ABSTRACT
Electrical telecommunications, integral to modern life, are constrained by the laws of physics. Wired communications developed into a worldwide system, an International Telegraph Union coming into being in 1874. Its service protocols and equipment standards were revised over the years. Radio, invented in the 1890s, was governed by a series of conventions that began in 1906, but an international institution was not created to deal with it. Minimum signal power, the use of best equipment and the setting aside of specified frequencies for particular purposes remain important principles. The separate regulatory mechanisms for cable and radio were brought together in 1932 to form the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which is now the UN specialised agency for electrical communications. Its structure was revised in 1992/1994 with the establishment of specialised sectors to deal with development, standardisation and radio. In effect, ITU rules dominate worldwide civil communications services and profoundly affect national provisions.
