Revisions to the International Telecommunication Regulations

Introduction

Resolution 171 (Guadalajara, 2010) resolved that the preparatory work to revise the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs) continue leading to a World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) scheduled to take place in autumn 2012. CEPT notes that it is over twenty years since the previous WCIT took place in 1988 and that the ITRs have not been amended or updated during that time. Accordingly in revising the ITRs, the WCIT needs to take account of the changes in the international telecommunications environment since then, in particular:

· The privatization of telecoms operators in the majority of countries;

· The liberalization of telecoms markets;

· The nature of international relations changing in many cases from being based on a bilateral basis to a multilateral one;

· The spectacular growth of international telecommunications traffic accompanied by large reductions in prices;

· the extensive use of IP protocol for conveying telecommunications traffic, including international traffic; and