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International Telecommunication Union

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"ITU" redirects here. For other uses, see ITU (disambiguation).
International Telecommunication Union
Union internationale des télécommunications
Unión Internacional de Telecomunicaciones
Международный союз электросвязи
الاتحاد الدولي للاتصالات
国际电信联盟
Established17 May 1865
TypeUN agency
Legal statusActive
HeadquartersGeneva, Switzerland
Websitehttp://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, previously the International Telegraph Union, 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

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

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.

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]

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

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

Directors of ITU
Name Beginning of term End of term Country
Louis Curchod 1 January 1869 24 May 1872 Switzerland Switzerland
Karl Lendi 24 May 1872 12 January 1873 Switzerland Switzerland
Louis Curchod 23 February 1873 18 October 1889 Switzerland Switzerland
August Frey 25 February 1890 28 June 1890 Switzerland Switzerland
Timotheus Rothen 25 November 1890 11 February 1897 Switzerland Switzerland
Emil Frey 11 March 1897 1 August 1921 Switzerland Switzerland
Henri Étienne 2 August 1921 16 December 1927 Switzerland Switzerland
Joseph Raber 1 February 1928 30 October 1934 Switzerland Switzerland
Franz von Ernst 1 January 1935 31 December 1949 Switzerland Switzerland
Secretaries general
Léon Mulatier 1 January 1950 31 December 1953 France France
Marco Aurelio Andrada 1 January 1954 18 June 1958 Argentina Argentina
Gerald C. Gross 1 January 1960 29 October 1965 United States United States
Manohar Balaji Sarwate 30 October 1965 19 February 1967 India India
Mohamed Ezzedine Mili 20 February 1967 31 December 1982 Tunisia Tunisia
Richard E. Butler 1 January 1983 31 October 1989 Australia Australia
Pekka Tarjanne 1 November 1989 31 January 1999 Finland Finland
Yoshio Utsumi 1 February 1999 31 December 2006 Japan Japan
Hamadoun Touré 1 January 2007 present Mali Mali

Membership

File:ITU.png
International Telecommunication Union member states

Member states of the ITU are 192 UN member states (all except Palau) and the Vatican City. The most recent member to join the ITU is South Sudan, which became a member on 14 July 2011.[7]

The Palestinian territories were admitted as observers.[8]

The Republic of China (Taiwan) was blocked from membership[citation needed] by the People's Republic of China, but was given a country code while being listed as "Taiwan, China".[9] Other states with limited recognition, along with Cook Islands and Niue, are also not members of the ITU.

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.[citation needed]

World Summit on the Information Society

Main article: World Summit on the Information Society

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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

World Conference on International Telecommunications 2012 (WCIT-12)

The ITU will facilitate the The World Congress on International Telecommunications or WCIT, a treaty-level conference that addresses the international rules for telecommunications, including international tariffs.[11] The previous conference to update the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) was held in Melbourne in 1988.[12] The next conference is taking place in Dubai in December 2012.

The treaty itself consists of ten articles and 73 reservations from various of the 111 initial signatory countries. It covers both inter-country communications as well as maritime communications, governing privileged and emergency communications, accounting for services, and exceptions for bilaterally agreed communications.

In August 2012, ITU called for a public consultation on a draft document ahead of the conference.[13] It is claimed the proposal would allow government restriction or blocking of information disseminated via the internet and create a global regime of monitoring internet communications – including the demand that those who send and receive information identify themselves. It would also allow governments to shut down the internet if there is the belief that it may interfere in the internal affairs of other states or that information of a sensitive nature might be shared.[14]

Telecommunications ministers from 193 countries will attend the conference.[14]

Changed context since 1988

The current regulatory structure was based on voice telecommunications, when the Internet was still in its infancy.[15] In 1988, telecommunications operated under regulated monopolies in most countries. As the Internet has grown, organizations such as ICANN have come into existence to manage key resources such as Internet Addresses and Domain Names. Some outside the United States believe that the United States exerts too much influence over the governance of the Internet.[16]

