ITU, an abbreviation for International Telecommunication Union, was set up in 1885 and became a specialised agency of the United Nations in 1947 after which its headquarters was shifted to Geneva. In the following report, we will be tracing the basic functions of ITU and the different sectors in the ITU. We will also be covering briefly the current direction of ITU, analysis of the implications of ITU's presence today, and finally our projections of the future role of ITU.

The ITU is "responsible for the regulation, standardisation and development of telecommunications worldwide, including international management of the radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits". (Available: http://www.itu.int) ITU's ability to bring together the representatives from competing companies and from governments of all ideological persuasions is perhaps its greatest strength. The establishment of a partnership between the private and public sectors has come to play an increasingly important role for ITU in the implementation of telecommunication development activities designed to ensure that new technologies reach all parts of the world. Some of ITU's accomplishments include allocating the radio-frequency spectrum; registering radio-frequencies to ensure no interference between international radio stations; coordinating efforts to prevent harmful interference between radio stations; trying to establish minimal charges for telecommunications; development and improvement of telecommunications in developing countries; promoting safety measures in the use of telecommunications; undertaking studies and issuing recommendations for its members and coordinating efforts to harmonise development of telecommunications facilities.

In 1989, the High Level Committee was created to review the structure and functioning of the Union to recommend reforms enabling the organisation to respond to telecommunication challenges better. Subsequently, in 1992, 3 new sectors of the ITU were created, the radio-communications, telecommunications standardisation and development sectors. The radio-communications sector (ITU-R) was created with the mission of ensuring 'rational, equitable, efficient and economical use of the radio-frequency spectrum by all radio-communication services, including those using the satellite orbit, and to carry out studies and adopt recommendation matters.' The telecommunications standardisation sector was created with the mission of ensuring 'an efficient and on-time production of high quality standards covering all fields of telecommunications except radio aspects.' Finally, the ITU Development section had the mission of 'promoting and offering technical assistance to countries in the mobilization of the material and financial resources needed for implementation as well as promoting the extension of the benefits of the new telecommunication technologies to all the world's inhabitants'. (Available: http//www.itu.int)

At present, the ITU faces multiple challenges in the telecommunications environment of the new millennium. In response to these challenges, the ITU has laid for itself several paths to follow in its future direction. A particular pertinent issue that has been on the agenda of the ITU in the past decade would be the need to close the gap on telecommunication technology development between the developing and developed countries. At present, there is an imbalanced flow of telecommunications revenue from developed countries to developing countries. This has resulted in protest from developed countries in terms of a major deficit in their telecommunications income, whilst developing countries have seen major surpluses in their telecommunications income. However, these surpluses have actually raised the total income of the developing countries, allowing them to have more to spend on telecommunications development. The challenge for ITU is now to develop more fair and yet flexible accounting system to allow a more balanced flow of income, but such that the developing countries are not crippled by the reduction in income. This is a long-term project, which first requires the developing countries to be able to become financially more stable before a new accounting system can come in. The ITU is also trying to move toward a multi-lateral communication trading system, where the telecommunications network in each country is liberalised and telecommunication trade can move freely across countries. This would mean that governments or monopolies no longer control telecommunications and there is an openly competitive environment across the globe.

Related to this would be the need for ITU to have a regional outlook to solve problems on a more localised basis rather than a global basis, to allow for a more efficient regulation and improvement of the telecommunications in that region. As a result, the ITU has been holding conferences in various parts of the world to reach out toward the regions more directly, like the ITU Telecom Asia and the ITU Telecom Africa. Finally, the ITU is also trying to address the problem of keeping up with the rapid technological change. In a bid to solve this, ITU has streamlined its standards process and restructured voting rules such that decisions can be made by balloting between World Plenipotentiary Conferences, rather than only when the members meet once a year at the conference.

As can be seen from above, ITU's presence has played a major role in the global telecommunications network. However, what are the exact implications of the presence or absence of the ITU? What significance has ITU served all these years, and what problems have they faced? More ambitiously, this report will attempt to speculate on what would it be like without the presence of the ITU.

Firstly, the unique position of the ITU as a partnership of so many governments and regulators of the telecommunications industry around the world has given it the ability to rally all the strategic world players in the telecommunications industry to bring their vision to reality. It is in fact the sole regulating power able to regulate transfer of data round the world. In a time where telecommunication inventions occur rapidly, it would seem the role of ITU has become essential.

Since its creation, there has been better management of the radio-frequency spectrum, and a better allocation of radio frequencies. The ITU has also managed to build more partnership between the private and public sectors, as well as carried out telecommunication development activities designed to ensure new technologies reach round the world, including the developing countries.

Now let us consider a situation without the ITU. First, we can imagine that the chaos within the radio-frequency spectrum would occur. Dominant countries and stations would exercise their power and use it to snap up the more desired frequencies, resulting in the unfair distribution of telecommunication power. Other problems include emergence of technology giants due to mergers and acquisitions that can swallow smaller companies through sheer strength. Without the ITU, such media giants would remain unchecked and the global communication network could be dominated in the hands of a few only. One may also speculate that the digital divide between the technologically advanced countries and the lesser-advanced countries would be even wider without a central regulating body to regulate the transfer of technology. Some significant achievements would include the use of the roaming GSM network round the world that has allowed the use of mobile phones across countries. However, the presence of the ITU has not been perfect either. Since its creation, there have been problems that have arisen as well.

The ITU has frequently been blamed for being inefficient. Some of the areas that the ITU has lagged in efficiency include the problem that the actual regulations and plans that are finally published take too long to process. The multiple levels of bureaucracy in such a large organisation have resulted in the policies they churn up being too slow to keep up with the rapidly changing telecommunications industry. Moreover, the issue of closing the telecommunications gap between developed and developing countries has been dragging on for so many years that one wonders if the rapidly emerging regional standards organisations (RSOs) can do a better job. Without the ITU these organisations would see a more rapid growth and perhaps can help at regulating flow of telecommunications better. Moreover, the ITU regulates the telecommunications networks round the globe and their decision to liberalise the networks across the globe could result in a form of new hegemony from the more advanced countries to the lesser-advanced ones. The developed countries could use the chance to exploit the resources in developing countries and usurp the control of the telecommunications networks in the developing country.

Nevertheless, ITU is unlikely to disappear in the near future. The ITU will continue to play an important and active role in the telecommunications sector worldwide. Perhaps regional centres could be set up to have a better sense of control of the telecommunications development in the regions, in particular those of the developing nations. It would also continue to be the bridge between the private and public sectors and will try to close the technological divide by implementing various developmental strategies. Finally, as technology keeps evolving, the ITU must keep abreast with the advances and keep them in check through standardisations and regulations in order to ensure its survival down the new millennium.

Bibliography

1. ITU Website [On-line].
Available: http://www.itu.int (2001, July 10)

2. ITU (March 1997). World Telecommunication Development Report. Geneva Switzerland:
International Telecommunications Union.