Paris hosted last 20-23 March the 31st Assembly of Parties (AP) of the International Telecommunication Satellites Organisation, where Portugal, as a Party, was represented by ANACOM.
The summons for this extraordinary session was directly derived from the decisions of previous sessions, which had adopted a set of recommendations aiming to compel Intelsat to comply with the decisions approved at the 29th Assembly and the so-called base principles (including the public service obligations).
The AP thus assessed the state of implementation of those decisions. It verified that Intelsat had implemented the decision to provide the information required by ITSO (specifically the so-called Quarterly Monitoring Indicator Reports) and reintroduced the public service obligations in its regulations.
It was nevertheless found that Intelsat had not implemented the following decisions:
- Re-evaluation of the prices applied by Intelsat to the Lifeline Connectivity Obligations (LCO) contracts, for which LCO price protection should be granted - this issue was subject to heated debate during the Assembly, which decided to follow the ITSO director-general's recommendation to set up an LCO working group comprising two representatives from each region, to propose steps to take to make Intelsat comply with its LCO obligations;
- Granting the ITSO director-general the post of observer in the Intelsat Council of Administration - an annual participation was proposed as the permanent presence of a government representatives at a private company?s meetings was not deemed appropriate - this proposal was accepted by ITSO given the absence of alternative solutions;
- Implementation of financial and legal mechanisms by Intelsat which ensure maintenance of a minimum of global connectivity and coverage should the company go bankrupt - Intelsat affirmed that this mechanism is dispensable vis-à-vis the company's profits and that it hinders competitiveness; ITSO will thus continue its work on this subject so as to guarantee compliance with the decision.
Noteworthy among the remaining agenda points were the following:
- Discussion on the dispute concerning the Intelsat headquarters building in Washington; the Assembly decided that the director-general should sign the Quitclaim Deed documents required by Intelsat and ask the company to withdraw all legal actions filed against ITSO;
- Colombia presented a proposal to modify Article 12 on Frequency Assignments of the ITSO Agreement; this led to a heated discussion and vote on the proposal, which was approved by a majority;
- The Assembly also debated a proposal presented by Spain for the ITSO Advisory Committee to henceforth include a maximum of two observers per region, so as to prepare the countries that want to join that committee in the future; this issue will be defined with more detail at the next session of the Assembly of Parties.
Lastly, note that Portugal is a candidate, supported by the participants, to host the next ordinary Assembly of Parties, scheduled for the last quarter of 2008.
