Members include leading players from the telecommunication, computer and broadcasting industries as well as major user associations, private companies and research agencies. The ITU is headed by its Secretary General Yoshio Utsumi who was elected by the Plenipotentiary conference in Minneapolis in 1998 .
Telecom organizes global and regional trade shows and conferences.
As a partnership between almost 200 governments and more than 500 companies and organizations, the ITU is in a unique position to organize events on both a global and a regional scale which provide a showcase of the latest products and services the industry has to offer. The combination of an exhibition with a forum was designed not only to cover exciting developments in technology, but also to provide a means of pinpointing industry trends and sharing information, and to foster the transfer of this new technology and information to less developed countries. Today, as we approach the end of the century, Telecom events continue to contribute to the ITU's leadership role in promoting international telecommunications as a prime driver of global economic activity, in close collaboration with the ITU's members from industry. After establishing the World Telecommunications Exhibition and Forum as the leading telecommunications event worldwide, organized on a four year cycle, the first steps were taken in 1985 to diversify into regional events. These aim to bring the potential benefits of telecommunications closer to the peoples of all continents by emphasizing the specific solutions appropriate to each region.