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International Telecommunication Union Union internationale des télécommunications Unión Internacional de Telecomunicaciones Международный союз электросвязи الاتحاد الدولي للاتصالات 国际电信联盟
Flag of the ITU
Org type	UN agency
Acronyms	ITU UIT
Head	Hamadoun Touré
Status	Active
Established	17 May 1865
Headquarters	Geneva, Switzerland
Website	http://www.itu.int/

Monument in Bern, Switzerland. The text reads: "Union Télégraphique Internationale fondée à Paris en 1865 sur l'initiative du gouvernement français. Érigé par décision de l'Union Télégraphique prise à la conférence internationale de Lisbonne en 1908." (In English: "International Telegraph Union founded at Paris in 1865 on the initiative of the French government. [This monument] erected by a decision of the Telegraph Union made at the international conference at Lisbon in 1908.")

The International Telecommunication Union (Union internationale des télécommunications, in French) is the specialized agency of the United Nations which is responsible for information and communication technologies. ITU coordinates the shared global use of the radio spectrum, promotes international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, works to improve telecommunication infrastructure in the developing world and establishes worldwide standards.

ITU also organizes worldwide and regional exhibitions and forums, such as ITU TELECOM WORLD, bringing together representatives of government and the telecommunications and ICT industry to exchange ideas, knowledge and technology.

The ITU is active in areas including broadband Internet, latest-generation wireless technologies, aeronautical and maritime navigation, radio astronomy, satellite-based meteorology, convergence in fixed-mobile phone, Internet access, data, voice, TV broadcasting, and next-generation networks.

ITU is based in Geneva, Switzerland, is a member of the United Nations Development Group^[1] and its membership includes 193 Member States and around 700 Sector Members and Associates.

ITU sectors[link]

The ITU comprises three sectors, each managing a different aspect of the matters handled by the Union, as well as ITU Telecom:

Radiocommunication (ITU-R)

Managing the international radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbit resources is at the heart of the work of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R).

Standardization (ITU-T)

ITU's standards-making efforts are its best-known — and oldest — activity; known prior to 1992 as the International Telephone and Telegraph Consultative Committee or CCITT (from its French name "Comité consultatif international téléphonique et télégraphique")

Development (ITU-D)

Established to help spread equitable, sustainable and affordable access to information and communication technologies (ICT).

ITU TELECOM

ITU Telecom organizes major events for the world's ICT community. ITU Telecom World 2011^[2] is ITU Telecom's 40th Anniversary with the first event in 1971.

A permanent General Secretariat, headed by the Secretary General, manages the day-to-day work of the Union and its sectors.

Mission[link]

The 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 emerging information society and global economy. The ITU assists in mobilizing the technical, financial, and human resources required to make this vision real.

For the last 20 years, ITU has been coordinating efforts of government and industry and private sector in the development of a global broadband multimedia international mobile telecommunication system, known as IMT. Since 2000, the world has seen the introduction of the first family of standards derived from the IMT concept. Since May 2007, there are more than 1 billion IMT-2000 subscribers in the world.^{[citation needed]} IMT-Advanced provides a global platform on which to build the next generations of mobile services - fast data access, unified messaging and broadband multimedia - in the form of exciting new interactive services.

A major priority of the ITU is bridging the so-called "digital divide" by building adequate and safe information and communication infrastructure and developing confidence in the use of cyberspace through enhanced online security.

The ITU also concentrates on strengthening emergency communications for disaster prevention and mitigation, especially in less developed regions.^[3]

Legal framework of ITU[link]

The basic texts of the ITU^[4] are adopted by the Plenipotentiary Conference.^[5] In addition to the Constitution and Convention, the consolidated basic texts include the Optional Protocol on the settlement of disputes, the Decisions, Resolutions and Recommendations in force, as well as the General Rules of Conferences, Assemblies and Meetings of the Union.

Leadership[link]

The ITU is headed by a Secretary-General, who is elected to a four-year term by the member states at the plenipotentiary conference.

