This book provides a clear and thorough account of the process leading up to the revision of the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) one of the four treaties administered by the ITU. The author’s inside view of the events and his legal analysis of the new ITRs, are different from that what has been aired in most other accounts to date. His systematic approach shows how much of the criticism of the WCIT-12 process and of the ITRs themselves, is unjustified. This book provides the most accurate view to date of what the ITRs really mean and of what really happened at WCIT-12, which was undoubtedly a key event in the history of telecommunication policy and which is likely to have significant long-term effects. The book covers in some detail the events leading to the non-signature of the treaty by a significant number of states, outlines possible consequences of that split between states, and offers possible ways forward. The book includes a detailed article-by-article analysis of the new ITRs, explaining their implications and concludes with recommendations for national authorities. It concludes with an analysis of events from the point of view of dispute resolution theory, offering suggestions for how to avoid divisive outcomes in the future. "This is an excellent book, and quite rich and comprehensive. The topic is important and the book will surely be of interest to regulators, diplomats, policy experts, and all those who participated in WCIT. The author is uniquely qualified to write an analysis of the new ITRs and an account of the Conference. This book will be a good reference for the next Plenipotentiary Conference to be held in 2014 which is going to discuss follow-up to WCIT-12." Naser al-Rashedi, United Arab Emirates. "This is an authoritative expert account of a moment of high significance for vital issues with respect to international networks." Professor Dan Schiller, University of Illinois. "This is an excellent and timely work." Professor Ian Walden, Queen Mary, University of London. "Interested persons, businesses and governments can draw their policies from the assessments of a telecommunications insider as presented in this book. The manifold arguments enlightening the interpretation of the provisions of the ITRs might become an invaluable guidance for those who apply the ITRs in the future." Professor Dr. Rolf H. Weber, University of Zurich.

Since the revolution in modern telecommunications that followed the invention of the telegraph, telecommunication networks have provided channels for the fast delivery of communications across national borders. This transnational nature of telecommunication networks have led to the establishment of international regulatory regimes on the subject. On the other hand, developing countries consider regional economic integration as a major strategy for promoting trade and development, telecommunications have been seen within this context as a strategic tool for facilitating regional economic integration. This has also led to the establishment of regional telecommunication regulatory regimes that aim to promote regional integration and regulatory harmonization. This book discusses telecommunication regimes established by international and regional organizations such as the United Nations, the International Telecommunication Union, the World Trade Organization, the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, and the Southern African Development Community, among a number of others. It will be relevant to policy makers, regulators, lawyers, law students, investors and telecommunication operators, as well as any person interested in international and African regional telecommunication regimes.

2009 Release: "International Telecommunications Law [2009] - I", a four-volume set with more than 2,500 pages, offers specialists from North and South America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific, and the Middle East who examine their respective telecommunications legal and regulatory regimes. Purchase Volumes II, III, and IV to complete the set. The publication is replaced by updated volumes annually. A 25% discount applies to a subscription for three years of updates. Discounts are applied after purchase by rebate from publisher.

This book focuses on the history of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), from its origins in the mid-19th century to nowadays. ITU was the first international organization ever and still plays a crucial role in managing global telecommunications today. Putting together some of the most relevant scholars in the field of transnational communications, the book covers the history of ITU from 1865 to digital times in a truly global perspective, taking into account several technologies like the telegraph, the telephone, cables, wireless, radio, television, satellites, mobile phone, the internet and others. The main goal is to identify the long-term strategies of regulation and the techno-diplomatic manoeuvres taken inside ITU, from convincing the majority of the nations to establish the official seat of the Telegraph Union bureau in Switzerland in the 1860s, to contrasting the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance (supported by US and ICANN). History of the International Telecommunication Union is a trans-disciplinary text and can be interesting for scholars and students in the fields of telecommunications, media, international organizations, transnational communication, diplomacy, political economy of communication, STS, and others. It has the ambition to become a reference point in the history of ITU and, at the same time, just the fi rst comprehensive step towards a longer, inter-technological, political and cultural history of transnational communications to be written in the future.

The governing international space law regime has been locked in a norm-creation stalemate for over 40 years. This stalemate endangers the preservation of established, guiding legal principles, as well as the sustainability of the parts of outer space that humans utilize. The discrepancy between norm creation, technological advancement, and the ecosystem of novel actors could generate serious consequences for future space activities and the nature of international relations. Besides the return of old rivalries in a New Cold War, new activities and actors emerging amidst a legal void emphasizes the risks of the stalemate: unstable peace, fragile cooperation, uneven technological development, and uncertain eco-sustainability. The prolonged legal stalemate cannot be treated simply as an academic question, for it has broader political and economic implications of growing strategic relevance. Unresolved issues in international space law could threaten the survival of space as a global common, thus it is essential that the ability of the norm-creation mechanism of UN COPUOS is equipped to address the ongoing changes and provide for adequate global governance. This book evaluates the current legal state and sheds light on potential future prospects, offering an overview of the political context within which it developed, providing an assessment of the selected successful examples in international law, and analyzing lessons learned. It makes recommendations for how the UN COPUOS legal apparatus should be modified in order to ensure that future space activities are possible beyond anarchy, greed, and ecological irresponsibility, and to ensure that the principle of the peaceful uses of outer space remains the governing norm.