The ITU assigns frequencies for normal telecoms traffic, air traffic, radio astronomy and even amateur use. Its responsibilities also include allocating geostationary orbital slots for satellites to countries and companies. The third main task is development cooperation, especially with the aim of raising the poorest countries to the level where they can join the information society. The average gap between the rich and the poor countries has narrowed in the past 15 years. There has also been good progress in South-East Asia.
China is the world's biggest telecoms market at the moment.
That means more than 20 million new connections a year. China is likely to have more telephones than the United States in the year 2000. The biggest problems are now mainly in Africa, especially in the sub-Saharan region. The teledensity in some countries there is lower now than it was 15 years ago. With a real information society being built in some places and others lacking even telephones, the gulf between rich and poor countries is deepening.