landmarks

This page offers a basic chronology regarding the ITU and global telecommunications regulation.

Context is provided by the more general communications and media timeline on this site.

     beginnings

1844 Samuel Morse sends first public message over telegraph line between Washington and Baltimore

1865 International Telegraph Convention (signed at end of Paris conference convened by Napoleon III to organise tariff policies between two European telegraph groups) results in International Telegraph Union

1868 Secretariat ('International Bureau') of the Telegraph Union established

1876 telephone patented in US

     radio

1903 Berlin conference of national radio administrations lays basis for establishment of International Radiotelegraph Convention (IRC)

1906 International Radiotelegraph Conference in Berlin produces International Radiotelegraph Convention

1912 IRC publishes non-mandatory Table of Frequency Allocations

1924 International Consultative Committee on Long-Distance Telephony (CCIF) established after 1923 meeting in Paris

1925 CCIF officially recognized and attached to the ITU

1925 International Telegraph Consultative Committee (CCIT) established

1927 first commercial transatlantic radiotelephone circuit established

1927 International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR) established at conference in Washington DC

1927 International Radiotelegraph Conference allocates frequency bands to various radio services

1928 Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms & Broadcasting Organizations

1932 Madrid Conference agrees to combine 1865 International Telegraph Convention and 1906 International Radiotelegraph Convention to form International Telecommunication Convention. Conference agrees to rename of Union to International Telecommunication Union

     ITU

1934 formal merger of Telegraph Union and Radiotelegraph Union creates International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

1947 ITU becomes 'specialized agency' of the United Nations

1947 International Frequency Registration Board (IFRB) established

1956 CCIT and CCIF merged to form International Telephone & Telegraph Consultative Committee (CCITT)

1957 launch of first artificial satellite, Sputnik-1

1963 launch of first geostationary communications satellite

1964 International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium (INTELSAT) established

1974 Brussels Convention Relating to the Distribution of Programme-Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellite

1974 World Intellectual Property Organization established

     the net

1984 domain name system (DNS) introduced

1989 Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) established to foster telecoms development in emerging economies

1992 Additional Plenipotentiary Conference in Geneva results in 'streamlining' of ITU into three main areas— Telecommunication Standardization, Radiocommunication and Telecommunication Development

1994 telecommunication deregulation features in Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade (GATT)

1995 World Trade Organisation established

1996 first World Telecommunication Policy Forum held in Geneva

1998 Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN) established

2003 ITU workshop on ccTLDs

2003 World Summit on the Information Society




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