A new CITEL fosters telecommunications in the Americas

The Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL) is an entity of the Organization of American States (OAS). Prior to 1993, CITEL was a series of conferences that existed in various forms over the years since 1889. The CITEL Assembly in 1993 organized CITEL into four permanent committees: a Permanent Executive Committee (COM/CITEL) and three Permanent Consultative Committees (PCCs) to carry out the work program of the Commission. There are a number of factors regarding the organization and operation of CITEL that are rather obvious. Probably the most important of these is the fact that CITEL must confront the future in partnership with the private sector in order to position itself to be of assistance to member states. With the increased participation of the private sector, it is anticipated that the scope of activities CITEL will be addressing in the future will also broaden. This is already taking place, especially in support of the establishment of a free trade zone in the Americas. One obvious step in this direction would be the expansion of the standards coordination activities into the area of information technology standards, which not only supports the trade negotiations but also the implementation of the global information infrastructure