Intergovernmental organizations are used as instruments in dealing with problems which, by their nature, transcend national boundaries and are in effect regional or world-wide in scope. But it can hardly be expected that they can avoid the errors in decision-making which have afflicted the governments which control them unless adequate information is available for the decision-making process. This is now not the case. Further, unless governments themselves possess such information and are able to improve the decision-making machinery which has led to the present situation, the errors of IGOs will be compounded. The fundamental requirement for dealing with this situation has not been recognized: a common basis of processed information available to all governments and organizations.
The technology upon which international telecommunications systems are based is developing faster than the ability of international bodies to respond. The result is a tendency for communications policies to become political rhetoric rather than practical guidelines.