In the early days of cross-national communication, messages were encoded on a telegraph machine and sent to the bordering country for transcription, usually by a national post office, and then sent to their destination. Messages could not be sent directly from a source in one country to a receiver in another country because a common code was not used.

     The need for technical standardization was first recognized by Prussia and Austria, and in October 1849 these two countries made the first attempt to link telegraph systems with a common code. One year later, an agreement between these two countries, Bavaria, and Saxony created the Austro-German Telegraph Union. The success of this first union gave rise to additional regional unions, leading to the creation of the International Telegraph Union in 1865. The advent of radio communications at the end of the 19th century led to the first International Radiotelegraph Conference, held in Berlin in 1906, at which the International Radiotelegraph Convention was agreed in order to establish regulations and technical standards for cross-border wireless communication. In 1934, the International Telegraph Union expanded its remit to take in the 1906 convention, changing its name to the International Telecommunication Union. Today, the ITU is the sole regulating institution with power to regulate the transfer of data throughout the world.

     In 1947 the ITU became an agency in the United Nations. According to a 1982 ITU Convention report, the purposes of the ITU are as follows: (1) to maintain and foster rational use of telecommunications and to offer technical assistance; (2) to promote and improve efficient use of technical equipment and operations; and (3) to coordinate and promote a positive world en­vironment for the achievement of the above goals.

     As the speed of telecommunications inventions in­ creases, so does the importance of the ITU. The evolution of telecommunications technology during the 20th century is so great that telecommunications affect almost every aspect of life, and the role of the ITU continues to extend into new areas of concern. The three major areas of jurisdiction for the ITU are: (1) distribution of radio and satellite services and assignments; (2) establishment of international telecommunications standards; and (3) regulation of international information exchange such as telephony, telegraphy, and computer data. The ITU also plays a vital role in telecommunications assistance for developing countries. The ITU is divided into three major sectors­ Radiocommunication (ITU-R), Telecommunication Standardization (ITU-T), and Telecommunication Development (ITU-D)-aimed at facilitating global discussion of the wide range of radio and telecommunication issues.

     Some 160 countries within the United Nations (UN) have representatives in the ITU. Each of these countries gets one vote on ITU decisions. The general meeting of the ITU is held once every few years and is called the Plenipotentiary Conference. The chief objective of this conference is to review and revise the ITU Convention, which is the governing document of the union. The one-country, one-vote format often leads to voting blocks based on country alliances, and creates the political nature of the ITU.

     The antagonisms between these voting blocks, in the light of the ever-increasing quantity of information being sent and received internationally, at times threaten the existence of the ITU. Many developing countries want to break the dominant flow of information from Northern industrialized countries to Southern developing countries. Broadly speaking, the North wants to continue the "free flow" of information while the South would like to be able to regulate the flow to enable them to maintain greater control of their own socio-cultural development.

     A second factor that threatens the existence of the ITU is the fact that the speed at which technological changes now occur is greater than the ITU's international standards process can accommodate. Thus, several other standards organizations have developed, such as the Tl Committee of the Exchange Carriers Standards Association in the United States, the Telecommunications Technology Committee (TIC) in Japan, and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). These regional standards organizations (RSOs) offer a more homogeneous membership than the ITU, which makes the standardization process quicker.

     In response to the RSOs, the ITU has streamlined its standards process and restructured its voting rules so that decisions can be made by ballot between Plenipotentiary Conferences. In 1996, the ITU convened the first World Telecommunication Policy Forum (WTPF) in an effort to promote discussion and harmony regarding telecommunication regulatory policies. For example, one of the more recent ITU debates focused on satellite and orbital space allocation for ITU members. Globally accepted standards are necessary for cross­ national telecommunication and safety. The telecommunication industry is at the core of many global health, education, and food manufacturing and distribution services such as tele-medicine and distance learning. The ITU will most likely continue to play an important regulatory role in global communications, economics, and politics.