Tag: 50th Anniversary

The new millennium opened with high optimism over the industry’s resilience – and relentless progress — after the non-disruption of Y2K and the burst of the dotcom stock bubble. Renewed expansion focused on emerging markets, cutting-edge mobile technologies, and new services and applications beyond network infrastructure.

“You do not have to create new demand in the world,” said Yoshio Utsumi, then-Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), at the organization’s flagship Telecom conference in 2003. “It is there waiting for you in the developing world.”

The world by then had nearly 2.5 billion fixed telephone lines – a billion more than four years earlier. More than two-thirds of these were installed in developing countries, with Africa in 2001 becoming the first major region where mobile use outstripped fixed lines.

Mobile phone subscriptions reached the one-billion mark worldwide by 2003 – a figure rising to 4.6 billion by the end of 2009. Internet use exploded in parallel, from 680 million users in 2003 to 1.8 billion, half of them with broadband access, by end-2009.

Broadband and Wi-Fi were the rising stars as the industry sought to overcome high spectrum prices, overcapacity, and price-slashing amid fierce competition.

Satellite services complemented optical fibre and broadband as voice, data and video continued to converge. Wireless local area networks and prepaid services offered possibilities to close the digital divide in rural, remote and low-income areas.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs), observed microfinance pioneer and Grameen Bank founder Mohamed Yunus at Telecom 06, could “offer an opportunity unprecedented in all of human history to end poverty” – but only if women and marginalized communities were enabled to tap into the benefits of market forces.

Services soar

New services spurred growth as technologies reached into practically all aspects of everyday life. Third-generation (3G) networks, mobile devices with built-in digital and video cameras, and innovative Internet apps heralded the era of consumer services. With it came industry calls for lighter-touch regulation to let innovation flourish; along with increased industry collaboration to harmonize standards and boost access through globally interoperable services.

Financial services came to be combined with mobile devices – a key breakthrough for inclusive finance in emerging economies.

Front-runner Kenya’s M-PESA mobile banking services, launched in 2007 by national telco Safaricom with global giant Vodaphone, attracted 7 million customers in its first two years, transforming lives in rural communities.

The growth of mobile broadband services put the spotlight on cybercrime – identified by Telecom delegates as a threat needing global solutions in the borderless world of international data flow.

Tech for good – and for all

High-profile speakers at Telecom 03 envisaged an information society founded on inclusion, non-discrimination, and gender equality, where technological progress would enhance individual well-being.

“The vast potential for this industry to bring about social and economic progress is within our reach,” enthused Carly Fiorina, chief executive at Hewlett Packard (HP) at the time.

But efforts were needed to spread the benefits to everyone.

Switzerland’s President Pascal Couchepin called the digital divide “a blemish on this new millennium”, adding: “Access to information for everyone is at the very heart of development.”

Reaching out to Asia

ITU Telecom World 2006 headed to Hong Kong – the first time the global event took place outside Geneva, ITU’s headquarters city in Switzerland. The change of venue paralleled the industry’s shifting geographic focus, with China by then becoming the world’s largest market for fixed and mobile telephony.

Telecom 06 stressed the importance of education – including digital literacy – to eliminate poverty and bring opportunity to all. Cisco increased the funds to for its Training Centre Initiative for Developing Countries, first launched with ITU in 2002 and active in 56 nations worldwide.

Nicholas Negroponte, Chairman of the One Laptop per Child association and a partner in ITU’s Connect the World initiative, urged the public and private sectors to work together to put low-cost laptops into the hands of children in developing economies.

 

Telecom 06 features education as a tool to bridge the digital divide

At ITU Telecom World 2009 back in Geneva, then-United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reinforced the wider impact of education: “Connected schools can become connected community ICT centres. They can provide a vital link to marginalized and vulnerable groups. They can become an information lifeline for women, indigenous people, persons with disabilities and those living in rural, remote and underserved areas.”

Sustainability centre-stage

Telecom 09 also featured discussions on how ICTs could serve to mitigate climate change. Mobile technologies, for example, could supply critical information to farmers in Africa on the frontline of the environmental crisis, while smart tech could save energy and cut harmful emissions from industry, transport and households everywhere.

The ICT industry was urged to examine its own performance on power consumption, recycling, e-waste, and renewable energy use.

The ongoing dichotomy – between technology as part of the problem and a key tool in any solution – remains high on the agenda at ITU Digital World 2021.

In this blog series marking the 50th anniversary of ITU Telecom, we look back at five decades of change for the industry, the specialized international agency, and the flagship conference and exhibition series. In the next episode, ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao will review his personal and professional experiences over the last decade.

This year’s edition, ITU Digital World 2021, takes place online between September and December. Explore the full event calendar and register now.

This blog was originally published on ITU News.

After the introduction of computer-led network operation in the late 1970s, the telecommunications industry was in for even bigger changes in the 1980s.

The new decade would usher in enormous changes in technology, industry structure, policy and regulation.

