Hi AmalI,
The G20 mentioned CNs indeed in its "COVID-19 Response Statement from
the G20 Virtual Ministerial Meeting" as one of the means to expand
connectivity “Furthermore, digital capacities should be expanded, in
particular by increasing broadband connectivity using fixed, mobile, and
satellite technologies and by exploring non-traditional means of
connectivity, such as community networks.”
Policy makers are going sufficiently slow about CNs in most countries.
If at all, I see the interest of the ITU contributing to speed up
things. It's obviously voluntary for everyone to participate in this
process, but the process is taking place regardless, and either we
contribute or the likes of the GSMA, Viasat and Telefonica will
contribute with their own definitions of community networks which are
very far from the ones that have been considered here. In that case, is
not only that the ITU may influence policy makers, is that is will
influence them with the wrong evidence.
Here an example of the interpretation of what community involvement
means for GSMA and one of its members
We need to work with ITU, if we want changes like free
spectrum to
break through internationally. However, I totally agree that we need
to be very careful what power we give them in advising them.
-Raoul
On Thu, 28 May 2020 at 16:46, sivasubramanian muthusamy
<6.internet(a)gmail.com <mailto:6.internet@gmail.com>> wrote:
It is good to keep the ITU informed, but this can't lead to a
situation where ITU gains total legitimacy over all policy related
to community networks, which might place the ITU in a position to
influence all decisions, some of which might cause the policy
makers to go slow on Community Networks... (Sorry, I find it
difficult to trust the influences weighing in on ITU)
On Thu, May 28, 2020, 19:10 gphlilanthi <gphlilanthi(a)gmail.com
<mailto:gphlilanthi@gmail.com>> wrote:
I hear G20 are supporting CN. Does anyone know of any
specifics regarding this policy please?
Regards AmalI De Silva-Mitchell
Sent from my Galaxy Tab A (2016)
-------- Original message --------
From: Carlos <carlos(a)apc.org <mailto:carlos@apc.org>>
Date: 27/05/2020 22:20 (GMT-08:00)
To: dc3 <dc3(a)listas.altermundi.net
<mailto:dc3@listas.altermundi.net>>
Subject: [DC3] ITU Council seeking input on how Community
Networks increase Internet connectivity
Hi everyone,
After all the noise some of us have made at national, regional and
international Internet Governance spaces, it looks like the
ITU Council
wants to hear directly “How can small/community/non-profit
operators
help in promoting the increase of Internet connectivity?”
This poses an unique opportunity to showcase directly to the
ITU Council
all the amazing work that most of you are doing, specially at
times
where CNs are gaining more and more visibility to curve the
digital
divide and rural marginalization that is now more and more
apparent due
to the pandemic. And I say directly because this request is
made through
one of the very few consultations the ITU open to all
stakeholders: the
Open Public Consultation of the Council Working Group on
International
Internet-related Public Policy Issues (CWG-Internet). I
provide a bit of
background about it below for those who are interested.
The consultation is structured as a set of questions, one of
them the
one included above, available in the following link:
https://www.itu.int/en/council/cwg-internet/Pages/consultation-sep2020.aspx
where you can also find important information and instructions
on the
submission process.
I think it is strategically important that the ITU receives as
many
contributions from each of us as possible highlighting the many
different ways community operators help in promoting the
increase of
Internet connectivity. This will surely contribute in creating
a more
policy and regulatory environment for community networks in
each of your
countries.
I’ve copied some of the basic instructions to participate below.
Participating can be as easy as forwarding existing text you
may have
written (the GISWatch country report for those of you who
wrote it:
https://www.giswatch.org/community-networks) to the email
address below.
Note that your online submission can be drafted in a UN
language other
than English (these are Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and
Spanish),
but you are encouraged (not obliged) to provide a translation
in English
for the benefit of all readers.
At APC we are available to provide support to any of you
wanting to make
a submission but struggling with the process. Please do not
hesitate to
reach out to me directly.
Best,
carlos
== Basic instructions ==
You can include your responses to the questions into the
online form in
the following link :
https://www.itu.int/en/council/cwg-internet/Pages/form-oct2019.aspx
OR
send it to InternetPublicViews(a)itu.int
<mailto:InternetPublicViews@itu.int> including your Full Name,
Title,
Country and Organization you are representing.
Your response will then be published on the ITU Website:
https://www.itu.int/en/council/cwg-internet/Pages/consultation-sep2020.aspx
Please include each submission also includes a short
summary/abstract
(1-3 paragraphs). This will form part of the final summary
document to
be published after the end of the physical open consultation
meeting.
== Background ==
ITU Council Working Groups
There are different Working Groups set up to provide input to
the ITU
Council in different matters. In the last last Council Group
(February,
2020) meeting four appeared to be active [1]:
- Council Working Group on International Internet-related
Public Policy
Issues (CWG-Internet)
- Council working group on Child Online Protection (WG-CP)
- Council Working Group on WSIS (WG-WSIS)
- Council Working Group on Financial and Human Resources (CWG-FHR)
The participation in those working groups varies and some are for
Members States (MS) only, others allow for the participation
of Sector
Members (too).
CWG-Internet is limited to Member States, but they hold an open
consultation to all stakeholders. This poses one of the few
opportunities for Civil Society Organizations that are not Sector
Members of the ITU to present their views to the ITU Council.
In most
other ITU’s consultations, organizations such as the
Association for
Progressive Communications and the Internet Society, both with
Sector
Member status do their best to bring the voice of the Civil
Society in
general, and of community networks in particular to these spaces.
In particular, CWG-Internet is tasked to identify, study and
develop
matters related to international Internet-related public
policy issues
and to disseminate its outputs throughout ITU's membership, as
well as
to report annually to the Council on activities undertaken on
these
subjects [2] [3].
The 13th Session of the ITU Council Working Group on International
Internet-related Public Policy Issues (CWG-Internet) decided on 20
September 2019 to hold an open consultation (online and
physical) on
“International internet-related public policy issues on
harnessing new
and emerging telecommunications/ICTs for sustainable
development” where
some of our contributions provided already content in relation to
community connectivity [4].
In the 13th Session it was also decided that the next round of
Open
Consultations (February 2020 – August 2020), on the topic of
“Expanding
Internet Connectivity” with the questions below: [5]
Expanding Internet Connectivity
- What are the challenges and opportunities for expanding Internet
connectivity, particularly to remote and under-served areas?
What are
the roles of governments and non-government actors in
overcoming these
challenges?
- Are there particular challenges facing land-locked countries in
securing affordable Internet access? What can be done to
overcome these
challenges?
- How can small/community/non-profit operators help in
promoting the
increase of Internet connectivity?
[1]
https://www.itu.int/en/council/Pages/groups.aspx
[2]
https://www.itu.int/en/council/cwg-internet/Pages/default.aspx
[3]
https://www.itu.int/md/S19-CL-C-0136/en
[4]
https://www.itu.int/en/council/cwg-internet/Pages/consultation-oct2019.aspx
[5]
https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-s/md/19/rclintpol13/c/S19-RCLINTPOL13-C-001…
--
Carlos Rey-Moreno, PhD
Local Access Policy and Regulation Coordinator
Association for Progressive Communications
https://www.apc.org/en/project/connecting-unconnected-supporting-community-…
Cel: +27 (0) 76 986 3633
Skype: carlos.reymoreno Twitter: Creym
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--
Carlos Rey-Moreno, PhD
Local Access Policy and Regulation Coordinator
Association for Progressive Communications