The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has been committed to connecting the world for over 140 years. Founded on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Union, it is the world‘s oldest international organization, and has played a key role in building today‘s vast interconnected infocommunication networks spanning telephone, radio, television, satellite systems, mobile and wireless communications and Internet technologies. It became a specialized agency of the United Nations in 1947, and in 2004 was named one of the world‘s top ten most enduring institutions by global consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton.