International Telecommunication Union News

Terrestrial and satellite radio-communications are essential for routine communications and navigation and for ensuring the effective operation of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), to protect lives at sea.International Maritime Organization (IMO)  is at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Radio-communication Conference (WRC-19), in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, (28 October - 22 November) with the message that the integrity of maritime radio-communication services needs to be protected.The use of radio spectrum allocated to existing (and future) maritime radio-communication services must be safeguarded.An important item on the WRC-19 agenda is to support the introduction of the Iridium satellite system in the GMDSS…

The International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), which met at the Organization's London headquarters for its 94th session, from November 17-21, 2014, approved draft SOLAS amendments to make mandatory the International Code of Safety for Ships using Gases or other Low- flashpoint Fuels (IGF Code); adopted other SOLAS amendments; continued its work on its action plan on passenger ship safety; and approved and adopted a number of items put forward by the subcommittees. The MSC also adopted the Polar Code and related amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) to make it mandatory.

ITU World Telecommunications and Information Society Day - WTISD 2014, was celebrated on 16th May 2014 at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva to mark the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention in 1865 and the creation of the ITU. Broadband for Sustainable Development was the theme of the high level meeting that took place on the occasion and which was attended by the IMSO Director General. industries, conduct long distance diagnosis and treatments in remote locations, and promote innovative educational applications around the world. All of these elements mentioned by the UN Secretary-General are relevant to communications at sea: monitoring transport systems…

Carrying an estimated 90% of world trade and billions of passengers every year, international shipping represents the life blood of the global economy. Safety, always a major concern for seafarers, has made huge advances in the last century. However, the massive increase in traffic in recent decades requires, among other things, new or better global communication and navigation solutions resting on internationally-agreed standards to maintain and improve safety levels. Shipping was among the very first industries to adopt widely implemented international safety standards.

Maritime Telecommunications Network (MTN), of Miramar, Florida, the leading provider of satellite-based communications, networking and other services to the cruise and offshore oil and gas industries, today said it welcomes the decision of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), adopted at the recently completed World Radiocommunication Conference in Geneva, Switzerland (WRC-03), to establish a permanent regulatory regime for the licensing and use of satellite earth stations on board moving vessels (ESVs). MTN has been the driving force for ESVs within the ITU for more than seven years. With intensive technical study, MTN has been able to successfully demonstrate that even though ESVs are mobile in nature…