O'Reilly Wants U.S. Leadership at ITU

The U.S. government and the FCC need to ensure that the ITU “stays focused on its core function” of standards development for broadband access, FCC Commissioner Michael O’Reilly said at a commission meeting Friday. O’Reilly suggested the U.S. should pursue a leadership position at the ITU to continue to promote its agenda. The ITU’s mandate won’t change for the next four years, since no amendments were passed at its recent Plenipotentiary, said Kathryn O’Brien, assistant chief of the FCC International Bureau. The U.S. government had a “very positive outcome” at the conference, she said. Conference proposals that called on the ITU to become involved in surveillance regulations and that would have “undermined” the multistakeholder model were rejected, O’Brien said. The FCC's chief desire is to maintain the ITU’s remit on standards development and best practices for cybersecurity and access to broadband, she said.