Recognizing WSIS Impacts

WTSA RESOLUTION 29 (Rev. Dubai, 2012)

Alternative calling procedures on international telecommunication networks

The World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (Dubai, 2012),

• recalling
  • a) Resolution 1099, adopted by the Council at its 1996 session, concerning alternative calling procedures on international telecommunication networks, which urged the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) to develop, as soon as possible, the appropriate Recommendations concerning alternative calling procedures;
  • b) Resolution 22 (Rev. Hyderabad, 2010) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference, in particular its resolves 1, 2, 3 and 4;
  • c) Resolution 21 (Rev. Antalya, 2006) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, on alternative calling procedures on telecommunication networks, in particular its resolves 1, 2 and 3,
• recognizing
  • a) that call-back, refiling, non-identification1 and other alternative calling procedures, which may be potentially harmful, are not permitted in many countries and permitted in some others;
  • b) that call-back, inappropriate hubbing, refiling, non-identification and other alternative calling procedures, which may be potentially harmful, offer alternative calling procedures which may be attractive for users;
  • c) that call-back, inappropriate hubbing, refiling, non-identification and other alternative calling procedures, which may be potentially harmful and may impact the revenue of operating agencies authorized by Member States, which may seriously hamper, in particular, the efforts of developing countries2, for the sound development of their telecommunication networks and services;
  • d) that distortions in traffic patterns resulting from call-back, inappropriate hubbing, refiling, non-identification and other alternative calling procedures, which may be potentially harmful, may impact traffic management and network planning;
  • e) that some forms of call-back seriously degrade the performance and quality of the public switched telephone network (PSTN),
• considering
  • the results of the ITU workshop on alternative calling procedures and origin identification held in Geneva on 19-20 March 2012,
• reaffirming
  • a) that it is the sovereign right of each country to regulate its telecommunications and as such it may permit, prohibit or otherwise regulate call-back, refiling or matters related to caller identification in its territory;
  • b) that the ITU Constitution, in its Preamble, gave regard to “the growing importance of telecommunication for the preservation of peace and the economic and social development of all States”, and that Member States agreed in the Constitution with “the object of facilitating peaceful relations, international cooperation among peoples and economic and social development by means of efficient telecommunication services”,
• noting
  • that in order to minimize the effect of alternative calling procedures:
    • i) operating agencies authorized by Member States should, within their national law, make every effort to establish the level of collection charges on a cost-oriented basis, taking into account Article 6.1.1 of the International Telecommunication Regulations and Recommendation ITU-T D.5;
    • ii) administrations and operating agencies authorized by Member States should vigorously pursue the implementation of Recommendation ITU-T D.140 and the principle of cost-oriented accounting rates and accounting-rate shares,
• resolves
  • 1 that administrations and operating agencies authorized by Member States should take, to the furthest extent practicable, all measures to suspend the methods and practices of call-back which seriously degrade the quality and the performance of the PSTN, such as constant calling (or bombardment or polling) and answer suppression;
  • 2 that administrations and operating agencies authorized by Member States should take a cooperative approach to respecting the national sovereignty of others, and suggested guidelines for this collaboration are attached;
  • 3 to continue developing appropriate Recommendations concerning alternative calling procedures and, in particular, the technical aspects of the methods and practices of call-back which seriously degrade the quality and the performance of the PSTN, such as constant calling (or bombardment or polling) and answer suppression;
  • 4 to instruct ITU-T Study Group 2 to study other aspects and forms of alternative calling procedures, including refiling and non-identification, and service definition and requirements for hubbing;
  • 5 to instruct ITU-T Study Group 3 to study the economic effects of call-back, refiling and inappropriate hubbing and other forms of alternative calling procedures, as well as origin non-identification or spoofing, on the effort of developing countries for sound development of their local telecommunication networks and services, and to evaluate in cooperation with Study Group 2 the effectiveness of the suggested guidelines on call-back,
• instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau
  • to continue to cooperate with the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau in order to facilitate the participation of developing countries in these studies and to make use of the results of the studies, and in the implementation of this resolution.