The innovative eighties heralded mobile telephony, the first standards for e-mail, and an accelerating convergence between computing and communication technologies.

The flagship conference and exhibition series of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) kept pace with the industry’s exciting evolution.

At World TELECOM ’83, then ITU Secretary-General Richard Butler called for debates on “the planning, financial management and implementation of the world telecommunication network” to accelerate the transfer of information, infrastructure and development.

Telecom 1983, Geneva: An exhibition of ITU member countries, their entities and industries, in other words “an exhibition for all”, as ITU Secretary General Richard E. Butler (pictured above) put it. Image credit: ITU

The expanding power and global reach of telecommunications and information technology had brought with it a renewed commitment for government and industry to work together for social good, especially in developing or less developed nations.

Standard-setting for the digital dawn

Policy and regulatory issues centred on network ownership and operating monopolies.

Other topics of the 1980s remain highly relevant today: the regulation of trans-border data flow in a global communications network; ensuring security and control of content and services; and the need for data skills – or, as Mr Butler put it at World TELECOM ‘87, “a large increase in the number of qualified personnel” joining the telecoms sector.

“Enormous potential for growth and development for the underprivileged countries of the world,” he said, “will only be guaranteed if the right people can be found and educated to perform the mission which awaits them.”

The beginning of the decade saw the launch of the first commercial cellular radio systems. These were on prominent display at Telecom, alongside integrated services digital network technology (ISDN), optical fibre and rural communications systems. For industry insiders, however, the clear star of World TELECOM ‘87 was a highly promising series of recommendations known as X.400.

These defined international standards for the data communication networks to support message handling systems (MHS) – what would soon become famous as electronic mail or e-mail.

Twenty-one companies came together on one exhibition stand for the biggest demonstration to date of a fully global messaging network.

While working together to set up the basic infrastructure and increase the global market for X.400 products, the same vendors would compete vigorously over user interfaces and services. This fine balance of competition and collaboration called for sensitive regulation. International standards – then as now – were essential to allow for convergence and harmonization across the new networks.

Too much of a good thing?

Mobile, satellite and e-mail became firmly established as the technologies of the future. Convergence between telecoms and computing was intensifying.

The looming impact of these breakthroughs on economies and societies was obvious. But so, too, was the need to consider negative aspects and to anticipate potential misuse or unwanted side effects of the ongoing revolution in communication.

“Perhaps we could set a course which would avoid effects such as human contacts being largely replaced by electronic communication or an excess of communication which people would be unable to escape from,” said Mr Butler in 1987, with evident foresight.

It might well be one of the first calls for digital detox on record.

 

In this new series of articles marking the 50th anniversary of ITU Telecom, we look back at five decades of change for the industry, ITU and the flagship conference and exhibition series. The next installment revisits the 1990s.

Find out more on the 50th anniversary of ITU Telecom events – and on this year’s edition, ITU Digital World 2021, taking place online from September to December.

Header image depicts Telecom 1983, Geneva: The Exhibition was an excellent setting for international contacts and business relations. Credit: ITU

This blog was originally published on ITU News.

When the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) opened World TELECOM 1971 in Geneva 50 years ago, officials proclaimed the dazzling new conference and exhibition a “message to the 21st century.”

“All those who had the opportunity to visit the various stands were able to appreciate the fundamental role played by ITU in the spectacular evolution of telecoms techniques and in the rapid expansion of the world,” observed the ITU Secretary-General of the time, Mohamed E. Mili.

The event launched a global platform for leading industry players, ITU members from the public and private sectors, international organizations, and academia to meet and greet, showcase innovation, and share knowledge.

Inauguration of Telecom 1971: Mohamed E. Mili, Secretary-General of ITU (left) with Robert Galley, France’s Minister of Posts and Telecommunications (right). Image credit: ITU.

 

Fifty years later, the now annual series achieves the same goals.

But much, of course, has changed.

18 cities around the world have hosted Telecom over the years, with several acting as hosts more than once.

The event changed format and name several times to meet the evolving needs of the industry. And for the past two editions, it has moved online in response to the global pandemic.

More substantially, people’s access to communications technology has blossomed, the structure of the industry and role of governments is radically different, and the technologies themselves are evolving faster than ever before.

The landscape then

Back in the 1970s, the telecommunication landscape was all about sending the voice over a fixed infrastructure, which was run by national operators out of government departments.

The cutting-edge technology exhibited at the very first Telecom included switching and transmission equipment, audio-visual equipment, and high-capacity submarine cables, along with wave guides and radio relays, data transmission equipment and a new generation of computers.

An impressive videophone demonstration included the ambitious prediction that at least 150 million such devices would be in use by the year 2000.

Satellites had already become a key part of public telecommunications, research, and television broadcasting services. The importance of satellite communications to reach remote and rural communities, no matter how challenging the terrain, would become increasingly clear over the decade.

By 1974, space radiocommunications systems were helping communities hit by natural disasters, keeping channels open with support centres and aiding the flow of emergency relief.

