RE: ITU News release

["Wijnen, Bert (Bert)" <bwijnen@lucent.com>]

Mmm... I got a message that the page could not be found.
You do realize today is April 1st, don't you?

Thanks,
Bert 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Harald Tveit Alvestrand [mailto:harald@alvestrand.no]
> Sent: dinsdag 1 april 2003 8:12
> To: iesg@ietf.org
> Subject: ITU News release
> 
> 
> found this on the 'net
> http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2003/April/
> 
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> 
> ITU TO DEMOCRATIZE AND LIBERALIZE ITS PROCESSES
> NEW ROLE FOR THE PRIVATE SECTOR ENVISIONED
> 
> As part of the ongoing effort of ITU reform, the ITU has now 
> instituted the 
> most sweeping set of reforms in its long history.
> 
> Its reform moves offer startling new willingness to embrace 
> the market as a 
> mechanism, empower the individual and lay the groundwork for 
> a new world 
> order.
> 
> As of today, the ITU will cease operating under the intergovernmental 
> agreements that it has previously been stifled by, and 
> embrace the new 
> innovative ways of the global capitalist society.
> 
> Under the new rules, ITU will be an incorporated company with 
> two classes 
> of shareholders - 6.5 billion "P" shares to be distributed to 
> member states 
> according to their population, and 6.5 billion "D" shares to 
> be distributed 
> to member states according to their GNP. Former ITU-T sector 
> members have 
> preferential access to buy "D" shares from their governments.
> The shares will be traded on the London and New York stock 
> exchanges under 
> the symbols "ITU-D" (for P shares) and "ITU-T" (for D 
> shares). A 200-page 
> instruction manual is provided explaining the 
> interrelationships between 
> the share classes and voting rules (available to paid TIES 
> subscribers 
> only).
> 
> Bidding wars for the "P" shares allocated to India are not 
> expected to 
> escalate into violence for at least several months.
> 
> Dr. Utsumi has graciously accepted the post of Chairman of the Board.
> When queried for his immediate plans for the ITU, he offered 
> this quote:
> 
> "The new rules under which the ITU now operates allow us 
> unprecedented 
> freedom of action, and will allow us to rationalize the standards 
> marketplace in short order. We have already launched friendly 
> takeover 
> offers for the IETF, the World Wide Web Consortium and the 
> MPLS Forum; each 
> of these is likely to be organized as subsidiaries of the ITU 
> within a few 
> months. The immediate inclusion of drs. Berners-Lee and 
> Alvestrand into the 
> ITU pension plan have greatly helped to make these deals a reality."
> 
> When queried, Bill Gates of Microsoft and John Chambers of 
> Cisco refused to 
> comment; their respective CFOs were reported as "busy".
> 
> 
> 
>