ITU

Subject: International Organisation

Context: Three new technologies including ‘5Gi’ submitted by the Telecommunications Standards Development Society India (TSDSI) have completed “successful evaluation” and conform with rigorous performance requirement, according to International Telecommunication Union (ITU) statement.

Concept:

• The technologies are — 3GPP 5G-SRIT and 3GPP 5G-RIT submitted by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), and 5Gi submitted by Telecommunications Standards Development Society India (TSDSI).

International Telecommunication Union (ITU):

• It is an agency of the United Nations (UN) whose purpose is to coordinate telecommunication operations and services throughout the world.
• Originally founded in 1865, as the International Telegraph Union, the ITU is the oldest existing international organization.
• Headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.
• The ITU consists of three sectors:
• Radiocommunication (ITU-R) — ensures optimal, fair and rational use of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum.
• Telecommunication Standardization (ITU-T) — formulates recommendations for standardizing telecommunication operations worldwide.
• Telecommunication Development (ITU-D) — assists countries in developing and maintaining internal communication operations.

Membership:

• There are 193 Member States of the ITU, including all UN member states except the Republic of Palau, plus the Vatican City.
• Membership of ITU is open to only UN members, which may join the Union as Member States, as well as to private organizations like carriers, equipment manufacturers, funding bodies, research and development organizations and international and regional telecommunication organizations, which may join ITU as non-voting Sector Members.

India and the ITU:

• India has been an active member of the ITU since 1869 and has been a regular member of the ITU Council since 1952. In November 2018, India was elected as a Member of the ITU Council for another 4-year term (2019-2022).