The International Telecommunications Union kicked off its first conference on the emerging networked world by releasing an Internet status report that praises the free-form nature of Net evolution and urges telecom firms to embrace the opportunities of cyberspace.
"Perhaps the great strength of the Internet is that no one planned it," the ITU report said. "The Internet is much greater than any one committee, interest group, or application. Indeed the very fact that no one could control its evolution, even if they wanted to, is the best safeguard we have as to its future evolution."
The report, released Sunday as delegates gathered for the Telecom Interactive '97 conference in Geneva, emphasized that the Internet will play a central role in the future of the telecommunications business worldwide.
On one hand, the report said, the Net can be seen as a threat - a leech that benefits from the evolution of public networks while offering little to develop and support it. On the other, the Net is creating vast new market opportunities both for new players and existing powers alike.
"The Internet might be seen as a way of optimizing the performance of the public network by squeezing greater capacity utilization out of the same pipes - or as a parasite which sits on top of the network and drains its life-blood without investing very much in its growth and development," the report said.
The report urged telecom firms to recognize the market opportunity within their grasp.
"The development and growth of the Internet is arguably the biggest single challenge that the telecommunications sector faces in the last years of the 20th century. But it is also its biggest opportunity," the report said.
The ITU said Internet growth would be driven by cut-price telephone services, and sales of online newspapers, software and audio material. Network computers, where stripped-down terminals are used to dial up computer power from a central database, would be in demand.
"But to really reach the mass market, it is probably necessary to stop thinking about computers or telephones and start thinking about a business model which is closer to that of television," the ITU said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
