The International Telecommunications Union (ITU)

The International telecommunications Union (hereafter referred to as the ITU), which is the oldest intergovernmental organization, was founded in 1865. By August 2001, the ITU had 189 member countries and nearly 700 sector members (scientific and industrial companies, public and private operators, broadcasters, regional and international organizations) (2). Frederick (1999) states that international organizations consist of representatives of national governments and liberation organizations. IGOs can be subdivided into universal organizations such as the United Nations and its agencies, and regional organizations such as the European Union (EU), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The ITU is the oldest IGO. It is also one of the most influential in the development of telecommunications and ICT policy globally.

In terms of the constitution of the ITU (ITU 2001), the ITU has the following purposes:

• To promote and enhance participation of entities and organizations in the activities of the ITU, and to foster fruitful cooperation and partnership between them and member states for the fulfilment of the overall objectives embodied in the purposes of the Union.
  
• To maintain and extend international cooperation between all its member States for the improvement and rational use of telecommunications of all kinds.
  
• To promote and offer technical assistance to developing countries in the field of telecommunications, and also to promote the mobilization of the material, human and financial resources needed to improve access to telecommunications services in such countries.
  
• To promote the development of technical facilities and their most efficient operation, with a view to improving the efficiency of telecommunication services, increasing their usefulness and making them generally available to the public.
  
• To promote the extension of the benefits of new telecommunications and ICT technologies (see ICTs below) and policies to all the world's inhabitants.
  
• To harmonize the actions of member states and to promote fruitful and constructive cooperation and partnership between member states and sector members in the attainment of those ends.
  
• To promote the use of telecommunication services with the objective of facilitating peaceful relations between various countries which are ITU members.
  
• To promote, at an international level, the adoption of a broader approach to the issues of telecommunications in the global information economy and society, by cooperating with other world and regional intergovernmental organizations and those non-profit organizations concerned with telecommunications and ICT policy.

One of the ITU's biggest achievements has been the creation of an international telecommunications network, which is the largest man-made artefact in existence today. The network keeps people in touch by linking countries by means of telecommunications links and interconnectivity. This network is also available to people across the world, from Cape Town to Cairo, from the Seychelles to Sydney and Pretoria to London, Paris, Washington DC, Baghdad and other major cities of the world. The ITU network connects countries to one another with telecommunications links and inter-connectivity. This network also brings people international news and underpins the global economy (for example by linking global stock exchanges together and creating jobs for many in the ICT industry in various countries) - and it would not exist without the ITU's work.

The ITU defines and adopts telecommunications standards, thereby enabling people to communicate with each other from all corners of the world. South Africans, for example, use cell phones with the European Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technical standard. It also regulates the use of the radio frequency spectrum, which allows aircraft communications to be free of interference and television signals to be sent and received.

The ITU promotes telecommunications development around the world, particularly in developing countries, through its Bureau for Telecommunications Development (BDT). This bureau is also known as the Telecommunications Development Sector (see Figure 3.3).

Figure 3.3: The ITU Structure

Source: ITU (2001:47)

Founded in Paris as the International Telegraph Union, ITU adopted its present name in 1934. In 1947 it became a specialized agency of the United Nations. The ITU comprises members from various continents of the world, The ITU adopts international telecommunications regulations and treaties governing the radio frequency spectrum and regulates the use of the geostationary satellite orbit. It develops standards to facilitate the interconnection of telecommunication systems worldwide, regardless of the type of technology. The ITU is currently assisting in the development of policies to regulate new media technologies such as the Internet and electronic commerce (e-commerce) applications such as encryption.

According to Taylor and Jussawalla (in Bohlin, Brodin, Lundgren and Thorngren 2000:370), the ITU has been mainly a 'technical' agency, although it has been known to seek 'technical' solutions to political questions. For example it is now focusing on technical issues such as information security (encryption) as these carry a policy component. The ITU is also interested in facilitating electronic commerce (e-commerce), particularly with respect to developing countries, but primarily by creating pre-conditions for e-commerce - and access to ICT structures such as telecentres and multimedia/multipurpose community centres (MPCCs) and the Internet. In this way, the ITU plans to reduce the disparities between the digital and information haves and the have-nots, or the information-rich and the information-poor. The union, in the long run, aims at reducing what is called the 'telecommunication gap', which results in the 'information gap'.

The ITU fosters the development of telecommunications in developing countries by:

• Establishing medium-term development policies and strategies in consultation with other partners and
  
• Providing specialized technical assistance in terms of telecommunication policies, the choice and transfer of technologies and technical skills, management skills and technological management, financing of investment and development projects such as telecentre projects in selected African and Asian countries. The telecentre project is a project of the ITU, the Independent Development Research Centre/IDRC and the United Nations Development Programme/UNDP, amongst other funders. The ITU is also responsible for the mobilization of ICT resources for developing countries, and the implementation of human resource projects and management for the telecommunications and ICT sector/s in developing countries.

