ITU-T Recommendations

The main products of ITU-T are Recommendations (ITU-T Recs) – standards defining how
telecommunication networks operate and interwork. See below list for access. ITU-T Recs have non-
mandatory status until they are adopted in national laws. Levels of compliance are however high
due to international applicability and the high quality guaranteed by the ITU-T’s secretariat and
members from the world’s foremost ICT companies and global administrations.
There are well over 3000 Recommendations in force on topics from service definition to network
architecture and security, from broadband DSL to Gbit/s optical transmission systems to next-
generation networks (NGN) and IP-related issues, all together fundamental components of today’s
information and communication technologies (ICTs).
Membership of ITU-T gives exclusive rights to access working documents of standards under
development – tomorrow’s ICTs. The vast majority of all Recommendations are available in
electronic (PDF) form free of charge to all once a final editing process is complete. Texts that are
not free of charge include common ITU-T | ISO / IEC texts for which special arrangements exist.
Find out more about membership here.
ITU-T Recommendations are now available through a new Website in tree views, offering
multi-criteria search and cross navigation facilities. Each ITU-T Recommendation is now cross-
linked to corresponding work programme, approval process, formal descriptions (more than
1100 freely available), test signals (more than 10 GB of data freely available), supplements,
implementer's guide and IPR statements when applicable.

 ITU-T Recommmendation series structure

 Latest ITU-T Publications
 ITU-T Recommmendations under AAP (Alternative Approval Process)
 ITU-T Recommmendations under TAP (Traditional Approval Process)
 How to Order Recommendations

ITU-T Series of Recommendations

A: Organization of the work of ITU-T

D: General tariff principles
E: Overall network operation, telephone service, service operation and human factors
F: Non-telephone telecommunication services
G: Transmission systems and media, digital systems and networks
H: Audiovisual and multimedia systems
I: Integrated services digital network
J: Cable networks and transmission of television, sound programme and other multimedia signals
K: Protection against interference
L: Construction, installation and protection of cables and other elements of outside plant
M: Telecommunication management, including TMN and network maintenance
N: Maintenance: international sound programme and television transmission circuits
O: Specifications of measuring equipment
P: Terminals and subjective and objective assessment methods
 Q: Switching and signalling
R: Telegraph transmission
S: Telegraph services terminal equipment
T: Terminals for telematic services
U: Telegraph switching
V: Data communication over the telephone network
X: Data networks, open system communications and security
Y: Global information infrastructure, Internet protocol aspects and next-generation networks
Z: Languages and general software aspects for telecommunication systems

Why do we need international standards in telecommunications?

Worldwide standards provide manufacturers with a solid basis on which to compete in the global
marketplace, unhindered by technical barriers. Also, because global standards can translate into formidable
economies of scale and lower development and hardware costs, they mean lower prices to end-users. Global
standards protect users from incompatibility problems between rival systems – a situation which could prove
disastrous in a world increasingly reliant on information and communication technologies (ICT) to support
economic activity and essential public services such as health care.

Without standards defined by ITU, the advanced wireless, broadband and multimedia technologies that are
redefining today’s world simply would not exist. That’s because ITU has played a crucial role in defining the
core transport and access technologies that underpin communications networks right around the world.
Technologies like broadband access, fax and modems, X.25, ISDN, Wave Division Multiplexing and fibre
optic transport. Cabling standards, PONs (passive optical networks) and fixed-mobile convergence. And the
international numbering, freephone and premium rate numbers, billing and settlement systems that enable
calls to be seamlessly interconnected between operators.

In a world with over 300 bodies working in some capacity on ICT standards, ITU is able to provide focus,
clarity and leadership. ITU standards owe their global credibility to the fact that most of the hard slog
standardization work is undertaken by its members the world’s ICT industry working together with world
governments to develop and update the equipment and transmission specifications which become ITU-T
Recommendations.

What are some current topics in ITU-T standardization?

To name a few:

 ICTs and climate change

 Bridging the standardization gap
 Next-generation networks (NGN);
 Broadband access;
 Multimedia services;
 Emergency telecommunications;
 IP issues;
 Optical networking;
 Network management;
 Internet governance;
 Cybersecurity;
 Fixed/mobile convergence

Currently, a few major focuses of ITU-T include meeting the standards requirements for next generation
networks (NGN), assessing how standards can help reduce the impact of ICTs on climate change as well as
monitor it, broadband access, multimedia services, and IPTV. Much of ITU's standards work is in the core of
the network that is invisible to most people – on fibre optic technologies and submarine cables. This crucial
work is ongoing.

How would I recognize an ITU-T standard if I saw one?

An ITU-T standard can be anything from a one-page document to one several hundred pages' long. Most
ITU-T standards (Recommendations in ITU parlance) are available in electronic form, free of charge, here.
The paper version of any Recommendation is published in A4 format. Electronic and print versions both
carry the ITU logo and the designation ‘ITU-T Telecommunication Standardization Sector of ITU’.

Recommendations are divided into categories that are each identified by a single letter, referred to as the
"series", and are numbered within each series. A Recommendation’s given name, when used as a reference,
can thus be ‘H.323’ (H being the series, 323 being the particular Recommendation).