I.T.U. Celebrates 100 Years of Regulating Wireless Communications

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is celebrating the 100th anniversary of it role in regulating radio communication. Later this month, the ITU will host an event to commemorate the 1906 Berlin Convention at which participating nations signed the International Radiotelegraph Convention. The 1906 Convention aimed at making two-way coast to ship radio communication free from harmful interference. These first regulations laid down rules for spectrum use for the operation of stations to reduce radio interference and establish technical standards for radio equipment.



Today, the ITU Radio Regulations -- a binding international treaty -- apply to frequencies ranging from 9 kHz to 400 GHz, and incorporate over 1,000 pages of information describing how the spectrum may be used and shared by more than 40 services around the globe. These services represent around 1,265,000 frequency assignments for terrestrial stations, 390 000 frequency assignments related to around 380 GSO orbital positions and around 250 non-GSO satellite systems along with another 50,000 assignments related to 3,700 satellite earth stations.

http://www.itu.int