The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) was established in 1865 to meet the need for technical standards for international telegraph systems. From the day of the telegraph, through its formative role in telecommunications, and in today’s converged information and communication technology (ICT) ecosystem, ITU has offered a neutral platform to agree the international standards (ITU Recommendations) that ensure networks and devices ‘speak the same language’.

In 1956, ITU Member States established the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (CCITT), the precursor to today’s ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), established in 1992.

This video traces standards-enabled ICT innovation from 1956 to 2016, the 60th anniversary of CCITT/ITU-T, exploring the relevance of today’s ITU standardization work to the future.

The video is available at: https://youtu.be/hgP4IyY33iI.