The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the primary force which drives the development of telecommunications standards worldwide. Every time you make an international call, access high-speed Internet services via a broadband network, or send an SMS message on your mobile phone, you're using services which depend on this global framework of internationally agreed standards.

Standards are the technical, operating and tariff recommendations that define how telecommunications networks operate and interconnect worldwide. For example, if you're calling Switzerland from the US, telecommunications standards help ensure that your call gets through to its intended destination, that the service is of high quality, that the cost of the call appears on your phone bill and that the revenue is shared among the various carriers on the basis of internationally agreed principles. Through adherence to ITU standards, commercial players seek to ensure their telecommunications services and equipment will work all around the world, both now and into the future.

ITU's consensus-building approach enables it to develop standards without prejudice and without succumbing to undue pressure from any given commercial sector. Although ITU standards are not mandatory, they are widely accepted and implemented by equipment and software manufacturers, system integrators, network operators and other systems developers and service providers.

The world's leading source of global telecommunications standards

Through its Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), ITU is the world's leading source of global telecommunications standards. There are approximately 2 800 official ITU-T Recommendations (standards) in place, and ITU continues to develop an average of one standard per day.

In producing standards, ITU-T works with 189 governments and more than 400 public and private sector companies and regional/international organizations. And membership continues to increase, in 2003, membership in the new ITU-T Associate category almost doubled. ITU must cater for all the needs of this large, very heterogeneous group and must find compromises that are workable and acceptable to all. It is difficult to overstate the challenge of reconciling such widely disparate views and positions over such a broad range of interests, but ITU continues to move at industry pace: for example, in 2003, 259 new or revised ITU-Recommendations were approved in an average time of 8.66 weeks compared with the average delay of 9.4 weeks in 2002.

Supporting industry expansion - equitably

ITU's role has expanded as the telecommunications industry has evolved. Today, the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector's mission is to ensure the efficient, on-time production of high-quality standards covering all fields of telecommunications, focusing on:

• Provides technical telecommunications help to developing countries, and promotes the development of telecommunications for people everywhere

• Rapidly developing recommendations for new technologies and applications, while ensuring those recommendations carefully consider market and trade-related factors;

• Promoting cooperation among international and regional standardization organizations and other forums concerned with telecommunications; and

• Addressing important issues related to changes in competition, tariff principles and accounting practices

ITU's standardization work also plays an important role in levelling the playing field for emerging economies and new industry players by setting the framework for fair competition and paving the way for growth.

Evolving technologies, evolving standards

The convergence of information technology and telecommunications and the rapid evolution of new communications technologies mean that standards-making organizations need to work faster than ever before in order to be effective. Much of the day-to-day standardization work is managed by 17 'Study Groups,' which address technical issues in a particular area of telecommunications standardization. Study Groups are ad hoc teams of experts from both the public and private sector that meet several times a year and volunteer their knowledge, time and effort to develop the equipment and transmission standards that eventually become ITU-T Recommendations.

Within the 17 Study Groups, several priority fields of study have been defined, including:

• IP interworking and related matters

• Network aspects of mobility

• Network access technologies (xDSL)

• Optical networking technologies

• Tariff and accounting issues

• Multimedia services and systems

Study topics are added regularly based on changing industry needs.

Standardization challenges in today's dynamic telecommunications environment

Developing global standards is a complex job with many challenges, especially in today's dynamic telecommunication environment. Current challenges in standardization include:

• Rapid development of new technologies and solutions, such as broadband and Internet-based services

• Convergence, which involves the integration of many different telecommunication and ICT-related technologies

• Building greater awareness at management level of the value of international standards

• Coordination with an increasing number of standardization bodies and organizations having an interest in telecommunications standards

ITU conducts standardization activities in cooperation with many other standards development organizations. The organization also regularly conducts seminars and workshops.

"ITU standards are impartial, globally applicable, of the highest quality and cover a very broad range of telecommunications technologies. They form a critical part of the global framework that enables our industry to function now and to grow into the future," said Houlin Zhao, Director of ITU's Telecommunication Standardization Bureau. "We will continue to evolve, developing new standards to meet the industry's rapidly changing needs, while at the same time leading the industry drive to help the world communicate."

World Standards Day

Each year on 14 October, the members of ISO, the IEC and ITU celebrate World Standards Day, a means of paying tribute to the collaborative efforts of the thousands of experts worldwide who develop the voluntary technical agreements that are published as international standards.

For more information on the ITU Standardization Sector, please visit www.itu.int/ITU-T/index.html or contact:

Greg Jones ITU-T Communications Coordinator International Telecommunication Union Tel: +41 22 730 5515 Fax: +41 22 730 5853 E-mail: greg.jones@itu.int

Gary Fowlie Chief, Media Relations and Public Information International Telecommunication Union Tel.: +41 22 730 6135 Fax: +41 22 730 5939 E-mail: gary.fowlie@itu.int