At the 17th Plenipotentiary Conference (2006) in Antalya, Turkey, the ITU's member states elected Dr Hamadoun Touré of Mali as Secretary-General of the Union.^[6] He was re-elected for a second four-year term at the 18th Plenipotentiary Conference (2010) in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Directors and Secretaries-General of ITU[link]

Directors of ITU
Name	Beginning of term	End of term	Country
Louis Curchod	1 January 1869	24 May 1872	Switzerland
Karl Lendi	24 May 1872	12 January 1873	Switzerland
Louis Curchod	23 February 1873	18 October 1889	Switzerland
August Frey	25 February 1890	28 June 1890	Switzerland
Timotheus Rothen	25 November 1890	11 February 1897	Switzerland
Emil Frey	11 March 1897	1 August 1921	Switzerland
Henri Étienne	2 August 1921	16 December 1927	Switzerland
Joseph Räder	1 February 1928	30 October 1934	Switzerland
Franz von Ernst	1 January 1935	1 January 1949	Switzerland
Secretaries general
Léon Mulatier	1 January 1950	1 January 1953	France
Marco Aurelio Andrada	1 January 1954	18 June 1958	Argentina
Gerald C. Cross	1 January 1964	29 October 1965	United States
Manohar Balaji Sarwate	30 October 1965	19 February 1967	India
Mohamed Ezzedine Mili	20 October 1967	31 December 1982	Tunisia
Richard E. Butler	1 January 1983	31 October 1989	Australia
Pekka Tarjanne	1 November 1989	31 January 1999	Finland
Yoshio Utsumi	1 February 1999	31 December 2006	Japan
Hamadoun Touré	1 January 2007	present	Mali

Membership[link]

Members states of the ITU are 192 of the 193 UN member states and the Vatican City.

Observers are: the Palestinian territories.^[7]

Non-members are: Palau (the only UN member state not to be a member), the Republic of China (Taiwan) which was blocked from membership^{[citation needed]} by the People's Republic of China but finally was given a country code listing it as "Taiwan, China",^[8] Cook Islands, Niue, and the states with limited recognition.

The most recent member to join is South Sudan, which became a member on 14 July 2011.^[9]

Membership of ITU is open to governments, which may join the Union as Member States, as well as to private organizations like carriers, equipment manufacturers, funding bodies, research and development organizations and international and regional telecommunication organizations, which can join ITU as non-voting Sector Members.

World Summit on the Information Society[link]

The ITU was the lead organizing agency of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS),^[10] a United Nations summit aiming at bridging the digital divide and turning it into digital opportunity for all. WSIS provided a global forum on the theme of ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) for development. WSIS was a pledge for building a people-centered development-oriented Information Society. Other big themes of the Summit were Internet governance and Financial mechanisms for meeting the challenges of ICTs for development.

The idea of holding WSIS came from the Tunisian President Ben Ali on the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Minneapolis in 1998. The process was launched late in 2002 on the initiative of Kofi Annan. The first phase of the WSIS summit took place in December 2003 in Geneva and the second and final phase took place in Tunis in November 2005.

WSIS Stocktaking Process was initiated in 2004. The WSIS Stocktaking Process is a follow-up to WSIS. Its purpose is to provide a register of activities carried out by governments, international organizations, the business sector, civil society and other entities, in order to highlight the progress made since that landmark event. Following § 120 of TAIS, ITU has been maintaining the WSIS Stocktaking database as a publicly accessible system providing information on ICT-related initiatives and projects with reference to the 11 WSIS Action Lines.

See also[link]

ITU headquarters, Geneva

• Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA)
• H.331
• Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL)
• ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R)
• ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D)
• ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T)
• ITU-R Recommendations
• ITU-T Recommendations
• Telephone numbers in the European Union
• X.509
• Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG)
• Child Online Protection initiative (COP)

Notes[link]

ITU headquarters, Geneva

This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (May 2012)

External links[link]

• Official website
• History of ITU Portal (official site)
• ITU Telecom World 2011
• ITU defines the future of mobile communications
• U.N. Summit to Focus on Internet – Washington Post article about ICANN and the United Nations' ITU relationship

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