Communication Breakdown?: The Future of Global Connectivity After the Privatization of INTELSAT

In 1971, eighty-five nations (including the United States) formed the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT), a public intergovernmental treaty organization. INTELSAT was charged with operating the world\u27s first global telecommunications satellite system, to guarantee the interconnectedness of the world\u27s communications systems and the availability of international telecommunications service to every nation on earth. By the late 1980s, however, INTELSAT\u27s operations began to experience substantial competition from the private sector. In 2000, the proliferation of privately-owned telecommunications satellites and transoceanic fiber-optic cables led the U.S. Congress to mandate the privatization of INTELSAT. That privatization process began in 2001, and was substantially completed on April 8, 2005, when the Federal Communications Commission approved the $5 billion sale of INTELSAT\u27s former satellite system to private investors