Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

Report of the United States Delegation
to the Plenipotentiary Conference
on Definitive Arrangements for the
International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium
Summary
EXPLORING THE UNKNOWN 109
(First Session)
Washington, D.C.
February 24–March 21, 1969
Submitted to the Secretary of State:
Leonard H. Marks, Ambassador
Chairman, United States Delegation
April 10, 1969
The purpose of the Conference is to establish definitive arrangements for the
International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium (INTELSAT). During the period
February 24 to March 21, 1969, 96 interested member and non-member countries
exchanged views on general aspects and specific details of proposed definitive arrangements.
No final decisions were taken by the Conference, which stands recessed until
November 18, 1969, at which time it is expected that draft definitive arrangements will be
considered by the reconvened Conference. In the interim, an intersessional Preparatory
Committee is being formed to develop the draft definitive arrangements.
The Conference provided the first occasion since the interim arrangements were
signed in 1964 for governments in their sovereign capacity to examine the organization
collectively. Hence it is not surprising that political factors influenced the positions taken
by many delegations. However, the avoidance of the extraneous political issues often
raised at international conferences is notable. There have been no challenges to credentials
and no polemics on issues outside the business of the Conference.
The Conference worked in its first session through four working committees and in
plenary session. The various Committee reports produced have been referred to the intersessional
Preparatory Committee and will provide a basis for that Committee’s work.
I. Background
Following a series of successful communication satellite experiments by Government
and industry in the United States in the period 1958–1963, the United States undertook,
pursuant to the terms and mandates of the Communications Satellite Act of 1962, to establish,
in conjunction and in cooperation with other countries, a single global commercial
communication satellite system. After several months of international bilateral and multilateral
negotiation [2] in 1963–64, the Government of the United States convened a
Plenipotentiary Conference at Washington, D.C. in July 1964, at which texts of two agreements
were initialed by 19 participating Governments. The first is the intergovernmental
Agreement Establishing Interim Arrangements for a Global Commercial
Communications Satellite System, in which the parties agreed to establish a global communication
satellite system in cooperation with one another. A related Special
Agreement, signed by Governments or telecommunications entities designated by member
Governments, contains details relating to operation, financial aspects, procurement,
control and maintenance of the global satellite system. The U.S. Government is a party to