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The consortium began on August 20, 1964 as the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium with 11 participating countries. In 1973, the name was changed and there were 80 signatories. ITSO currently has over 100 members and provides service to over 600 Earth stations in more than 149 countries, territories and dependencies. Intelsat maintains it headquarters in Washington, DC.
On July 18, 2001, Intelsat became a private company, Intelsat, Ltd., after 37 years as an intergovernmental organization.
Spacecraft operations are controlled through ground stations in Fucino, Italy, Clarksburg, Maryland (USA), Beijing, China, Raisting, Germany, Perth, Australia, and Paumalu, Hawaii (USA).
Since its inception, ITSO has used several versions (blocks) of its dedicated Intelsat satellites. ITSO competes each block of spacecraft independently, leading to a variety of contractors over the years. Intelsat's largest spacecraft supplier is Space Systems/Loral, having built 31 spacecraft (as of 2003), or nearly half of the Intelsat fleet.