ITU or ICANN - a case story from Denmark

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Frode Greisen <frode () greisen net>
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2005 12:17:38 +0100
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: ITU or ICANN - a case story from Denmark

Dave,

for IP if you wish.

Why ENUM does not happen.
-------------------------

Last March we got the idea to set up the name server for the Danish  ENUM
domain, ie. using Danish phone numbers as domain names. The phone number +45
12345678 would be transformed into the name 8.7.6.5.4.3.2.1.5.4.e164.arpa
and then the user could use DNS to direct communication to his IP phone,
email or PDA. We were not sure it would catch on since there are so many
other domain names, but I work at a government agency whose mission includes
piloting new technology, and running the top level would be trivial as long
as the volume is small.

There is an agreement between the ITU and the IESG that the RIPE NCC runs
the top level domain but requests to operate county domains must go to ITU-T
which forwards the request to the country telecom regulator for decision.

Now, Denmark is a small country with 5 M inhabitants and a well funded and
well working public administration so at first I called the regulator and we
met a few weeks later. They were interested and had questions. As talks and
correspondence grew and took time without progress we sent the request to
RIPE NCC and a bit later the regulator got the official request from ITU-T.
Their response to this difficult situation was to hand over the case to
their resort ministry (for Science, Technology and Development).

Well, after an exchange of letters we had a meeting with the ministry who
explained that they had to make a public hearing. I provided paperwork for
the hearing which was sent to 160 organizations. The responses were  mostly
negative with good arguments that the Name Service should be allocated based
on open tender (which would take another year and perhaps attract no
bidders) and that issues with security, competition and rights should be
thoroughly discussed and understood (which would require some careful work
that nobody may be likely to invest on such a risky project). Of course, the
organizations who had the time to respond to the hearing include the
incumbent telco and other large telcos who have to argue against all change
that may threaten their existing business, plus trade organizations who have
learned that the Internet got big and that there is money in domain names.
The small IP telephony companies did not have time to respond.

Right now, I'm trying to convince the ministry that they should follow up
with a public verbal hearing and get a decision before the anniversary of
the case.

In the mean time Skype has been downloaded 50 million times. IP telephony
companies will be routed without ENUM, and the ITU and governments should
not manage technology innovation.

Frode


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