consumers informed about basic characteristics, quality, security and rates of different services offered by operators, as well as the creation of other protection mechanisms supporting consumers’ rights, to collaborate with Member States in identifying critical areas for policies or regulatory frameworks for protecting users and consumers, to continue coordination with ITU-T on topics such as service quality, perceived quality and security, to strengthen relations with other international organizations involved in consumer protection, and to invite regions to create end user/consumer associations. It urges Member States to create and promote policies providing end users/consumers wih information on the characteristics of telecommunication services offered by different providers, and invites ITU-D Sector Members to contribute international best practices related to the implementation of consumer-protection policies, taking into consideration ITU guidelines and recommendations.
  • WTDC Resolution 72 cites a need to facilitate development and utilization of mobile communications for many practical tasks, including with a view to ensuring more equal access to telecommunication/ICT services for all, observes that new mobile technologies may help bridge the digital divide between both developing and developed countries and urban and remote or rural regions, notes that performing practical tasks with mobile and broadband technologies opens up new prospects including affording access to new technologies to developing countries, and that many countries are interested in mobile services in areas such as e-health, e-government, money transfer and transactions, near-field communications, banking and mobile marketing. Affirming the role of ITU-D in coordinating rational use of resources in efforts to establish more widespread deployment of mobile telecommunication/ICT services in different countries of the world, WTDC 72 resolves that the BDT should play a key role in implementation of regional and national projects for mobile telecommunication systems to provide services such as the above, in cooperation with interested ITU Member States and the private sector, and should develop a programme to develop proposals and recommendations for mobile telecommunication services at regional and national levels.

  (Usage of Key Terms) Usage of Key Terms

  • The Enabling Environment resolutions are phrased in terms of telecommunications and ICTs in general, with only a few references to the Internet or IP-based networks.
  • WTDC 23 references the Internet in describing concerns among developing countries that charges for international Internet connectivity should be better balanced, as presented in § 50 of the Tunis Agenda, in citing WTSA 69′s call for Member States to refrain from discriminatory actions that could impede access to public Internet sites by other Member States, and in noting that ITU-T Recommendation D.50 recommends international Internet connectivity be based on negotiating bilateral commercial arrangements that incorporate consideration of factors such as traffic flow, geographical coverage, or number of routes, whereas international Internet connections remain subject to commercial agreements that do not achieve balance in charges between developing and developed countries; that increases in costs of international Internet connectivity will result in delays in access to the Internet; and that service providers might deliver cost savings for Internet access through commercial initiatives such as those that might result in more traffic being routed locally. WTDC 23 also speaks of the Internet in its invitation for Member States to support ITU-T’s monitoring of the application of ITU-T D.50 and to create policy conditions for effective competition both in the international Internet backbone market and in domestic Internet access, in its urging service providers to negotiate international Internet connection according to the ITU-T D.50 recommendation, and in its instruction to the BDT Director to promote information sharing among regulators on the relation between charging arrangements for international Internet connectivity and the affordability of international Internet infrastructure development in developing countries.
  • WTDC 23 refers to the Internet and IP-based services as distinct terms in one reference to “the rapid growth of the internet and IP-based international services.”
  • WTDC 22, WTSA 20 and PP 21, on alternative calling procedures on international telecommunication networks, identification of origin and apportionment of revenues in international telecommunication services, all reference other terms besides Internet. WTDC 22 cites PP 21′s call for ITU-T study groups to study alternative calling procedures and identification of origin in relation to next generation networks, and WTSA 20 notes “the ongoing deployment of next-generation networks (NGN), future networks (FN) and IP-based networks.” WTSA 20 makes a single mention of the term Internet in association with the concept of convergence, with a reference to “the global growth of mobile and Internet subscribers and the convergence of telecommunication services.”
  • WTSA 69, on non-discrimination in access to and use of Internet resources, notes that ITU-T is dealing with technical and policy issues related to IP-based networks, including the Internet and next-generation networks, and references the Internet in citations of the UN Human Rights Council resolution on the promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet, § 48 of the WSIS Declaration of Principles, on the governance of the Internet as a core issue of the information society agenda, and Opinion 1 of the Fourth WTPF and the 2009 Lisbon Consensus on Internet-related public policy matters. It notes the global and open nature of the Internet as a driving force in accelerating progress towards development, that discrimination in accessing the Internet could greatly affect the developing countries, and the fact that the 2010 Plenipotentiary Conference entrusted ITU-T with a number of Internet-related activities, including those under PP 102, on ITU’s role in international Internet-related public policy issues and management of Internet resources.

