The International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat) is a 110 nation consortium that manages international satellite communications. Its formation, on Aug 24, 1964, developed from conferences held after U.S president John F. Kennedy invited (1961) all nations to joint the United States in forming a consortium to exploit the potential of communications satellites. Ownership was apportioned on the basic of anticipated use. Permanent arrangements, opened for signing in 1971, went into force in February 1973.
Intelsat has a board of governors (based on each nation’s usage), an assembly of parties (one nation, one vote), a meeting or signatories, and an executive office with a director general. The U.S. member, the communication satellite launched by Intelsat; most of the later, however, are owned by Intelsat was early Bird (Intelsat l) in 1965. Since then the investment cost per circuit year has decreased as the series of satellites launched by Intelsat have grown in size and capacity. Intelsat l could carry only 240 circuits or one television channel, whereas Intelsat VI can carry about 120,000 simultaneous telephone calls plus three channels.
In 1984, Intelsat revised its station performance standards to enable a new service, Vista, to become available to areas otherwise without telecommunications capability. In 1985, after U.S. Federal Communications Commission sanctioned private competition with Intelsat, the organization replied by moving into direct competition with providers of satellite communication within the United States.
