[governance] ITU Broadband Commission

Wed Apr 4 07:46:15 EDT 2012

John,

Thanks for your engagement. However, as you suspected, your assertions 
are indeed controversial/  problematic.

Your advice is not to go into formal aspects of a governance/ policy 
mechanism but only focus on the output side. I would come to the output 
side but lets first deal with the importance of formal aspects. To those 
who protested against Mubarak's regime, would you have advised that 
instead of fighting for democracy against authoritarianism, they should 
look at and argue by the work and outputs of regime, and not its formal 
qualities. It is, for instance, possible to argue that Mubarak may have 
kept a tighter leash on fundamentalist groups than the emerging 
democracy seems to be able to keep......

Closer home, since apparently you believe in multistakeholderism, would 
you agree to a governance system that is not open, participative, 
transparent etc although it seem not to have any particularly 
disagreeable output? In fact, the IG civil society - including the IGC - 
seems to spend so much time on just the issue of multistakeholderism 
that some of us would want it to get more directly into substantive issues.

  So, the question is, why does impatience with formal aspects of 
governance/ policy regimes show only when democratic forms, values and 
norms are being spoken of - like conflict of interest, keeping powerful 
private interests out of policy making etc.

Do you really think that it is  a good/ acceptable idea to have telecoms 
dominate a policy body on telecom? Would you accept it in your own 
country? Would your compatriots accept it in your country? On the same 
logic, would you accept a health policy body dominated by pharma 
companies - at your country level, and at the WHO? Simple direct 
questions going very much to the heart of the issue which I hope you 
will answer.

parminder

On Tuesday 03 April 2012 05:18 PM, John Curran wrote:
> On Apr 3, 2012, at 5:20 AM, parminder wrote:
>> Many people take IG's multistakeholderism, as it is practised, to be 
>> but a trojan horse for mega corporates to enter and dominate policy 
>> spaces, and their perception may not be entirely misplaced. Civil 
>> society needs  to do more to dispel this impression, but sadly it 
>> doesnt...
>
> Parminder, Jean-Louis -
>
> I know this may be controversial, but rather than focusing the titles 
> of those leading this
> effort, wouldn't it be more practical to comment on the actual 
> work, and how it does or
> doesn't meet the needs of civil society?
>
> They have laid out four goals:
>
>> •   Target 1: Making broadband policy universal. By 2015, all 
>> countries should have a national broadband plan or strategy or 
>> include broadband in their Universal Access / Service Definitions.
>>
>> •   Target 2: Making broadband affordable. By 2015, entry-level 
>> broadband services should be made affordable in developing countries 
>> through adequate regulation and market forces (amounting to less 
>> than 5% of average monthly income).
>>
>> •   Target 3: Connecting homes to broadband. By 2015, 40% of 
>> households in developing countries should have Internet access.
>>
>> •   Target 4: Getting people online. By 2015, Internet user 
>> penetration should reach 60% worldwide, 50% in developing countries 
>> and 15% in LDCs.
>
> Are these the right goals?  If not, why not, and what should the goals 
> be instead?  Has
> CS indicated otherwise the ITU Broadband Commission, and if so, what 
> happened?
>
> They have a "Sharehouse" open to any and all for submission of 
> materials to be considered
> including "case studies, best practice, analytical reports and policy 
> recommendations." - 
> (<http://www.broadbandcommission.org/Sharehouse/Search.aspx>).  They 
> also have working
> groups which appear to include additional participants from outside 
> the Commission and
> from academia, industry and public institutions.  The IT Broadband 
> Commission web site
> provides most of this information in an very straightfoward manner, 
> with outcomes and major
> reports available in six major languages.
>
> Having participating in several more 'classic' ITU initiatives, I will 
> say that I find this relatively
> straightforward in comparison and while perhaps imperfect in some 
> aspects, it is much closer
> to what many folks have been asking for in multi-stakeholder policy 
> development than past
> practices by these organizations.
>
> I have no involvement in the ITU Broadband Commission (and am the 
> probably one of the last
> folks on the planet expected to speak in defense of the ITU's attempts 
> at multi-stakeholder
> engagement), but is there an actual issue here to respond to?   
> Has IGC or other CS
> organizations attempted to engage with the ITU Broadband Commission 
> and been told that
> they are not welcome?  Has input been provided for consideration or to 
> the working groups
> been set aside in the preparation of the major reports and outcomes? 
>  If so, then this matter
> should indeed be a major concern and should be raised loudly at WSIS 
> and elsewhere.
> However, if the issue is the Broadband Commission failing to listen 
> due to lack of actual
> participation and input, then expressing concern over its structure is 
> not only specious, but
> it dilutes the voice of civil society when addressing matters of 
> actual substance elsewhere.
>
> /John
>
> Disclaimers:  My views alone. Concepts in the email may appear larger 
> in real life. Your results
> may vary. No user-serviceable parts inside.  Do not use this email as 
> an exit in case of fire.
>
>
>
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