Japan Network Information Center(JPNIC) recognizes the importance of
ITU's role for international telecommunications and supports its
purpose, which is stipulated in Preamble of International
Telecommunication Regulations, ITR, as "promoting the development of
telecommunication services and their most efficient operation while
harmonizing the development of facilities for world-wide
telecommunications".
In 24 years since the current ITR was ratified in 1988 and until now,
the Internet made a dramatic expansion from what was a network for the
academic purpose which mainly covered the United States, to the global
infra-structure of the Information Society which now connects two
billion people in the world.
JPNIC observes that this dramatic and successful expansion has arisen
out of the open principles in the operations of the Internet.
The notable characteristic of the Internet, consistent from the early
days, is that interested parties in each and various segments are all
able to participate and be involved in its development process. It
includes areas such as the developments and standardization of
fundamental technologies, the technical coordinations and the policy
developments of the infrastructure operations, and the developments of
Internet services.
Additionally, in the standardization of fundamental technologies, the
final selection of the specification is left to operators, who are the
users of its technologies. This allows to have a system which
incorporates the specification which truly needs to be standardized.
Likewise, having reference materials and information constantly being
publicly made available in development processes of standards or
operational policies allows new entrants to easily join the process.
Moreover, the network layer specializes only in transporting data from
one subscriber to another, and the developments of services using such
data transfer function is delegated to various service developers.
This is the very reason that innovative services have always emmerged
on the Internet.
Even if ITR would be revised to enable ITU to fulfill its roles and
objectives, JPNIC does expect sufficient and careful considerations to
be made, so that any amendment of ITR will not lead to putting the
break on the dramatic expansion and the creative innovation of
services which the Internet has made it happen, and is still
continuing to make it happen, based on its characteristics we have
described.
Shigeki Goto
President, Japan Network Information Center(JPNIC)