Declaration on Open Network

What is the Dec­la­ra­tion on Open Networks?

The I-NEC Dec­la­ra­tion on Open Net­works out­lines the imper­a­tive need for Open Net­works and the ben­e­fits they are to pro­vide to communities.

In ten arti­cles, the open net­works are pre­sented as the net­work which best caters the needs of sig­na­tory com­mu­ni­ties. Open net­works must be operator-neutral, sym­met­ric, are capa­ble of car­ry­ing data over infi­nite band­widths and pro­vide a level play­ing field for any ser­vice to be offered over the net­work under equal con­di­tions, cre­at­ing a free and com­pet­i­tive mar­ket. The sig­na­tory com­mu­ni­ties believe telco and cable monopolies/duapolies to be an obta­cle to inno­va­tion and com­mu­nity devel­op­ment. Sig­na­tory com­mu­ni­ties rec­og­nize the need for a new and enhanced role for both gov­ern­ment and pri­vate sec­tor as to ini­ti­ate a new and inno­v­a­tive era of human social evolve­ment and eco­nomic growth. The dec­la­ra­tion main­tains tech­no­log­i­cal neu­tral­ity. The dec­la­ra­tion out­lines sev­eral direc­tions for the main play­ers in the broad­band net­work arena, but does not stip­u­late who should or should not own pas­sive infra­struc­ture. It encour­ages vision­ary lead­er­ship and up-to date forg­ing of reg­u­la­tory frame­forks which avoid ver­ti­cal inte­gra­tion of infra­struc­ture and services.

Who can endorse the Declaration?

Any com­mu­nity can, at any time, any place. Although a for­mal endorse­ment has taken place by the first group of sig­na­to­ries at Broad­band cities 2006, Novem­ber 8, the process of endorse­ment con­tin­ues and is open. It is expected from sig­na­tory com­mu­ni­ties they live up to their sig­na­ture and embrace the prin­ci­ples out­lined in the Dec­la­ra­tion. If your com­mu­nity wishes to endorse the com­mu­nity, please con­tact the I-NEC sec­re­tariat at info@i-nec.com