India has been taking concrete steps towards development of telecom standards as it has the world’s second-largest telecommunications market. Reinforcing the vision of a robust Telecom sector Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Communications and Houlin Zhao, Secretary General of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) signed the Host Country Agreement (HCA) for the establishment of an Area Office & Innovation Centre of ITU in New Delhi on 3rd March 2022.
The area office will provide greater access and engagement to India and South Asian countries in global policy and standard formation in the field of telecommunication.
Countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and India are expected to benefit from the ITU’s New Delhi Area Office and Innovation Centre. This also establishes the legal and financial foundation for the Area Office’s operations.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the UN’s specialised organisation for information and communication technologies (ICTs). ITU now includes 193 member countries, as well as over 900 private sector and academic institutions.
Impetus to research & development in telecommunication technologies:
The Area Office will also contain an Innovation Center, which will help South Asia’s research and development in telecommunications technologies. Academics, start-ups, and SMEs will be able to present their innovations on a worldwide scale through the Innovation Centre. The Area Office and the Innovation Centre are planned to be operational by mid-2022, after the signing of the Host Country Agreement.
The agreement was signed virtually during the World Telecommunications Standardisation Assembly-20 (WTSA-20) in Geneva, Switzerland. The World Telecommunications Standards Association (WTSA) is an ITU-sponsored four-yearly global conference dedicated to the standardisation of information and communication technologies (ICTs). India has offered to host the next WTSA, which will take place in 2024.
The 5Gi standards developed within India have now been recognised by ITU as one of the three technologies for 5G. With more than 1.2 Billion telecom subscribers, a robust ecosystem of start-ups and innovation hubs, India is poised to contribute meaningfully in developing telecom standards further.