The ITU's mission, in a nutshell, is to fulfil the following goals:

• Technical. To promote the implementation and efficient operation of telecommunication facilities to improve the efficiency of services, their usefulness, and their general availability to the public. This is the function of the ITU's standardization sector or department.
• Development. To promote and offer technical assistance to developing countries, to promote the mobilization of the human and financial resources needed to develop telecommunications and ICT infrastructures, and to promote the extension of new media and communication technologies to people in countries which are members of the Union. This duty is performed by the ITU's BDT.
• Policy. To promote the adoption of international telecommunications policies in its member countries. The policy-formulating function is carried out by all the ITU's members and departments.

One of the ITU's development plans is the Valletta Action Plan. This plan was adopted by delegates from more than 140 countries at the ITU's World Telecommunication Development Conference held in Valletta, Malta, in 1998. The Valletta conference examined technologies for the future, and adopted a Strategic Plan for the Development Sector of the ITU, and an Action Plan for development partners (governments and industry alike) for the years 1998 to 2002. The Valletta Action Plan promotes the achievement of universal access, a special programme for LDCs, and cooperation between government and industry.

The Action Plan raised issues which needed to be investigated by the various groups in preparation for the 1998-2002 meeting, and these included: universal access, the impact of new technologies on the regulatory environment, the regulatory impact of convergence of telecommunications, broadcasting, information technology and content sectors, promotion of infrastructure and use of the Internet in developing countries, the role of telecommunications in social and cultural development (including the protection and promotion of indigenous culture and identity), and the study of an array of issues specific to rural development. The six action programmes initiated by the Valletta Plan include the following:

• Assisting governments in the preparation and implementation of reform, while keeping in mind the technological convergence of telecommunications, broadcasting and informatics (see Figure 3.4), which in turn affects the progressive globalization of the telecommunication and broadcasting sectors.
  

Figure 3.4: Convergence of telecommunications, broadcasting and computing

Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (1992:12).

• Developing technologies and applications, including the Internet; spectrum management and monitoring; network and infrastructure planning; innovative technological applications.
• Promoting universal access, to basic telecommunications, broadcasting, value added services and, the Internet in particular, as tools of development.
• Helping the developing countries, especially the LDCs, to adapt to the new telecommunications environment by putting into place the appropriate financial policies.
• Developing partnerships with the private sector. Promoting various types of partnership arrangements with the private sector in activities related to telecommunications development.
• Assisting developing countries to build institutional and organizational capacity through human resources management, development and organizational development activities (Bohlin et al 2000).

An important part of the ITU's work is to organize its international and regional conferences in order to discuss and formulate telecommunications and ICT policies. Some of these conferences include the ITU Africa Telecom conferences of 1986,1998 and 2001, and the ITU Asia Telecom 2002. These conferences also have technology and ICT company exhibitions and discussion forums by telecommunications and ICT experts attending the conference. The technology and company exhibitions are usually very informative and showcase the latest technologies and future technologies that can be adopted by those interested, be it governments, other companies or parties.

The ITU also has a good track record in bringing together various stakeholders to discuss telecommunications policy at a global level. These stakeholders include governments, the private sector, nongovernmental organizations, telecommunications operators and service providers, investors in the ICT sector and other parties interested in the telecommunications industry. ITU conferences and discussions offer a number of development benefits to developing countries, such as information about telecommunications regulation, possible development projects so that they be adopted, financial assistance, education about ICT, and trends in technological advances.

The ITU has also created a Telecommunications Regulators Network (TRN), whose mandate is to develop regulators for the telecommunications industry, especially for African economic development. The TRN is part of the ITU's strategy to strengthen regulators worldwide in a bid to offer increased communications services to more of the world's people at affordable prices. The TRN also fosters dialogue among regulators in the sector.
The network's objectives include:

• Improving the exchange of information and experience among regulators and other public and private entities, and,
• Swapping of officials, technical staff and experts between members for knowledge sharing and management.

The ITU is interested in facilitating e-commerce, particularly with respect to developing countries, but primarily does so by helping create the pre-conditions for e-commerce - access to a telecommunications infrastructure and to the Internet. The ITU re-affirmed the importance of low-cost, high quality telecommunications services for economic activity, and offered to work with the WTO to prepare a draft agreement between the Secretariats of the two organizations with the aim of fostering countries' adaptation to the changing environment.

2. According to the ITU at the 2001 ITU Africa Telecom Conference Ghallagher Estate in Madrand, South Africa.