Next WRC Likely in China, Undermining US Positions

China seems the likely venue for the WRC, said Scott Harris, managing partner of Crest Hill Advisors and a former FCC and NTIA official. But “let me underscore this -- it cannot be in China,” he said, adding that most federal officials won’t be able to attend there. “Even those from the private sector will have to go with burner phones and burner computers” because of security risks.

A WRC in China is “guaranteed to be a disaster for the United States,” Harris said. It takes time to find and fund alternative locations. The U.S. government “needs to focus on it now.” Harris is also a former chair of the FCC’s WRC Advisory Committee.

CTIA General Counsel Umair Javed agreed with Harris. For many years, the U.S. has been “the most important champion, sustainer and defender of an open, rule-bound system that’s been grounded in multilateralism and grounded in international law,” Javed said: “That system is facing a very credible and well-resourced threat from our adversaries, including China.”

The concerns over the U.S. at the WRC continue to mount. During a TPI webinar a week ago, speakers said U.S. conflicts with its traditional allies raise questions about its ability to build a coalition headed into the next WRC (see 2503110054).

The WRC has been “an incredibly important venue” for advancing U.S. goals, Javed noted. Traditionally, the U.S. has benefited from driving the WRC agenda, and “we need a return to that norm." The U.S. went to the last WRC, in 2023 in Dubai, with the FCC lacking general auction authority, he said. “That is something that we cannot repeat."

WRC preparation isn’t far enough along to know what U.S. priorities will be, said HWG’s Tricia Paoletta, also a former WRC Advisory Committee chair. “It’s a priority to get our region behind us, and that does require us to have our own domestic decisions locked down soon.” At the last WRC, there were divisions in the Americas region, with Brazil and Mexico “being a little open to the suasion of China,” she said. “That’s the challenge, and we’ve got to be working on that.” She added that the next WRC will be “difficult” no matter where it’s located.

Jennifer Manner, a satellite expert who left the NTIA last week, noted that China-related travel issues have already started. China is hosting the next Study Group 4 meeting in April, focused on satellite spectrum, and “we’re really only able to send a very slimmed-down delegation from the U.S.” The State Department is deciding “whether we can send anyone.”

Manner predicted that a major push of President Donald Trump's administration will be against expanding the jurisdiction of the ITU, which is a U.N. specialized agency. “We have seen a number of countries trying to expand the jurisdiction” beyond its role of allocating spectrum and protecting users from harmful interference.

Harris called the ITU issue "a constant battle," saying, “We have been fighting ITU jurisdiction expansion for 30 years.” Administrations since the 1990s have opposed expansion, he said. He also warned that the U.S. preparation process is broken. “It simply takes us too long to get U.S. positions so that we can advance them internationally.”

Harris also said the U.S. must have a more unified position headed into the 2027 WRC than it did in 2023. During the last WRC, some companies in the U.S. delegation used their overseas affiliates on other delegations to oppose U.S. positions, he said. “It’s not a right to be on our delegation if you’re in the private sector."

Harris said he believes the previous WRC was the worst he’s seen. The WRC chair “shut the U.S. out of the room, not having a voice at all, during critical decision-making points,” he said. “If that’s going to be the way the ITU operates, it shouldn’t operate,” he added. “Serious changes need to be made … the process was broken last time.”

The U.S. was shut out because the ITU chair wanted to hear only from heads of the regional delegations, and Mexico coordinated the Americas region, Paoletta said.

“There has to be more clarity on the decision-making process,” she said. “If China is chairing this, they will be able to direct the decision-making." On most agenda items, the U.S. disagrees with the Chinese position, she noted.

Getting shut out of the room wasn't a surprise for the U.S., Javed said. “That was something that delegation members warned leadership about well before the conference … if the U.S. went to the conference without developed positions on key issues."

The U.S. isn’t very good at using private sector members of the delegation to build support for its positions in other countries, Manner said. Yet many U.S. companies are multinational and could build international support, she said. “We do have a very talented delegation, more so than most countries.” Yet, she added, we’re also dealing with a world where China is only getting stronger.