The World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), which ended in Geneva on 21st November, brought together some 2,000 delegates from more than 140 countries.
Their aim was to resolve a number of long-standing problems in the area of television and radio broadcasting, as well as complex new issues such as allocations for new non-geostationary satellite systems.
The WRC is held every two years to reach consensus on changes in the use of the radio frequency spectrum, as well as to set the stage for future technological developments.
The radio frequency spectrum is used for a wide range of applications: television and radio broadcasts, satellite services and mobile phones.
The frequency spectrum is a finite but reusable resource. New applications and technologies, however, are placing more and more demands upon it.
A statement from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN agency which organised the conference, said that as the usable portion of the frequency spectrum becomes ever more heavily subscribed, and as more and more new services clamour for the allocations needed to make their systems operational, the stakes at each conference are getting higher and higher.
The most important achievements reached at this year's conference include the replanning of the Broadcast Satellite Service, covering direct-to-home television services, which are enjoying rapid growth globally.
New mobile satellite service operators also reached agreement on the development of a number of new broadband global satellite systems with the potential to deliver Internet and multimedia applications anywhere in the world.
The conference adopted a new plan for the Broadcast Satellite Service in countries outside the Americas. The plan, which had been developed in 1977 and completed in 1988, was widely accepted to be out of date, owing to changes in the use and nature of the services available to customers today.
The proliferation of digital services means many more channels are now required. The meeting agreed to look into the possibility of nearly doubling the number of channels assigned per country, a move that could give all countries a minimum of around 10 analogue channels based on national coverage.
The WRC also produced a significant agreement between the United States and European countries led by France which will guarantee multimedia satellite systems like Alcatel's Skybridge and Motorola's Celestri access to scarce radio frequencies, ensuring competition against the Teledesic system of United States software giant Microsoft.
The meeting effectively accepted a European demand that Teledesic, the 9bn-dollar "Internet in the sky" project of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and telecommunications pioneer Craig McCaw, should lose the de facto monopoly on access to radio broadbands given to it at ITU talks in 1995.
European delegates had complained that the 1995 agreement had only suited Teledesic's technical specifications, giving the American system an effective monopoly.
Analysts described the compromise as effectively giving a green light for the three systems to start in earnest getting their low-cost, low-orbit satellites into space, an ambitious project involving a total investment of more than 25,000 million dollars.
Each system plans to tap into the mushrooming market of computer-wise consumers by offering rapid Internet access, video conferencing, video on demand, online entertainment, and educational multimedia services.
The agreements brokered at this year's WRC, and their long-term significance, have not attracted the level of coverage they merit in the international news media. But as the ITU's Secretary-General Dr Pekka Tarjanne observed, the organisation's officials are "used to working in obscurity, away from the bright lights of media and public attention".
Nevertheless, the ITU is determined to raise awareness at the international level about the central role of telecommunications in the development of the global information economy and society.
Its latest initiative has been to submit a report to the UN General Assembly on universal access to basic communication and information services. The potential worldwide market here cannot fail to tempt global telecoms firms and broadcasters alike.
BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.