The ITU: How have the trends affected the ITU?
In the past, the ITU was the sole international institution in the telecommunications field. It primarily served as a means of cooperation among operators of public telecommunication facilities, including radio. The ITU’s activities included sharing information, developing standards, and adopting regulatory provisions that represented the common rules of the business. Until relatively recently there were no private networks. The notion that someone could independently operate a separate end-to-end telecommunication network on an international scale was not something that occurred. While most of the ITU’s basic functions remain the same, telecommunications in most of the world’s market is today a highly competitive business – and it is so to some extent with the international organizations. Our constituents are now looking for improved performance, and for products more tailored to their needs. And the very nature of our constituents is changing, too. In 1991 we had 164 country members;
