As we all know, the United Nations are an international organisation whose stated aims are 'organising cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights and the achievement of world peace'.
The UN agency in question this time is the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a highly specialised agency created to focus solely on telecommunications and ICT over 100 years ago. The ITU has previously disclaimed any authority to regulate domestic communications, stating specifically in their constitution the: 'sovereign right of each state to regulate its telecommunication'.
Over 100 years ago the International Telecommunication Union was formed by the 'league of nations' (the predecessor to the united nations) with the sole purpose of focusing on the ever expanding ICT and telecommunications industries, ensuring that the regulations were kept in line with the advancement of associated technologies.
Regulations put forth by the ITU do not carry the weight of law, but do set out suggested regulations and requirements for national regulatory authorities, addressing, among other things, economic and technical issues and standardisation.
At the forthcoming conference - which will take place in Dubai later this year - a significant treaty made in 1988 known as the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) will be renegotiated.
The ITRs established fundamental general principles concerning international telecommunication services and transport, as well as interconnection of telecommunications facilities, and accounting and settlement of international voice traffic between administrations. As well as providing a general framework for mutual agreements between countries, the ITRs also allow for private agreements for non-governmental organisations.
Owing to the ITU's high international visibility, any decisions made at the world conference will send strong signals to domestic and international regulators alike that the most appropriate course of action will be a move to more intrusive economic regulation. It seems most likely that the decisions made by governments at the conference will significantly define the regulatory environment for the internet and telecoms sectors for the 21st century.
Whatever changes are deemed fit to be introduced, and however much opposition there may be towards them, the telecoms industry can count itself lucky that it has been able to avoid a re-assessment of its' guidelines for so long. And maybe there can be some comfort taken from the fact that whatever guidelines are introduced, the future of Voip is incredibly bright and will only continue to grow for the foreseeable future, meaning there will be no lack of new customers any time soon.
The UN agency in question this time is the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a highly specialised agency created to focus solely on telecommunications and ICT over 100 years ago. The ITU has previously disclaimed any authority to regulate domestic communications, stating specifically in their constitution the: 'sovereign right of each state to regulate its telecommunication'.
Over 100 years ago the International Telecommunication Union was formed by the 'league of nations' (the predecessor to the united nations) with the sole purpose of focusing on the ever expanding ICT and telecommunications industries, ensuring that the regulations were kept in line with the advancement of associated technologies.
Regulations put forth by the ITU do not carry the weight of law, but do set out suggested regulations and requirements for national regulatory authorities, addressing, among other things, economic and technical issues and standardisation.
At the forthcoming conference - which will take place in Dubai later this year - a significant treaty made in 1988 known as the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) will be renegotiated.
The ITRs established fundamental general principles concerning international telecommunication services and transport, as well as interconnection of telecommunications facilities, and accounting and settlement of international voice traffic between administrations. As well as providing a general framework for mutual agreements between countries, the ITRs also allow for private agreements for non-governmental organisations.
Owing to the ITU's high international visibility, any decisions made at the world conference will send strong signals to domestic and international regulators alike that the most appropriate course of action will be a move to more intrusive economic regulation. It seems most likely that the decisions made by governments at the conference will significantly define the regulatory environment for the internet and telecoms sectors for the 21st century.
Whatever changes are deemed fit to be introduced, and however much opposition there may be towards them, the telecoms industry can count itself lucky that it has been able to avoid a re-assessment of its' guidelines for so long. And maybe there can be some comfort taken from the fact that whatever guidelines are introduced, the future of Voip is incredibly bright and will only continue to grow for the foreseeable future, meaning there will be no lack of new customers any time soon.
About the Author:
Saul Saresi writes regularly about Voip communications and technologies for his site which can be found here business voip previous examples of his work can be found here hosted phone system
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