World TELECOM 1979 heralded a major technical breakthrough: electronic telephone switching.

System X, the result of industry-wide collaboration, made its public debut as an electronic system integrating telephone switching and transmission. The system allowed for the additional use of advanced electronic modules, which could expand the basic exchange into a highly sophisticated network operator. By replacing electro-mechanical switching systems with computers, System X provided the basis for a modern, flexible telecom system.

A force for growth

After the success of the 1971 inaugural event, ITUs Member States opted to carry on with Telecom on a regular basis – initially every four years – to gather “all the members of the great family of telecommunications,” in the words of Mr Mili.

Linking countries and companies would stimulate international trade, allow for the exchange of ideas and knowledge, and help to bridge the development gap, he said.

Telecommunications in the 1970s represented progress and a force for social, economic and cultural growth that could be applied universally for the benefit of all.

ITU Telecom continues to uphold those aims today.

 

In this new series of blogs marking the 50th anniversary of ITU Telecom, we look back at five decades of change for the industry, ITU and the flagship conference and exhibition series. The next episode revisits the 1980s and the dawn of mobile and e-mail.

Find out more on the 50th anniversary of ITU Telecom events – and on this year’s edition, ITU Digital World 2021, taking place online from September to December.

Header image from Telecom 1971: Telephone sets from the International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT) Corporation. Image credit: ITU

This blog was originally published on ITU News.

One of the key annual events of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has just turned 50. ITU Telecom has evolved over the years to reflect a rapidly evolving industry ecosystem. But international cooperation to connect the world remains at the core of the conference and exhibition series.

The first-ever Telecom, featuring a high-level conference combined with a major international telecommunications exhibition, happened in June 1971.

World TELECOM 71, as it was called, launched a regular series of key global gatherings of the ITU family. Governments, industry, academia and international organizations came together to trade insights, showcase and share technological innovations, exchange knowledge – and work together to ensure everyone, everywhere could benefit from technology’s enormous potential.

The past half century has seen rapid advances in telecommunications, including the emergence of unprecedented technologies, sector-wide privatization, and new facets of regulation. New markets, competitors, and partnerships have made the industry, along with the world of ITU, look very different today than they did in the early 1970s.

The key areas of ITU’s work back then, as the name of the event implies, were telephony and telecommunications. Telecom’s focus has since shifted, in line with the industry, to information and communication technologies (ICTs), reflecting the irreversible convergence of two separate sectors. Digital technologies and services are now at the forefront, with the annual Telecom event provisionally rebranded since last year as ITU Digital World.

But even as ITU’s membership has diversified and the scope of Telecom events has broadened, much has stayed the same.

Enduring engagement

The people who come together through ITU – in all its initiatives, study groups, focus groups, conferences, and events – represent every part of what is known as the industry ecosystem: government, regulatory bodies, academia, international organizations, private sector companies (from multinational corporates to small and medium enterprises) and media. They are still truly global, drawn from all 193 member states. They still span industry sectors, from satellite to mobile, broadcasting to broadband, fintech to smart cities, artificial intelligence and beyond.

Through the second decade of the 21^st century, ITU Telecom events have continued to engage on key industry issues, including connecting the unconnected and narrowing the digital divide. Today, as in 1971, this means sharing knowledge and resources, exhibiting innovative technologies, projects and products, and networking across private and public sectors.

What connecting the unconnected means in practice has arguably changed over the years. It is no longer just about ensuring affordable devices and access, along with infrastructure and coverage worldwide – whether in the form of telephony, satellite services, mobile telephony, or even broadband Internet.

Nowadays, it is increasingly about fostering digital skills and awareness, driving demand through relevant content and services, and providing vital information and updates in local languages.

Bringing these benefits to underserved people and communities depends on cooperation and collaboration, cross-sectoral and cross-border partnerships – to meet the challenges and explore the opportunities of an industry upon which the world now relies more than ever.

Interactive exhibits in 1979

A platform for innovation

Throughout the years, Telecom has provided a platform for innovations on display in its renowned world-class exhibition to the policies, strategies and technologies shaping the industry.

Important topics echo down the decades: the incredible potential of exponential technological growth; bridging the digital divide to leave no one behind; the role of regulators in balancing industry competition and consumer needs; the influence – both positive and negative – of ICTs on our environment and climate; the importance of empowering women and girls, youth, persons with disabilities and the marginalized throughout the world; the critical need for skills, training and expert personnel; the social and cultural impact of technology; the interplay and partnerships between public and private sectors; rights and responsibilities in a global, networked world where no country, industry or organization can act alone.

Annual Telecom events continue to provide a window on the increasingly complex world of ICTs. Another 50 years from now, technology may well have reshaped our societies and economies beyond imagination. As the world and the industry keep changing, however, ITU remains committed to improving lives everywhere through technology.

Explore the history of ITU Telecom on the 50^th anniversary page.

Find out more on this year’s ITU Digital World 2021. And follow our blog series looking back at the highlights of ITU Telecom over the decades

Photo credit: ITU