Virtually
every facet of modern life – in business, culture or entertainment, at work and at home –
depends on information and communication technologies (ICTs).The global international telecommunications network is the largest and most sophisticated engineering feat ever created. You use it every time you log on to the web, send an e-mail or SMS, consult online navigation systems, listen to the radio, watch television, order something online, travel by plane or ship – and of course every time you use a mobile phone, smartphone or tablet computer.
Today, there are over seven billion mobile phone subscribers, well over 1.4 billion households with access to television, and tens of millions of new Internet users every year. Hundreds of millions of people around the world use satellite services – whether getting directions from a satellite navigation system, checking the weather forecast or watching TV or surfing the Net from isolated areas. Millions more use ITU video compression standards every day via their mobile phones, music players and cameras.
ITU is at the very heart of the ICT sector, brokering agreement on technologies, services, and allocation of global resources like radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbital frequencies, to create a seamless global communications system that's robust, reliable, and constantly evolving.
