Notice to Members:

Association Activities Relating to the ITU Council Meeting

The ITU Council meeting is being held this week in Geneva. Included on its agenda are a number of extremely important policy issues which were considered at the Marrakesh Plenipotentiary Conference in 2002 and referred to the Council for study, recommendations and proposals for action. The United States government, through the State Department’s ITAC process, has recently held a series of preparatory meetings to develop U.S. draft position papers, policies and proposals for consideration at this Council meeting. A number of members of your Association have actively participated in the ITAC preparatory process.

We believe our participation has been very helpful to the government. A number of U.S. positions and proposals for the Council meeting have been based on papers drafted by individual Association members and approved by our general membership. Some of the major contributions of your Association to the U.S. preparatory meetings include the following:

(1)A draft paper of the Association was submitted to the U.S. preparatory meetings on Resolution 106 (Marrakesh, 2002), dealing with proposals for basic structural reform of the ITU. This paper, after consideration and editorial suggestions by other participants at the preparatory meeting, was generally adopted and became a United States input document to Council.

(2)A draft paper of the Association was submitted to the preparatory meetings on Resolution 108 (Marrakesh, 2002). This resolution dealt with efforts to improve the functioning of the ITU Coordination Committee and better define the tasks of the Deputy Secretary-General and other elected Union officials. After consideration and editorial suggestions, this paper was generally accepted and became a U.S. input document to the Council.

(3)Audrey Allison, a Board Member and Chairman of your Association’s Council Coordinating Committee, submitted a paper, based on views of the Association, to the Council preparatory meetings on Resolution 109 (Marrakesh, 2002). This resolution dealt with defining the rights of Sector Members to attend Council meetings as observers. Upon consideration and editing changes, this paper was generally accepted and became a U.S. position paper. A “Draft Decision” describing U.S. proposals for provisional implementation of Sector Member observers at Council was approved and became a U.S. input document to Council.

(4)Dick Parlow, a Board Member, played a major role in drafting a paper on mobile satellite (GMPCS) cost recovery, which in turn, after consideration in the preparatory meetings, became a U.S. input document to Council.

(5)The Association submitted a letter to Ambassador David Gross, dated April 30, 2004, expressing the concerns of our members about recent developments regarding cost recovery for satellite network filings, which subject was to be addressed at a May 2004 meeting of the ad hoc group of Council on Satellite Filing Cost Recovery. The Association’s views were reflected in the policy positions stated by the U.S. at the May ad hoc group of Council meetings.

In addition to these papers submitted on behalf of our Association, there have been other developments which favorably impact our Association. These include the following:

(1)The State Department asked the Association to name representatives from two of its members to serve on the U.S. Delegation to Council. As earlier reported to our members, after considering all nominations, the Board of Directors voted to propose Audrey Allison, a current Board Member, and Walda Roseman, a past Board Member, to serve on the U.S. Delegation. They are now serving in Geneva.

(2)Gary Fishman, our Vice Chair and International Chairman of the Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Committee (TSAG), was also asked by the State Department to serve and is now serving on the U.S. Delegation to Council.

(3)Herbert Marks, one of our more active members, who has been particularly involved in proposals regarding review of the International Telecommunication Regulations, has just been appointed as an international vice-chairman of the Council Working Group on the ITRs (Resolution 121, Marrakesh 2002).

As you can see, your Association and its members have been very active in the preparation for this week’s Council meeting. I am particularly pleased that our members are getting official recognition on our ITU Delegations and committees and that our views on these major ITU policy matters are being given fair and serious consideration. This, in a number of cases, has led to their adoption as official U.S. policy positions.

All of our members are encouraged to participate actively in the development of these policy papers and indeed encouraged to serve as Chairs of the various working groups and drafting committees. We are making a modest difference. With your help, we can become even more effective as the industry spokesperson.

Ben C. Fisher, Chair

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