Classroom Companion: Business

15.2.1 
 ITU
The world’s oldest standardization organization is the International 
Telecommunications Union (ITU). ITU was established in 1865 for the standard-
ization of the emerging telegraph service. ITU was included as a specialized orga-
nization in the United Nations in 1947. The union is responsible for the 
standardization of telecommunications networks, equipment, technical inter-
faces, network management, services, and operations. This includes, in particular, 
the standards for the telephone network and mobile networks and, to a lesser 
degree, the standardization of the Internet and ICT. In fact, at the meeting of the 
 
Chapter 15 · Standards

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World Conference on International Telecommunications 2012 (WCIT-12), the 
European Parliament presented a resolution where it “Believes that the ITU, or 
any other single, centralized international institution (e.g., ICANN), is not the 
appropriate body to assert regulatory authority over the internet” (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 regu-
lations (2012/2881(RSP))). The major concern was that ITU regulations, in par-
ticular on tariffing, may undermine the principle of network neutrality. Several 
other countries supported this view, among others, the USA, India, Australia, 
and Japan. Nevertheless, a new resolution was accepted by 86 of 152 countries 
stating rather vaguely “to invite Member States to elaborate on their respective 
positions on international Internet-related technical, development and public-
policy issues within the mandate of ITU at various ITU forums including, inter 
alia, the World Telecommunication/ICT Policy Forum, the Broadband 
Commission for Digital Development and ITU study groups” (International 
Telecommunications Union, 
2012
).
ITU is not the dominating organization behind the Internet today and will 
most probably not be so in the future because of the opposition expressed by the 
EU, USA, Japan, and several other technologically advanced countries. For the 
evolution of the Internet and digital services, the ITU may become an organization 
that is not generating the standards, but rather ratifying standards produced by 
more specialized organizations.
One of the most important tasks of ITU is to govern the use of the radio spec-
trum. The allocations of radio spectrum to the different services (satellites, land 
mobile networks, radio astronomy, radio amateurs, broadcasting, and several other 
uses) are revised every 3 to 4 years by the World Radiocommunications Conferences 
(WRC). The allocation of the frequency spectrum is an international de jure stan-
dard. Other de jure standards of ITU include allocation of country codes for tele-
phone numbers, international mobile subscriber identities (IMSI), and international 
numbering and identification plans for radio communication with ships and aircraft.