Proceedings of the Workshop - United Nations Office for Outer ...

184 POSSIBLE INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS, INCLUDING LEGALCONFLICT RESOLUTION IN EXPANDING SPACE COMMERCIALIZATIONinto operation at the end of 1999. The Japan-USsubmarine cable network, due to be operational in thesecond quarter o f 2000, will connect Japan with the USmainland via Hawaii. In order to meet the increasingdemand for multimedia traffic on the Japan-Europe andJapan-US routes, the planned TAT-14 Cable Networkwill link the US mainland with the UK, France, theNetherlands, Germany and Denmark, starting also inthe fourth quarter o f 2000. In March 1998, Gemini, thefirst transatlantic telecoms cable network to caterprimarily for Internet traffic entered into service,costing about $ 500 million to lay and which directlyconnects London and New York. There are also anumber o f other current transatlantic sub-sea cableventures and the next generation o f cables due to bedeployed in 2000-2005 is expected to increasetransmission speed capacity tenfold.In fa c t, however, global communications hasremained more a phenomenon that is technicallyfeasible than real in the sense of having created a true"global village". It is limited to the economicallyadvanced regions o f the world. Many parts of the world(developing countries) have still have very limitedtelecommunications penetration. There is clearly animportant telecommunications gap. This problem hasbeen addressed in a number of studies, most notably inthe 1985 report "The Missing Link", produced by theIndependent Commission for W orld-W ideTelecommunications Development (Sir DonaldMaitland, UK, chairman).8 The 1998 edition o f theITU's World Telecommunication Development Reportshows that there has been little progress.9 According tothis report, at the beginning of 1997 62 per cent of allmain telephone lines were installed in only 23 developedcountries (Australia, Canada, the European Union,Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland andthe United States), accounting for just 15 per cent of theworld population. Although 60 per cent o f thepopulation in developing countries lives in rural areas,8 D. Maitland, The M issing Link, Report o f The IndependentCommission For Worldwide Telecommunications Development(1985).9 ITU, World Telecommunication Development Report (8th ed.1998).more than 80 per cent of main telephone lines in thesecountries are in urban areas. With regard to new typeso f networks and services, it is startling to note that 84per cent of mobile cellular subscribers, 91 per cent ofall facsimile machines, and 97 per cent of all Internethost computers are located in industrialized countries.Finally, there are more cellular telephones in Thailandthan in Africa, and more Internet host computers inEstonia than in sub-Saharan Africa (excluding SouthAfrica). About half of the world population has nevereven made even a telephone call.Developments in the World TradeOrganization (WTO)An important international trade regime for thetelecommunications industry was established in 1997within the new World Trade Organization (WTO) onthe basis of the framework of the General Agreement onTrade in Services (GATS) and the WTO Agreement onBasic Telecommunications Services, annexed to theGATS.10 The 69 states that have made commitmentsunder this agreement account for more than 93 per centof global telecommunications revenue. Among theregulatory principles accepted by the parties are theprevention of ant-competitive practices, the obligationto provide interconnection on transparent andreasonable terms and the requirement for independentregulatory bodies and other commitments facilitatingmarket access.10 See P. Malanczuk, From GATS to WTO - The LegalFramework of the 1997 WTO Telecommunications Agreement,Telecom International, Vol. 1 (1997), pp. 22-27; P.Malanczuk/H. de Vlaam, International Trade inTelecommunications Services and the Results of the UruguayRound of GATT, Telecommunications & Space Journal, Vol. 3(1996), pp. 269-90; A.E. Appleton, Telecommunications Trade:Reach Out and Touch Someone?, University o f PennsylvaniaJournal o f International Economic Law, Vol. 19 (1998), pp.209-227; M.C.J. Bronckers/P. Larouche, TelecommunicationsServices and the World Trade Organization, Journal o f WorldTrade Law, Vol. 31 (1997), pp. 5-47; R. Frid, TheTelecommunications Pact Under the GATS-Another StepTowards the Rule of Law, Legal Issues o f EuropeanIntegration, Vol. 24 (1997), pp. 67-96.