Proposed Changes to the Treaty And Concerns

Current proposals look to take into account the prevalence of data communications. Proposals currently under consideration would establish regulatory oversight by the U.N. over security, fraud, traffic accounting as well as traffic flow, management of Internet Domain Names and IP addresses, and other aspects of the Internet that are currently governed either by community-based approaches such as Regional Internet Registries, ICANN, or largely national regulatory frameworks.[17] The move by the ITU and some countries has alarmed many within the United States and within the Internet community.[18][19] Indeed some European telecommunication services have proposed a so-called "sender pays" model which would requires sources of Internet traffic to pay destinations, similar to the way funds are transferred between countries using the telephone.[20][21]

The WCIT-12 activity has been attacked by Google, who has characterized it as a threat to the "free and open internet".[22]

On 22 November, 2012, the European Parliament passed a resolution which urged member states to prevent ITU activity at WCIT-12 which would "negatively impact the internet, its architecture, operations, content and security, business relations, internet governance and the free flow of information online".[23] The resolution asserted that "the ITU […] is not the appropriate body to assert regulatory authority over the internet".[24]

WCIT-12 Conference Participation

The conference itself is managed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). While certain parts of civil society and industry are able to advise and observe, active participation is restricted to member states.[25] The Electronic Frontier Foundation has expressed concern at this, calling for a more transparent multi-stakeholder process.[26] Some leaked contributions can be found on the wcitleaks.org web site. Google-affiliated researchers have suggested that the ITU should completely reform its processes in order to allow openness and participation to align itself with other multistakeholder organizations in the Internet.[27]

See also

ITU logo and slogan

References

  1. ^ "UNDG Members". Undg.org. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  2. ^ "Welcome to ITU TELECOM WORLD 2011 | ITU TELECOM WORLD 2011". Itu.int. 27 October 2011. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  3. ^ "About ITU". International Telecommunications Union. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
  4. ^ "Basic texts of the International Telecommunication Union". Itu.int. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  5. ^ PP10contributions. "2010 Plenipotentiary Conference". Itu.int. Retrieved 15 May 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ "Report on election of Toure". Cellular-news.com. 13 November 2006. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  7. ^ New Country, New Number - Country code 211 officially assigned to South Sudan ITU Pressroom, 14 July 2011
  8. ^ "Palestine ITU status". Itu.int. 20 October 2010. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  9. ^ "ITU-T : International Numbering Resources : National Numbering Plans : China, Taiwan". Itu.int. 26 January 2007. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  10. ^ "World Summit on the Information Society". itu.int. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  11. ^ "World Conference on International Telecommunications 2012". Itu.int. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  12. ^ "International Telecommunication Regulations" (PDF). Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  13. ^ "ITU opens public consultation on internet regulation treaty". 16 August, 2012. Retrieved November, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  14. ^ a b "United Nations wants control of web kill switch". news.com.au. November 12, 2012. Retrieved November, 2012. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  15. ^ Global Internet usage
  16. ^ "Russia calls for internet revolution". Indrus.in. 29 May 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  17. ^ Internet Society. International Telecommunication Regulations
  18. ^ Mcdowell, Robert M. (21 February 2012). "Robert McDowell:The U.N. Threat to Internet Freedom". Online.wsj.com. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  19. ^ By L. Gordon Crovitz (17 June 2012). "Crovitz: The U.N.'s Internet Power Grab". Online.wsj.com. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  20. ^ McCullagh, Declan (7 June 2012). "CNET:U.N. could tax U.S.-based Web sites, leaked docs show<". News.cnet.com. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  21. ^ Trivedi, Shamik (28 June 2012). "FOR APPLE AND GOOGLE, IS AN UNAVOIDABLE U.N. 'TAX' COMING?". Tax Notes Today - 2012 TNT 126-5. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  22. ^ "Google attacks UN net conference". BBC News. 21 November, 2012. Retrieved 21 November, 2012. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  23. ^ "European Parliament warns against UN internet control". BBC News. 22 November, 2012. Retrieved 23 November, 2012. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  24. ^ "European Parliament resolution on the forthcoming World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12) of the International Telecommunication Union, and the possible expansion of the scope of international telecommunication regulations". 22 November, 2012. Retrieved 23 November, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  25. ^ "Convention of the ITU". Itu.int. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  26. ^ "EFF Joins Coalition Denouncing Secretive WCIT Planning Process". Eff.org. 17 May 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  27. ^ "Ryan/Glick: The ITU Treaty Negotiations: A Call for Openness and Participation". Ssrn.com. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
ITU headquarters, Geneva

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