The authors were members of the Advisory Group of Experts on Telecommunications Policy whose report helped prepare for the Plenipotentiary Conference of the ITU in Nice in June this year. This paper is based on the Group’s report. It discusses the role of the ITU in the organisation of the world’s telecommunications systems and suggests what changes will be required if the ITU is to be as influential in future telecommunications developments as it has been in the past. Particular attention is paid to the importance of information and computing technologies in modern telecommunications. While the ITU has begun to bridge the gulf between developed and developing countries in their approach to telecommunications, continuing insistence on secrecy in its deliberations may be an indication that the ITU has not yet come to terms with the difficulties it faces.