| |
||||
  |
About CITEL | Calendar | Committees | Fellowships | Forum | Publications | info@citel | Web Resources |
 | |
| Home ~ About CITEL | |
| Quick Links |
|---|
|
| CITEL News |
|
Meeting of the Rapporteur Group to Prepare for the WTSA will take place on May 23 in Brasilia, Brazil |
First Part:
Second Part:
Third Part:
The Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL) serves as the coordinator for the Organization of American States in matters regarding telecommunications. CITEL was created under article 52 of the OAS charter. The OAS has 35 member countries. It is the oldest regional organization in the world and encompassing the Caribbean and Central American countries, as well as North and South America.
From the very beginning of regional efforts, telecommunications has offerred possibilities for integrating a hemisphere that has many natural barriers and others imposed by national boundaries, culture, language and politics. The first American International Conference in March 1890 adopted two resolutions regarding communications: the first one recommended that the 18 participating countries promote telegraphic lines with regular services and equitable tariffs as a means of improving communication across the region. The second resolution recommended that countries on the Pacific Ocean promote maritime, telegraphic and postal communications. It also suggested that a subsidy be given to the companies that laid a submarine telegraphic cable from San Francisco in the United States to Valparaiso in Chile.
Since those hopeful beginnings, both the OAS and the role of telecommunications in the Americas has evolved, responding to new demands and technological breakthroughs and broadening the scope of activities. Today, more than ever, the Internet, wireless communications and other technological innovations span the hemisphere with their potential. As the heir of a century of integration efforts, CITEL finds itself in a position to bring together initiatives and contribute to improved telecommmunications.
The Fifth American International Conference created the Inter-American Electrical Communication Commission in May 1923. This Commission is considered the predecessor of CITEL. The primary purpose was establishing cooperation among American States on electrical communications.
At the time, telegraph was the main long-distance communication and radio was just starting to take off as mass media. Services were concentrated in small urban pockets. But over the next 50 years, regional governments tried to come to terms with the potential of the technology and resolve initial interference and incompatibilities.
A year later, the first Conference of the Inter-American Electrical Communication Commission of the Panamerican Union (as the OAS was called then), was held in Mexico City. The Conference drafted a convention containing 27 articles. It recognized that communications were an essential public service; it created an Inter-American Electrical Communication System; it provided guidelines on correspondence and tariffs; and it created an institute to collect, coordinate, and publish all types of reports related to electrical communications.
The South American Radiobroadcasting Union, headquartered in Montevideo, Uruguay, was created in 1934. The second South American Radio Agreement (Buenos Aires, 1935) dealt with international cooperation for the transmission of cultural, artistic, and literary programs; technical patterns in the planning and operation of national and international radio transmissions, as well as registration and utilization of frequencies. It also dealt with the establishments of stations for the air and maritime safety, and stations for radio amateurs. The frequencies were set aside for amateur radio. The third South American Radio Agreement (Santiago, 1940) set the framework for radio broadcasting in the region.
The first Inter-American Radiocommunications Conference was held in Habana in December 1937. It created the Inter-American Radiocommunications Office (O.I.R.), headquartered in Havanna, Cuba. The the O.I.R. annual budget was $25,000.00. The expenses were covered by contributions from the Member Governments. Expenses for conferences were covered by the host government. The conference also aimed for a consensus on technical issues to be presented at the World Conference in Cairo (1938). It established rules, regulations and guidelines for the use of the radio transmission band in the 550-1600 Khz range.
The second Inter-American Radiocommunications Conference held in Santiago, Chile in January 1940 drew eighteen countries. It revised the tables for the assignment of frequencies included in the Convention of 1937, in accordance with the tables of the General Rules and Regulations on Radiocommuncations approved in Cairo in 1938
The Third Inter-American Radiocommunications Conference was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in September 1945. This Conference set out a Convention which updated the Convention signed in Habana in 1937. It broadenened its participation to 22 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, the United States of America, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay , and Venezuela. It also had representatives from the Bahamas, Terranova and one observer from the British Colonies in the Antilles.
