A staff paper to the President's Task Force on Communications Policy reviews the organization of the American international communications industries and recommends a consolidation of the competing international carriers. Particularly emphasized is the competition and division of ownership between the two technologies involved in international transmission--cable-based voice-and-record carriers, and communications satellites. In describing the operations of the industries, it is shown that the divided ownership leads to conflicts of interest, difficulties in government regulation, ineffective national competition in international markets, and problems of "overbuilding" in new installations and services. Cost comparison between conventional cable transmission and satellite transmission show the latter to be more economical, though accurate analysis is obscured by present rapid deployment of communications satellites and the development of transistorized undersea cables. An appendix presents an engineering report on satellites and long-haul transmission. (BB)