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Imagine your customers--in virtually any country--being able tocontact your business with one toll-free number.

That's now a reality, thanks to recent advancements made bythe United Nations' International Telecommunication Union (ITU)in Geneva. Since June, the ITU, which regulates telecommunicationsissues across the globe, has been issuing toll-free numbersworldwide. It wasn't possible before June because each countryrelied on its own toll-free plan. But that's all changed--andthe ITU has finally established a universal toll-free standard,linking dozens of industrialized nations.

"Today, more than $157 billion is traded annually usingtoll-free lines, and that's mostly in the United States,"says Patricia Sieh of AT&T, one of six U.S. carriers authorizedto apply for the numbers. "The prospects for the growth ofinternational trade are tremendous."