The fourth Radiocommunications Conference was held in Washington, D.C., United States, in April-July 1949, with the participation of 19 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Ecuador, the United States of America, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
The Inter-American Radiocommunication Agreement signed in July 1949 dealt with the assignment of frequencies and band distributions, radiotransmission services, mobile maritime radiotelegraphy, police frequencies, aeronautics, identification of radio broadcasting stations, radio amateurs, meteorology, and interferences control and suppression. It replaced the one signed in Santiago de Chile in 1940
The Conference recognized the need to carry out a study of telecommunications problems in Latin America, which is why it recommended convening an Inter-American Plenipotentiary Telecommunication Conference in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1951, mainly to revise Conventions and Annexes of Habana (1937), Rio de Janeiro (1945) and the Agreements and Annexes of Santiago de Chile (1940) and Washington (1949), preceded by an International Telecommunication Conference to take place the same year in Argentina.
During this period, many of the telecommunicaiton services in Latin America had been taken over by nationalistic governments from transnational companies and turned into state enterprises. Extending the reach of the telephone, the television transmitter and other electronic services into the hinterland were part of the wave of development that fueled the period. But during the 1980s, the formula ran out of gas as one governments after another grappled with finacial crises. In the United States, the monolithic Ma Bell ended up being broken into regional service companies.
At the meeting of the International Telecommunication Union Plenipotentiary Conference of 1959, the Latin American delegations rallied around the initiative of the Mexican delegation calling for a study to look into the creation of an Inter-American Telecommunication Network (ITN), including solutions to the associated problems, such as routing of traffic flow, operational planning, costs, and benefits. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the United Nations Development Program funded a feasilibility study. In January, 1969 the Inter-American Development Bank delivered the Standards and Recommendations for the Inter-American Telecommunication Networks which included the standards for transmission, numbering, switching, and signaling. However, the initiative never got beyond the planning stage and its objectives were obtained in 1990s due to market forces and changing technology.
During this period, the OAS and its related institutions grappled with the question of how best to structure themselves to achieve their objectives. Although the names and organization schemes changed over the next 20 years, experience was being acquired as to how best to structure the evolving relationships that encompassed international organizations, nationalal governments, regulatory administrations, public and private enterprises and the quicken pace of technological innovation. These efforts bore fruit during the 1990s, starting with the ITU Americas Regional Telecommunication Developmetn Conference, held in Mexico in 1992.
During this period, CITEL achieved the follwing:
Four global trends -- new technology of telecommunication infrastructure, convergence and integration of network and services, the redefinition of the market (globalization, competitive markets due to multiple operators and service providers, deregulation and privatization), and the explosive growth of the Internet -- dramatically reshaped telecommunications in the last decade of the 20th Century. Fortunately for CITEL, it underwent a series of organization changes that prepared it for this challenge.
In June 1993 after nearly of decade of reform initiatives, the OAS General Assembly approved CITEL's proposal to reorganize:
The first Extraordinary Meeting of the CITEL Permanent Executive Committee, COM/CITEL, August 1993, Washington, D.C. resolved to hold the first minister-level assembly of the new CITEL in Uruguay, in February 1994. Eighteen members countries, three Permanent Observers before the OAS, representatives from International and Regional Agencies, and representatives from private enterprises participated at the Assembly. In total, 127 people attended the first Assembly.
The most important decision of the Assembly was outlining the participation of the associate members coming from operating entities and recognized scientific or industrial organizations, or financial or development institutions related to the telecommunication industry. In addition to broader participation, the partnership provided CITEL with better funding to underwrite its activities in response to its members' needs.
The participating states set the tone of the new initiative by issuing the Declaration of Montevideo.
An important meeting of the 34 Heads of State of the Americas took place in Miami, U.S.A., December 1994. The Presidents adopted an Action Plan, which represents an essential component for the political, economical, social and cultural development for each of their respective countries. They also recognized CITEL's capacity as a forum of hemispheric telecommunications, by charging it of the support of a meeting of high level officials and telecommunication experts.
The Presidents' Action Plan included specific mandates for CITEL:
Two years later, the Senior Telecommunications Officals met in Washington, DC and issued a blueprint for CITEL activities as well as a strategic plan.
At the second Summit of the Americas in Santiago, Chile in 1998, the Heads of State renewed and expanded their mandates to CITEL, which a second Assembly translated into new guidelines that same year.
By 2000, CITEL had grown to include more than 200 associate members actively participating in consultative committee deliberations. Governments and private enterprises are preparing for the III Summit of the Americas to be held in Canada in 2001.
Persons wishing to obtain additional information about CITEL's activities can write to:
Executive Secretariat
Inter-American Telecommunication Commission
1889 F Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20006 U.S.A
Tel.: +1 202 458 3004
Fax : +1 202 458 6854
E-mail: citel@oas.org
 |