US accused of telecoms pact ‘propaganda’

Franco Bernabè, chairman of Telecom Italia and president of GSMA, the mobile operators association, has attacked what he described as “propaganda warfare” by the US that led to the collapse last week of talks over a new telecoms treaty.

Bernabè, who as president of GSMA represents almost 800 mobile operators in 220 countries, said the suggestion by the US and its allies that those in favor of the treaty were from “authoritarian regimes” was “ridiculous.” “This is propaganda warfare,” he said. “What is offensive is [the idea] that a legitimate portion of the industry has been associated with Iran and oppressive regimes. That is complete nonsense and unacceptable.” Bernabè, calling for regulators to reconsider their stance, joined other supporters of the treaty in suggesting that the US was using the principle of freedom as a cover to protect corporations such as Google and Facebook from global attempts to co-ordinate regulation. “Regulation has put European companies under dramatic competitive disadvantage . . . There could not be a European Google or a European Facebook because it would be so complex to comply with rules and the obligations of European privacy laws,” said Bernabè. Proponents of a free web, including Google, fear broad clauses set out at the ITU concerning national sovereignty and security could be used for legitimizing censorship, clandestine monitoring and the blocking of websites.