  (Comments on Resolutions) Comments on Resolutions

  • International Internet Connectivity
  • Whatever the outcome of efforts referred to in WTDC 23 to increase the affordability of international Internet connectivity for developing countries, it is important to incorporate recognition of the key characteristics of the Internet in connection with this resolution because while these bilateral arrangements may provide for connectivity that constitutes Internet access at the international level, this does not mean the term “international Internet connectivity” designates Internet connectivity at more local scopes. The commercial initiatives WTDC 23 suggests service providers might implement to gain cost savings could well include practices that are viable within intranets but not in an Internet context.
  • Funding Mechanisms, Partnerships
  • WTDC 30 and 13 both relate to the role of private investment in development of infrastructure and services. Both relate to PP 102 in the core framework, which among other things also addresses private investment. WTDC 30 is more focused on funding methods and “innovative funding mechanisms,” while WTDC 13 is more focused on encouraging “innovative partnership schemes” and joint ventures.
  • The language in these resolutions should be revised to explicitly acknowledge the problem of developing funding mechanisms and partnership schemes that support and work within contexts providing competitive access at the physical layer, rather than using generalized language amenable to being interpreted in accord with vertically integrated telecommunications contexts such as we find in the United States.
  • If the vertically integrated telecommunications model is to be supported, the language should also incorporate recognition of a competitive environment of numerous providers interoperating at the physical layer, recognizing that this type of context empowers end users and independent providers and creates an open, flexible platform that fosters innovation. The latter type of context has profound advantages that should be compared against the advantages of intranet services, whether by a few providers or numerous.
  • There is no Internet within a vertically integrated telecommunications environment that has joined the physical layer with the higher layers within which applications are deployed, since there are no autonomous networks interoperating. Acknowledging this distinction is particularly important to developing countries that may want to perform this comparison or seek support for developing either type of context in the near or long term.
  • Indeed, if the ITU places an emphasis on NGNs in its development programs in support of the WSIS, as we see expressed in PP 137, it’s imperative to be able to recognize the difference between these types of offerings, with the specialized types of services they support, and the general purpose platform the Internet makes possible between independent network providers.
  • The economics of a vertically integrated market relates to control and efficiency for particular producers and the particular products supported by their production and supply chains. An analysis in those terms does not address the impact that vertical integration has on the direct social advantages of the flexible, general purpose platform produced among providers internetworking as they compete at the physical layer and the diversity of products and services made possible by this platform.
  • In the framing of policy, telecommunications contexts that support vertical integration have the characteristic of treating physical layer infrastructure to a great degree as private, conditioning regulation on a prior determination of anti-competitive behaviors or effects. The use of public-private partnerships in this type of context can reinforce this approach to regulating the physical layer, helping condition involvement of the public sector on greater private privileges.
  • However, other legal traditions may not apply analysis of anti-competitive effects as a precondition to regulate the public right of way: this approach proceeds from a premise that regulation of a shared public resource is given by its nature. This approach more readily applies conditions and obligations on entities that gain access to install infrastructure across the public right of way, treating the infrastructure as inherently subject to public requirements. It will benefit the flexibility of the framework that ITU applies in its activities in support of WSIS, to incorporate recognition that public-private partnerships might also be structured in a way more consistent with this type of legal tradition.
  • All of the areas WTDC 30 invites ITU-D to conduct activities in support of — fostering enabling environments, innovative financial mechanisms, and legal and regulatory frameworks, developing the ITU-D Strategic Plan, measurable indicators for statistical analysis of progress, and appropriate funding mechanisms — should be articulated carefully to incorporate recognition and support for environments that provide for competitive access to the physical layer.
  • (Resolution 71)
  • Technology Transfer, Non-Discrimination
  • Many of the references to the Internet in WTSA 69 may benefit from a review with an eye for adding provisions to recognize the nature, key characteristics of and advantages of the Internet.
  • Consumer Protection
  • distinguish Internet, specialized services
  • Identifiers
  • policy impact on flexibility on Internet

