BRUSSELS – ETNO, the voice of Europe’s leading e-communications services and network providers, submitted to the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) proposals for changes to the ITRs providing for a new sustainable model for the Internet based on commercial agreements between undertakings.

“The revised ITRs should acknowledge the challenges of the new Internet economy and the principles that fair compensation is received for carried traffic and operators’ revenues should not be disconnected from the investment needs caused by rapid Internet traffic growth. The ITRs should be flexible enough so as to further encourage future growth and sustainable development of telecoms markets, while respecting the guiding principles that led to the successful development of the Internet: private sector leadership, independent multi-stakeholder governance and commercial agreements”, said Luigi Gambardella, ETNO Executive Board Chair.

The ETNO contribution, adopted unanimously by the ETNO Executive Board, proposes a number of innovative changes to selected articles of the ITRs, namely those dealing with international network (article 3), international telecommunications services (article 4) and, relatedly, to the definitions (article 2).

This contribution calls for a new IP interconnection ecosystem that provides end-to-end Quality of Service delivery, in addition to best effort delivery, enabling:

• the provision of value-added network services, to both end-customers and over the top (OTT) players and content providers, and

• a reflection of the value of traffic delivery over network infrastructures.

Moreover, the contribution states that in order to ensure an adequate return on investment in high bandwidth infrastructures, operating agencies shall negotiate commercial agreements to achieve a sustainable system of fair compensation for telecommunications services.

By endorsing the concept of “quality based delivery”, it will be possible to establish new

interconnection policies based on the “value” of the traffic (not only on the “volume”), enabling new business models and implementing an ecosystem where operators’ revenues will not be disconnected from the investment needs made necessary by the rapid growth of Internet traffic.

ETNO will continue to monitor the preparatory process and will engage with operators in other regions of the world as well as with National Administrations.

For more information, please contact: Thierry Dieu, ETNO Acting Director/ Communications Manager Tel: (32-2) 219 32 42 Fax: (32-2) 219 64 12 E-mail: dieu@etno.be

ETNO’s 40 member companies and 10 observers from Europe and beyond represent a significant part of total ICT activity in Europe. They account for an aggregate annual turnover of more than €600 billion and employ over 1.6 million people. ETNO companies are the main drivers of broadband and are committed to its continual growth in Europe.