ICANN São Paulo meeting site

During a meeting yesterday, I heard one of the most profound things I have ever heard at an ICANN meeting.

In a discussion, representatives from New Zealand, the host country of our meeting in March of this year, told of the substantial benefits to their country that came from hosting an ICANN meeting. They extolled that the meeting had resulted from bringing a high profile Internet related event to the country, including a tantalising conclusion.

I can attest that representatives from practically the whole Pacific IT community arrived on the shores of Wellington, and certainly for staff it made outreach to the many micro-nations that populate the area so much easier. At a formal reception held mid-week at Wellington's "Beehive", we had the possibility to liaise with various ministers and discuss matters of Internet policy. Events ranging from the meeting of Pacific IT ministers, to the more geeky NZNOG meeting, were all aligned with ICANN's timing to increase the appeal.

But a true lasting impact of the ICANN meeting seems to have been an announcement of a radical shift of NZ Government policy. A few weeks after we had left, the New Zealand government announced it will unbundle its local loop. For those not in the telco-world, simply put, this means separating the physical wires from the service contracts for telephones - and allowing comprehensive competition for telephony and Internet over copper telephone lines.

Peter Dengate-Thrush advised those in attendance it was "no coincidence" that this announcement had come when it did, and pointed to the engagement with the government by a number of experts that were in town for the ICANN meeting. The message was clear that ICANN meetings can bring substantial benefits, and if ICANN could leave such a legacy in every place it touched, it would certainly make it all worthwhile.