Summary

  • RCC member states propose naming doubly landlocked countries and their dependence on transit infrastructure in two or more states in ITU Resolution 30.
  • A new encouragement would bring landlocked, doubly landlocked and transit countries together to develop resilient, affordable digital transport corridors, including cross-border fibre.

A country without a coast can still reach a cable landing station. First the route has to pass someone else’s network. The RCC’s amendment to ITU Resolution 30 asks delegates to look harder at the case where the path depends on transit infrastructure in two or more states. A second border means another set of operators, permissions and failure points around the same connection.

The ITU contribution register lists the Russian text as addendum 2 to contribution 94, posted on 23 October. It calls the affected group doubly landlocked countries, or DLLDCs, and says the multi-state transit dependence raises costs, delays and network vulnerability. Those are the sponsors’ reasons for bringing the category into the resolution; the filing gives no route, country list or measured price effect.

The adopted 2022 Resolution 30 already deals with least developed countries, small island states, landlocked developing countries and transition economies. It recognizes geography as an obstacle to international connectivity, asks ITU leadership to review needs and report to Council, and invites Member States to cooperate on regional infrastructure projects. Its language does not distinguish a route that depends on one transit jurisdiction from one that depends on several.

The RCC draft adds two linked pieces. In its reasoning, it calls regional transit digital corridors, including cross-border fibre networks, critical to affordable and resilient connectivity for landlocked and doubly landlocked countries. In the action text, it encourages these countries and transit states to develop regional cooperation for such corridors. The decision is about which governments must work together before a cable can behave like a single route.

Doha will decide whether to add the language. If it does, the first serious follow-up is a route dossier: participating transit states, the cross-border links and the party responsible at each handoff. Without that, the word corridor could decorate a map while the second border continues to run the timetable.

Official sources