Overview

Every time someone picks up a telephone and dials a number, answers a call on a mobile, sends a fax or receives an e-mail, takes a plane or a ship, listens to the radio or watches a favourite television programme, they benefit from the universal telecommunication frameworks put in place by ITU.

Since its origins in Paris in 1865 as the International Telegraph Union, founded to manage and standardise the rapid expansion of telegraph networks across the world, the principles and core purpose of ITU have remained the same — to manage telecommunication resources across the globe and to help the world communicate.

ITU's mission is to enable the growth and sustained development of telecommunications and information networks, and to facilitate universal access so that people everywhere can participate in, and benefit from, the global information economy and society — thus advancing all people’s "right to communicate".

ITU works tirelessly to ensure that the latest technological advances are rapidly integrated into telecommunication networks of countries all around the world. Key to this is its dedication to driving fair and equitable access to telecommunications and ICT in the developing, as well as in the developed world.

Global perspectives

In the past 140 years, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has played a vital role in developing the web of telecommunication networks that now span the globe. Nominated by leading international consultant Booz Allen Hamilton as one of the world’s top 10 most enduring institutions, ITU is now the oldest intergovernmental organization and the most inclusive telecommunication organization in the world.

As an international organization that represents all its members in equal measure, ITU is essentially a community of its members, combining an impartial, global perspective and cooperative approach with the technical expertise drawn from hundreds of leading manufacturers, carriers and service providers.

The ITU membership includes 191 countries and over 650 private sector organizations from the telecommunication, broadcasting and information technology sectors.

ITU in the modern world

Ever since its foundation in 1865, ITU has been at the forefront of telecommunications development, expanding its mandate to cover the invention of voice telephony, the development of radiocommunications, the launch of the first communications satellites and closer to now, the infrastructure that supports the internet. ITU entered the 21st Century with its historical pedigree intact, and as a modern organization well-equipped to address the global boom in information technology.

An example of how ITU’s role is more essential now than ever before in the modern world is in the area of Next-generation networks (NGN) where voice, video and the internet combine, removing the traditional boundaries that exist between fixed-line and wireless access and between service offerings.

This convergence between Internet protocol (IP), public switched telephone network (PSTN), digital subscriber line (DSL), cable television (CATV), wireless local area network (WLAN) and mobile technologies is a task that many believe is impossible without the development of global standards, and the International Telecommunication Union is committed to meeting the evolving needs of industry through the development of standards that foster interoperability and pave the way for convergence to be easily accessible to consumers around the world.

Key Events

The decision-making functions of ITU are performed by Member States during conferences, assemblies, study groups or at the Council.

The supreme authority of the Union is the Plenipotentiary Conference, a meeting composed of delegations from the Union’s Member States, held every four years to adopt the underlying policies of the organization and determine its structure and activities. Other treaty-making conferences include the World Radio Conferences which revise and update the Radio Regulations that govern the use of the spectrum by a growing number of services worldwide as well as world conferences on international telecommunications which revise the International Telecommunication Regulations, that provide a broad, basic framework for regulators and operators in the provision of international telecommunication services.

While world telecommunication development conferences set out roadmaps to implement the global objectives of harnessing the power of information and communication technologies (ICT) to accelerate the pace of development, world assemblies approve and prioritize the work programme of the radio and standardization sectors to ensure that the demands of the ICT industry for new systems and services are met timely and effectively. Study Groups consist of hundreds of experts who gather at ITU and contribute their time, know-how and expertise to develop technical specifications and operating parameters for equipment and systems covering every aspect of network operation. Study Groups also produce best practice in the area of policy and regulation, financing of telecommunications, low-cost technology options, human resource management, and more.

In 1996, ITU initiated the World Telecommunication Policy Forum (WTPF), an international gathering convened on an ad hoc basis to harmonize telecommunication policies on issues which extend beyond the domain of any single country. The frequency of forums is determined by ITU’s top policy-making body, the Plenipotentiary Conference, while the topic of each forum is determined by the Council, ITU’s annual governing body.

