Speech by Malcolm Johnson, ITU Deputy Secretary-General
110 Years of ITU Radio Regulations (1906-2016) - Opening Remarks
12 December 2016, CICG, Geneva
Mr Francois Rancy, Director, ITU Radiocommunication Bureau;
Our Honoured guests:
Representatives of the 27 Member States that signed the 1906 Convention;
Former ITU Elected Officials: Mr Yoshio Utsumi, former Secretary-General; Mr Jean Jipguep, former Deputy Secretary-General and
Mr Robert Jones and Mr Valery Timofeev, former Directors of the Radiocommunication Bureau;
Members and former members of the RRB;
Current and former Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of past Regional and World Radio Conferences, Radio Assemblies, RAG, ITU-R Study Groups, CPMs and Special Committee;
Special Guests and Panellists;
ITU retirees;
Colleagues and friends;
It is a pleasure for me to welcome you to Geneva for this celebration of 110 years of the ITU Radio Regulations.
Last year we celebrated the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the ITU, created in 1865 to deal with the problems of international connection and interoperability of the telegraph service in Europe – the fixed telegraph service.
However, the same problems occurred some years later with radiotelegraphy, and when Prince Henry of Prussia tried to send a message to President Roosevelt while he was returning home across the Atlantic, and the message was refused by the US coast station because the ship’s radio equipment was of a different type and nationality to theirs, he decided ITU needed to do something about it! As a result, the German Government hosted the first International Radiotelegraph Conference in Berlin in 1906, attended by representatives of 30 countries, and which adopted the International Radiotelegraph Convention – a treaty which has been revised and expanded by numerous subsequent conferences to become known as the ITU Radio Regulations.
Over the lifetime of this treaty we have moved from telegraph to telephone, from radio to television, to satellites, from fixed to mobile, analogue to digital, and from Internet to Internet of Things (IOT). The Radio Regulations has played its part in helping to bring the benefits of these technologies to everyone.
It ensures interference-free operations of radiocommunication systems, and provides all countries with equitable access to spectrum - a scarce natural resource that does not respect national borders.
Frequency allocations need to be harmonised globally to ensure interoperability and international interconnection, and the cost of wireless products and services would be much higher if they did not comply with these global standards and benefit from the resulting economies of scale.
In an increasingly “wireless” world, the Radio Regulations enables all radio services to share the spectrum while satisfying their evolving requirements, protecting incumbents and providing high quality services to rapidly increasing numbers of users and applications.
Since 1906 there have been 38 World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRCs) that have revised the Radio Regulations in order to respond to technological and social development, up to the current version which was adopted by the WRC 2015 and is now available online.
WRCs are really unique conferences. What other international treaty conference of such significance has the tradition of all participating Member States signing the Final Acts on the final day?
With the growing complexity of our interconnected world and the ubiquity of wireless systems, the ITU Radio Regulations are now more important than ever before.
The last decade has witnessed an extraordinary growth in the use of new wireless communications systems, made possible through the more efficient use of spectrum and satellite orbits.
Today, the Radio Regulations applies to some 40 different radiocommunication services around the world, and covers frequencies from 9 kHz to 3000 GHz. They now include over 2,000 pages specifying the governing principles, as well as the rights and obligations of the 193 Member States of the ITU in using spectrum and orbit resources efficiently, and in a coordinated manner, so as not to cause harmful interference to each other.
The Radio Regulations now includes allocations for global flight trafficking for civil aviation; automotive anti-collision radar to improve road safety; spectrum for broadband satellite systems on-board moving platforms, such as ships and aircraft; and improved coordination procedures to make more efficient use of spectrum and satellite orbits.
Enhanced maritime communication systems facilitate the use of on-board digital transmissions and automatic identification systems for improved navigation safety. Advanced public protection and disaster relief is performed through new allocations for earth-exploration satellite services, with high resolution radar imagery for improved global environmental monitoring.
The development of IMT mobile broadband systems has revolutionised the way people communicate around the world. Most people now access the Internet through their smart phone – 2.2 billion world-wide.
The increasing demand for mobile broadband capacity is one of the main drivers for development of 5G. The “framework and overall objectives of the future development of IMT for 2020 and beyond” are enhanced mobile broadband, ultra-reliable and low latency communications, and extensive machine-type communications - 5G connectivity will play an important role in the provision of IoT services.
Last year the United Nations adopted ambitious goals for sustainable development in the world to be achieved by the year 2030. These 17 Sustainable Development Goals address a wide range of challenges including ending poverty and hunger, providing quality education for all, and bringing clean water and sanitation to everyone.
Clearly the wireless services and products facilitated by the Radio Regulations will have a major role to play in achieving these goals.
So, I wish you all a very enjoyable celebration of the 110th anniversary of the ITU Radio Regulations, may it long continue to the serve the world and bring the benefits of a ubiquitous wireless world to all its citizens.
Thank you.
