The 34th Assembly of Parties (AP) of the International Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (ITSO) was held last 22-24 June in Washington. The Assembly’s chairmanship was passed from Portugal (Saraiva Mendes) to Bangladesh (Sunil Kanti Bose), who should serve a two-year term. Argentina (Carlos Chhab) was elected to the AP’s vice-chairmanship. This was the first Assembly of Parties with the new director-general (José Toscano of Portugal) in office.
One of the Assembly’s most significant results was approval of the ITSO Strategy Plan until 2013, when the question of whether or not to continue the organisation will be discussed. In this regard, note the creation of a working group to analyse ITSO’s future and present recommendations to the next AP, which will meet before the end of the second half of 2012. This group will function under the aegis of the Advisory Committee (IAC), though it is open to all Parties, and will report directly to the Assembly of Parties and not to the director-general (DG). The USA, Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand and the United Kingdom dissociated themselves from the decision to approve a Strategy Plan for the organisation.
The AP approved extending the mandate of the Frequency working party (FWP) to other issues in the scope of the Common Heritage (CH) and Frequency Management. FWP previously comprised frequency management experts indicated by each regional vice-chair; henceforth there will be no limit on the number of experts. Note that FWP was established only a year ago at the extraordinary AP in Rome to advise the new director-general on implementation of the procedures for co-ordinating orbital positions of the Common Heritage, in compliance with article XII(e)(iv) of the ITSO Agreement. In its report to the AP, the FWP considered that the Notifying Administrations (USA and United Kingdom) should provide more details in the information previously submitted to the DG, before notifying the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
As it was not possible to reach agreement with the Notifying Administrations about re-designation of the Common Heritage orbital positions and respective frequencies in the ITU Master International Frequency Register (MIFR), in order to identify those same positions in the most obvious way (with the designations USA/CH and UK/CH), the AP decided that the DG, in co-operation with the FWP, should study alternative ways to settle the question with the Notifying Administrations and the ITU.
The Assembly noted the report made by José Toscano, which indicated that the private operator Intelsat complied with its public service obligations in the 2008-2010 period, offering non-discriminatory access and satellite coverage to the three oceanic regions, thus enabling the connection of any country or territory with any other country or territory, and meeting its commitments to protecting LCO (lifeline connectivity obligation) prices. The DG should continue working with Intelsat with a view to renegotiating a new business model with Intelsat for LCO contracts, dubbed the “Special Renewal Programme”.
In its presentation to the AP, Intelsat downplayed its current weak financial situation, stressing the good results achieved in 2009. Note that the operator’s debt stands at 15.2 billion dollars, an amount eight times higher than the EBITDA operational margin. This situation may hinder Intelsat from making necessary investments in renewing the satellite fleet, whose average lifespan is 8.3 years, and may even place fulfilment of the so-called Core Principles at risk along with ITSO’s own continuity. Also, on 14 December 2009 Intelsat received the green light from the American regulator, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to transfer its legal headquarters from Bermuda to Luxembourg, for tax reasons.
Changes were likewise approved to the Assembly Procedure rules, updating of the Staff Manual and the criteria for assessing the DG’s performance. Based on these criteria, previously non-existent and drawn up at the behest of the last ordinary Assembly, the Compensations Committee (where the regional vice-chairs and the IAC chair are represented) should evaluate the attribution of the variable amount of the DG’s salary.
A template more detailed that the one in force to date was also adopted, which enables more transparent presentation of the budget. The ITSO budget for financial years 2011 and 2012 was also approved. The Assembly agreed with the DG’s proposal to set up a reserve fund for capacity-building actions in satellite communications, in co-operation with the ITU Excellence Centres, an initiative that will begin in the second half of 2010. The DG may use up to 80 percent of that fund in training actions, for which prior IAC approval must be obtained.
The AP also agreed on various issues concerning its internal structure, namely the regional vice-chairs, which shall comprise the following states: Dominican Republic (Region A – Americas); Denmark (Region B – Western Europe); Poland (Region C – Eastern Europe and North Asia); Zambia (Region D – Africa); and Philippines (Region E – Asia and Southern Asia). It was decided that the IAC should continue to be composed of 23 members representing the five regions, who were chosen at regional meetings. Each region may henceforth send up to four observers to the ITSO Advisory Committee (the previous limit was two observers). The Assembly likewise approved the composition of the Panel of Legal Experts, comprising 11 states (Algeria, Cameroon, Colombia, France, Germany, Guinea, Japan, Nigeria, Peru, Uganda and the USA). The Panel of Legal Experts should meet soon to choose its respective chairperson. Patrick Masambu (Uganda), ITSO technical director since March 2010, was appointed deputy DG for when the Director-General is absent or unable to attend.
The Assembly noted and praised the good performance of the current Director-General, particularly his efforts to improve relations with Intelsat and to introduce more control and transparency in ITSO’s management.
