The International Telecommunication Union, ITU, founded in 1865, is the oldest of all UN agencies. The ITU is located in Geneva.

Activities

The main objective of the ITU is to promote and coordinate the establishment and operations of global telecommunication networks and services.

As part of the United Nations structure, countries can be members, referred to as Member States. Sector Members are public or private companies and organizations with an interest in telecommunications.

The ITU activities are organized within three sectors:

1. The Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R);
2. The Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T)
3. The Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D).

Sector members can participate in the work of one or more sectors.

Structure

The Plenipotentiary Conference is the highest policy-making body of the ITU, where all members are represented. Held every four years, it determines the general policies and elects members of the other ITU organs. World or regional conferences on international telecommunications may be convened between the sessions of the ITU Conference.

The Administrative Council acts as the Union’s governing body in the interval between Plenipotentiary Conferences. It implements the decisions of the Conference and supervises the ITU activities.

The General Secretariat, directed by a Secretary-General, is the administrative centre.

More on ITU

• Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the founding document of the ITU and an international treaty, signed and ratified by a major part of all the countries of the world.
• The ITU website provides detailed information about the organization, statistics and analysis, news, reports and publications.
  • ITU Recommendations is the ITU international standard for telecommunications.
  • ITU Operational Bulletin presents news for administrators, operators and service providers.
  • ITU Statistics
  • ITU Publications