Also known as: ITU, International Telecommunication Union

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the United Nations specialised agency for information and communication technologies.¹ It coordinates the global radio spectrum and publishes the Radio Regulations.²

The ITU coordinates global spectrum allocation and radio regulations across all countries.

Overview

The ITU divides the world into regions and allocates bands to services (broadcast, maritime, aviation, amateur, and more), providing the framework national regulators like the FCC implement. ITU recommendations also define systems such as AIS and DSC.

Relevance to SDR

The ITU’s allocations are why specific signals live in specific bands worldwide, shaping where you tune.

Sources

1. International Telecommunication Union — Wikipedia, for the agency’s history and role. ↩

2. International Telecommunication Union — the ITU’s official site, for the Radio Regulations and global spectrum coordination. ↩

See also

• Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
• ETSI
• ICAO
• Frequency bands (HF/VHF/UHF)

Learn it step by step

• Frequency, bands & the spectrum