t © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website. First Things First Chapter 1 Recording and registration of frequency assignments and also orbital characteristics of space services, and maintenance of the Master International Frequency Register Consulting services to member states on the equitable, effective, and economical use of the radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits, and investigation and assistance in resolving cases of harmful interference Preparation, editing, and dispatch of circulars, documents, and publications developed within the Sector Delivery of technical information and seminars on national frequency management and radiocommunications, and close work with the Telecommunication Development Bureau to assist developing countries The Standards A word about the publications of the ITU. First of all, the "standards" are referred to as recommendations because the ITU has no enforcement authority over the member nations that use them. Its strongest influence is exactly that-the ability to influence its member telecommunications authorities to use the standards because it makes sense to do SO on a global basis. The standards are published every four years, following enormous effort on the part of the representatives that sit on the organization's task forces. These representatives hail from all corners of the industry; most countries designate their national telecommunications company (where they still exist) as their representative to the ITU-T, while others designate an alternate, known as a recognized private operating agency (RPOA). The United States, for example, has designated the Department of State as its duly elected representative body. Other representatives may include manufacturers (Lucent, Cisco, Nortel, Fujitsu), research and development organizations (Bell Northern Research, Bell Laboratories, Xerox PARC), and other international standards bodies. The efforts of these organizations, companies, governments, and 