Our archives: Video spotlight series on ITU’s history
From the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention in 1865 to the space conference in 1963 and now the AI for Good Global Summit, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has played a vital role at every stage of global communications development.
A series of videos produced by geneveMonde, with the support of the Swiss Republic and Canton of Geneva, offers a peek into ITU’s history and shines a light on its technical work and contribution to international cooperation over the last 16 decades.
The telegraph: Revolutionizing long-distance communications
ITU began in 1865 with a conference in Paris to resolve problems related to the telegraph. The conference brought together ITU’s 20 founding Member States from across Europe.
The diplomats agreed to sign the first International Telegraph Convention − allowing telegraph messages to be sent across borders. Two months of discussions produced agreements on tariffs, coding, equipment and regulations.
Those outcomes became the foundation of today’s ITU, and now part of ITU’s rich history.
SOS: Radio waves save lives
Telegraphy required sending signals by cable, but cables could not reach everywhere, particularly to and from ships at sea. When experiments with radio waves confirmed that messages could be transmitted through the air, a new medium for long-distance communication was born.
Communication by radio enabled mariners to send and receive distress calls such as the famed “SOS”. It also opened unprecedented possibilities for regular communications between moving vehicles, as well as for broadcasting news and entertainment to widely dispersed mass audiences.
In step with the times, the International Telegraph Union was renamed in 1934 as the International Telecommunication Union.
Geneva: Pushing back the walls
ITU was first headquartered in Bern, Switzerland, starting in 1869.
A major turning point came in 1947, with coinciding meetings of the United Nations in New York and ITU in nearby Atlantic City, New Jersey (US). Following negotiations between the two bodies, ITU became the UN’s specialized agency for telecommunications. This prompted ITU’s relocation to Geneva – home to many other UN organizations.
As ITU’s functions and responsibilities expanded, the Canton of Geneva and the Swiss Federation offered the organization its own building. The Varembé Building, inaugurated in 1962, brought all ITU staff under one roof.
At the time, the space age was just beginning and ITU’s mandate – and workforce – was expanding. Soon, the Varembé building was no longer big enough, prompting the construction of a 15-storey tower block of offices and meeting rooms – the familiar ITU Tower in the heart of International Geneva.
Satellite takes off
The organization held its first space conference in 1963, soon after the launch of the first communication satellites. The new radiocommunication method required countries to come together and agree on regulations.
United Nations Secretary-General U Thant addressed the delegates from his office in New York via satellite. ITU’s Extraordinary Administrative Radio Conference to allocate frequency bands for space radiocommunication purposes (Geneva 1963) − involving 70 countries − confirmed the launch of a new era.
ITU News
From the beginning, ITU’s member governments recognized the importance of sharing information. A few years after ITU’s founding, they mandated the organization’s secretariat to regularly publish a journal where experts would share insights on technologies and regulations for the benefit of everyone. The first issue of the Journal télégraphique was sent, free of charge, to member administrations on 25 November 1869.
The journal has carried on until the present day, albeit under changing titles and taking different forms. The current ITU News Magazine (now an online product) is complemented by ITU’s news blog and weekly newsletter, reaching a diverse readership far and wide.
In addition, the organization maintains active social media channels, while its standardization arm produces the specialized ITU Journal of Future and Evolving Technologies.
Today’s UN agency for digital technologies
To this day, ITU brings governments, companies and other organizations together to set standards and share expert knowledge on communication technologies. Continually adapting to keep pace with increasingly rapid technological changes, ITU and its diverse membership now tackle regulation, standards and equitable access in an age of digital connectivity and artificial intelligence (AI).
ITU will celebrate its 160th anniversary in 2025, with World Telecommunication and Information Society Day on 17 May commemorating the signing of the International Telegraph Convention.
This article offers a very brief insight into ITU’s history. Read more about the organization’s rich history on the History of ITU Portal.