ITU is also responsible for organizing ITU Telecom events with one world event held every three years, and regional events held each year in the intervening years, covering Asia, Africa, the Americas and the Arab States on a rotating basis.

In 2006, ITU Telecom World takes place in Hong Kong for the first time, recognizing the growing contribution made by the Asia-Pacific region to the world’s ICT market.

Designed as a service to ITU members, Telecom showcases the latest technologies, promotes in-depth discussion of key issues facing the industry through a comprehensive, wide-ranging forum programme and offers a unique networking platform.

Reading the future

In addition to the policy and regulatory work carried out by the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector, ITU identifies emerging trends in the telecommunication environment and analyses their implications for ITU and its membership through its Strategy and Policy Unit (SPU).

Based on its research on telecommunication services and the internet, SPU produces reports and case studies and organizes workshops and symposia including the Forum programmes held during ITU Telecom world and regional events. These events bring together high level representatives of the telecommunication industry from the public, private and academic sectors and cover topics such as broadband, competition policy, network security and IP telephony or new trends like ubiquitous technologies that make communications possible anytime, anyplace, anywhere and by anyone.

The Developing World

ITU’s increasingly important role as a catalyst for forging development partnerships between government and private industry is helping bring about rapid improvements in telecommunication infrastructure in the world’s under-developed economies.

ITU believes that communications networks are important to the prosperity of nations as they underpin almost all economic activity. However, achieving sustainable development and improved access to telecommunication requires political and socio-economic conditions that are conducive to business and investment.

The Action Plan adopted by the international community in Doha, Qatar in March 2006 builds on a mutually reinforcing strategy for telecommunication development to be implemented at the global, regional and national levels. The Plan is based on six programmes, six global initiatives, two cross-cutting activities and a new regional approach where each region defined the framework of action for all stakeholders based on agreed categories and region-specific priorities. The Doha Action Plan offers a comprehensive package that provides the elements needed to make an impact on the ground together with clear guidance for achieving universal access.

To ensure the future success of telecommunication development programmes, partnerships between the public and private sectors are essential. This is why ITU launched Connect the World, a global multi-stakeholder initiave established within the context of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to encourage new projects and partnerships to bridge the digital divide.

By showcasing development efforts now underway and by identifying areas where needs are the most pressing, Connect the World is creating a critical mass that will generate the momentum needed to “connect the unconnected by 2015”.

Historical Highlights

• 1865: founding of the International Telegraph Union in Paris by 20 European countries with the adoption of the first Convention creating ITU. First Telegraph Regulations put in place.
• 1902: First radio transmissions of the human voice
• 1906: worldwide adoption of the SOS emergency distress signal. First trials of broadcasting (voice and music) using radio telephony.
• 1934: the organization changes its name from International Telegraph Union to International Telecommunication Union.
• 1947: ITU becomes a specialized agency of the United Nations.
• 1957: launch of Sputnik-1, the Earth’s first artificial satellite
• 1963: launch of the world’s first telecommunication satellite, Syncom-1, in geostationary orbit
• 1971: ITU launches the first ITU Telecom event in Geneva
• 1983: World Communications Year declared by the United Nations General Assembly with ITU as the lead agency
• 1996: adoption of the first international standard for universal international freephone numbers (UIFN)
• 1999: ITU becomes founding member of the Protocol Supporting Organization of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN PSO)
• 2000: ITU approves the first release of 3G radio interface specifications
• 2003: ITU’s first global index to rank some 180 economies on access indicators for the information society. Holding of the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, which, for the first time, achieved a common understanding of the key principles on which to build the emerging Information Society
• 2005: Second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society which recommitted to the principles of a people-centred, development-oriented and inclusive and adopted a roadmap for bringing the benefits of ICT to all the world’s inhabitants.