‘Reject new telcos’ proposals’

…Internet players tell Gov’t

Players in the Internet industry have asked government to slap down a proposal by some telecom network operators to charge Internet content providers rates that are commensurate with the bandwidth their content consumes.

Governments and telecom regulators are scheduled to meet at the World Conference on International Telecommunication (WCIT-12) in Dubai in December this year, to consider a proposal by some telecom operators led by the European Telecom Network Operators Association (ETNO) for a revision to the International Telecommunication Regulations.

The regulations govern the way nations handle telecom network traffic as it crosses their borders, and the ETNO wants regulators to designate Internet content providers as “call originators” and subject them to a “sending party network pays” rule that would allow telecom operators to charge them rates they believe commensurate with the bandwidth their content consumes.

“Our concern is whether our decision-makers are aware of the impact that some of these proposals, which may look like one thing on paper, will have on Africa? We think Africa stands to lose most if this proposal goes through.

“And if this proposal passes, it will potentially create an access-divide and impede the free-flow of information in Ghana and the Africa region as a whole,” Ory Okolloh, Policy and Government Relations Manager, Google sub Saharan Africa, told the B&FT on the sidelines of a meeting on Global Internet Policy for the developing world.

“This is the worst proposal I have ever seen. And if it goes through, it will harm African countries most,” added Ambassador Mickey Gardner, Co-Chair of the WCIT Working Group and Chairman of the US Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI).

Internet sector operators have considered Africa’s Internet industry as large and untapped. The continent makes up 15 percent of the world’s population, but only six percent of the world’s Internet users.

Dr. Rohan Samarajiva, chair and CEO of LIRNEasia, added that such a change in the ITU regulations would have enormous implications for expansion of the digital economy in the developing world.

“Access to content would become more expensive if content providers must pass along costs. Content providers may respond by terminating connections with operators, especially in countries with populations that have limited buying power and access to payment mechanisms. The Internet would be “balkanised” by cutting off some countries from large swathes of content.

“Loss of this access to content and applications, given the role played by the Internet in supporting these countries’ transitions from low-income to middle-income economies, could cost them billions of dollars in lost growth,” he said.

Currently, African telecom regulators and policymakers have met in Accra to adopt a common position and harmonise strategies that will facilitate support to ITU-Regulations and also deal with matters of standardisation ahead of the WCIT-12.

Internet industry players have swamped the Africa Preparatory Meeting in a bid to lobby governments and regulators to reject the proposal put forward by the European Telecom network operators and the African region contribution submitted by Egypt.

The proposals have put Internet operators on the edge as they also seek to take away the governance and regulation of the Internet from the Multi-stakeholder forum to the United Nations through its telecom body -- the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Concerns are growing that some member-states will seek to assert regulatory authority over the Internet through the ITU, and that such states might use any such authority to adopt policies harmful to the development and global reach of the Internet.

“The Internet represents a powerful force for economic development. Yet the net’s very success in giving all of us unprecedented access to information has generated a worrying backlash. The number of governments that censor Internet content has grown to 40 today from about four in 2002. And this number is still growing, threatening to take away the Internet as you and I have known it,” explained Ms. Okolloh.