[kictanet] Fw: [Itu2012chapters] African Telecommunications Union (ATU) 25-26 September Meeting

[Walubengo J]

Thanx Barrack for the Post.  I could not access the summary explanations (must be my  local firewall issues) but from my understanding of the two clauses supported by the African Countries I believe we have reason to be afraid.

ETNO is the proposal being pushed by European Telecoms Operators and my understanding is that they wish to charge Content Providers (Read the Google.com, the Ebay.com, the Amazon.com and closer home the Nation.co.ke, Standardmedia.co.ke, xyzshow.com, etc) based on the traffic attributed to visitors going to their sites.

In simple terms, the ISP hosting the Kenyan Comedy XYZshow.com will now be charged by the upstream Telco providers for each packet (read "eyeball") that views the XYZ show/clips. The current regime is that the ISP simply pays a FIXED amount to the Telco Provider for leasing a certain size of pipe to the Internet e.g pay 250USD for 1MB Internet pipe.  The content and access to and from the ISPs servers was NONE of the Telco's business.  But it appears Telcos now want to introduce and additional charge - over and above the internet pipe charges.  These would be charges based on how "busy" the ISP content servers are.

This approach anticipates to make money for Telcos who have been complaining that their Internet Pipes are kept busy, while the money flocks to the Content Providers in a disproportionate ratio.  So why not charge the Content Providers and get part of the pie?  The blunder with this is that what is charged, the Content Providers will simply pass it on to the consumer.  Accessing content will no longer be "free" the way we have come to understand it.  Content that seats outside Africa will begin to be restricted to African Viewers simply because they will be introducing "eyeballs" that have no returns in terms of Advertisement revenues. Content providers will not hesitate to block such eyeballs since they are being charged by their upstream Telco providers while the prospects of recovering such costs through either Sales of Products, Advertisement, Subscription and other business models is not feasible.

So I would say as Africans, we have to be careful not to fight other peoples battles while hurting ourselves in the process.

walu.




________________________________
 From: "otieno.barrack at gmail.com" <otieno.barrack at gmail.com>
To: jwalu at yahoo.com 
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> 
Sent: Monday, October 8, 2012 6:29 PM
Subject: [kictanet] Fw: [Itu2012chapters] African Telecommunications Union (ATU) 25-26 September Meeting
 
Dear Listers,

FYI

The ATU held its third and final WCIT and WTSA regional preparatory meeting 25-26 September in Accra Ghana.  

Note that the ETNO proposal gained some traction at the ATU meeting but that the final language for inclusion in Article 6 requires approval by Ministers prior to becoming a full ATU WCIT regional position.  

The two proposed new articles under final review are:
 
6.0.5 Member states shall ensure that their regulatory frameworks drive the operating agencies to establish mutual commercial agreements with providers of international communication applications and services in alignment with principles of fair competition, innovation, adequate quality of service and security.
 
6.0.6 The Member States shall take measures to ensure that operating agencies have the right to charge providers of international communication applications and services appropriate access charges based on the agreed quality of service. Regulatory measures may be imposed in case that this cannot be achieved through commercial arrangements and to the extent that such measures do not hinder competition.
 
The full meeting summary is located at:
https://fileshare.tools.isoc.org/wentworth/public/WCIT%20-%20Regional%20Meetings/ATU_WCIT_%20Report_Sept2012%20.pdf
 
Karen Mulberry
Policy Advisor
Internet Society
mulberry at isoc.org
tel: +1.303.668.8855
www.isoc.org



 

_______________________________________________
kictanet mailing list
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet

Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jwalu%40yahoo.com

The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.

KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20121008/6dc41dd4/attachment.htm>