
Home ~ About CITEL	Esta página en español

Welcome

Quick Links

Web Directory AISN Telecom News
CITEL News
XXI Meeting of COM/CITEL will be held in Washington, DC, USA from December 7 to 9, 2009

The Inter-American Telecommunication Commission, CITEL, is an organism of the Organization of American States. Its purpose is to use all the means at its disposal to encourage and further the development of telecommunications in the Americas as a contribution to the overall development of the region. Its work is geared toward promoting standards coordination and developing guidelines and best practices: Internet Protocol-related issues, including convergence of services, infrastructure, and the regulatory framework designed to ensure access to IP networks, as well as IP-based network standardization and the introduction of third-generation global wireless systems.

Recognizing the political, economic, and social diversity of the member states, CITEL is founded on a commitment to building consensus and to assisting the member countries to meet their wide-ranging needs in the development of modern information infrastructure, in keeping with their respective domestic legislation, and through the evaluation of the regulatory, technical, and legal means available to them to promote deregulation, common standards, network interoperability, and compatible use of the radio spectrum.

To achieve these objectives, CITEL works with its member countries' administrations in close collaboration with the private sector and coordinating with regional and international organizations.

The CITEL's structure is based in committees:

Permanent Executive Committee (COM/CITEL)
Permanent Consultative Committee I: Telecommunication
Permanent Consultative Committee II: Radiocommunication including Broadcasting
Steering Committee
Conference Preparatory Working Group

Telecommunications is clearly one of the most significant business sectors in terms of how it impacts the economy, education, trade, finance and, in general, overall development in countries of the region. It also represents a major challenge and opportunity.

By acknowledging that telecommunications is an essential component of a country's development and that our region has pressing needs in this respect, governments are focusing on hemispheric telecommunications, as expressed in the mandates the OAS received in December 1998 at the Summit of the Americas. These mandates emphasize:

regional development of telecommunication infrastructure,
access to universal telecommunication service,
development of the information society,
global information infrastructure and applications, such as Internet, telemedicine, distance education (tele-education) and electronic commerce, among others,
through strategies that will make reasonably-priced telecommunication services available to all.

These goals will be achieved through a joint effort on the part of the private telecommunication sector and governments for the benefit of all members of our societies.

Historical Milestones

Over the past one hundred years, telecommunications has been ingredient in regional change and development.

1890: At the First International Conference of American States, as the Organization of American States was then called, the participants recommended that a submarine cable for telegraphic service between the cities of San Francisco in the United States and Valparaiso in Chile be laid.
1923: The Fifth International Conference of American States of the Pan-American Union created the Inter-American Electrical Communication Commission, as the predecessor to the current CITEL. It mainly worked at furthering radio communications.
1963: The organization became the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL), with the objective of promoting the Inter-American Telecommunication Network (ITN) as a means of promoting development in the region.
1971: The OAS General Assembly upgraded the former Commission to a Conference and approved its Organization Plan
1993: The OAS General Assembly renamed the Conference as the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission. More importantly, it strengthened CITEL by creating the position of Executive Secretariat and by opening the doors to the active participation of enterprises, organizations and private telecommunication associations as Associate Members in the Permanent Consultative Committees of CITEL and their Working Groups.