Internet Society at
ITU World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly 2024 (WTSA-24)

As a Sector Member of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), the Internet Society will participate in the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA), which will take place in New Delhi on 15 — 24 October 2024. Our engagement with the ITU WTSA-24 and its preparatory processes is integral to our efforts to defend the Internet in the United Nations.

ITU World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA)

The WTSA is the primary meeting of the ITU-T, where the new responsible persons and work program for the sector are defined for the next four years. In 2024, the WTSA will determine the work program, working methods, and structure of Study Groups for the ITU-T for the 2025—2028 study period.

Even though WTSA is a non-treaty-level conference, the approved recommendations and resolutions shape the ITU-T’s future direction. They could potentially expand the role of the ITU beyond its remit, especially through work items related to new and emerging technologies. 

Internet Society’s Role and Objectives at WTSA-24

We recognize and value the importance of a distributed governance model for the Internet ecosystem, where each stakeholder group has its own role and responsibility. Within this ecosystem, the ITU plays an important part in promoting core infrastructure development and cross-border connectivity, allocating spectrum to enable the deployment of new technologies and services, and providing technical assistance and capacity building. We also acknowledge the role of the ITU in developing international ICT standards as part of that ecosystem. 

It is crucial that the negotiations on the WTSA-24 recommendations and resolutions properly evaluate how ITU-T’s activities for the next study period could affect the open and globally connected Internet. These considerations are especially relevant to the ITU’s potential efforts to develop standards for the new and emerging technologies deployed on the Internet. The Internet Society will engage in WTSA-24 to support the positive work that the Union carries forward in creating an enabling ICT environment and to prevent and mitigate any possible negative impacts of the WTSA-24 outcomes on the Internet and its governance.

We will attend the WTSA-24 to provide technical expertise to decision-makers and advocate for:

• Open Internet standards;
• A clear delineation of ITU’s role within scope and mandate to avoid its expansion and overlap with the role of technical community organizations such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF);
• A deeper ITU’s commitment to collaboration with other standards development organizations;
• Global relevance, technical nature, and resilience of the ITU standards and proper processes of their assessment.

Internet Society’s Engagement in the WTSA-24 Preparation

Since the beginning of 2024, the Internet Society has followed processes leading to the WTSA-24 and participated in several preparatory meetings of the ITU regional organizations, including Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT), Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL), and African Telecommunication Union (ATU). We analyzed the key issues to be discussed at the WTSA-24, followed various proposals to spot the areas of concern, and identified which resolutions we would track closely because of their potential impact on the Internet.