  (Impacts) Impacts

  • The pursuit of enabling environments for infrastructure development without recognizing the nature of the Internet will have impacts on the Internet and on WSIS goals.
  • Impacts on the Internet:
  • Depending on the policy and regulatory context, the establishing of enabling environments can affect the ability for independent, autonomous networks to readily interoperate by means of the Internet protocols unless the nature of the Internet is acknowledged clearly.
  • A communications environment constituted of competing providers interoperating in a general purpose manner supports greater freedom to innovate and diversity of applications than the type of environment that exists within a managed service framework subject to a common policy administered by a core authority, whether public or private. And if governance were established in a manner that mandates or depends on such a framework, this policy frame would have direct effect on the Internet’s flexibility and openness for both independent networks and end users.
  • In addition, if we fail to recognize the basis of the Internet platform in competition among autonomous, interoperating providers, we will easily accommodate a vertically integrated telecommunications environment that treats infrastructure installed across the public right of way as a more wholly private asset supplying the higher level services of the incumbents, with numerous implications for fundamental rights and innovation, as well as for competition. Indeed, without this recognition, the international framework for Internet governance that the WSIS is designed in part to bring about could take overlooking the nature of the public right of way in the telecommunications regulatory context to a whole new level.
  • Impacts on WSIS Goals:
  • Confidence and Security in the Enabling Environment: A failure to recognize the characteristics of the Internet in the Information Society’s initiatives will affect the goals of building confidence and security in relation to the enabling environment for development, with implications for many of the purposes of Action Line C6. The implications can be understood not only in relation to development, but also in relation to innovation and fundamental liberties.
  • Some types of incentives for infrastructure development may be built on capacities made possible in managed service frameworks (such as discrete tiers of service allowing differentiated price schemes), or that may be enabled by a regulatory environment that allows incumbents to treat the infrastructure they install at the physical layer as a supply to a vertically integrated production process. These approaches to encouraging development are distinct in nature from the approach associated with the Internet platform, where innovation by independent providers and end users drives demand for infrastructure. In addition, competitive access at the physical layer supports the openness and flexibility of the Internet platform, since competing providers must transmit packets in a general purpose manner in order to interoperate and provide global connectivity to their users. As a result, our confidence that the platform will support innovation as well as freedoms of press, expression, and association, can be affected deleteriously if a vertically integrated telecommunications market limits access to the physical layer by the effective control of a private party.
  • Security in relation to the enabling environment may be conceived in terms of security of transactions and e-commerce, or it may be conceived in terms of the security of fundamental liberties. The effect of enforcement of e-commerce and policies on the Internet and what counts as security will depend on whether the dynamic, interactive and collaborative possibilities enabled by the Internet are borne in mind.
  • The implications for security in terms of fundamental liberties are like those described for cybersecurity. If the telecommunications environment is vertically integrated, the implication is that infrastructure will be treated in terms of the private interest of those who install it across the public right of way, and as a result fundamental liberties related to the communications of citizens, understood as limits on the government, might be characterized as inapplicable. And public oversight of the public right of way in the form of regulation of infrastructure might be characterized in that framework as a violation of the rights of those who installed the infrastructure, rather than recognizing that oversight as a natural reflection of the nature of the public right of way as a shared resource that must be governed to foster competition and oversee access. In the latter context the government is barred from abridging the fundamental liberties of the general public, not of those who install infrastructure, and incumbents naturally may incur obligations, including limitations that reflect those that apply to the government, in return for privileged access. So security in the sense of reliable support for fundamental liberties may be affected when the foundation of the Internet in competitive access at the physical layer is overlooked and infrastructure is treated as private assets vertically integrated with the products and services of incumbent providers.
  • Action Line C6: A failure to address the nature of the Internet will have impacts on the goals of Geneva Action Line C6 including understandings of what constitutes a pro-competitive policy, legal and regulatory context, and what appropriate incentives are; how we define internet governance, public policy issues, and roles and responsibilities of various parties; how various technology policies relate to national strategies for public administration; how we protect consumers in their access to the Internet; the nature of open, interoperable, non-discriminatory standards; the nature of the secure storage framework; and how we understand online privacy.