The Minister of State for Communications was present at the opening ceremony of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 2022,

It is being held at the headquarters of the International Telecommunication Unions (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland from May 30 to June 3, 2022.

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was a two-part United Nations-sponsored summit on information, communication, and the information society in general that took place in Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005.

Since then, WSIS Forums have been held on a regular basis.

Goals of summit:

1. To narrow the global digital divide between rich and poor countries by improving internet access in developing countries.

World Information Society Day was declared by the conferences on May 17th.

Optical Fibre cable is being installed in over 600 villages, with nearly 175,000 already connected.

The Universal Service Obligation Fund will cover villages that do not have 4G connectivity (USOF).

The initiatives to reduce costs, facilitate faster 5G spread in rural areas, and eliminate dependency on specific vendors include developing a 5G test bed, indigenous 4G and 5G stack, development of Indian 5G standards, and the establishment of a 6G innovation forum.

Low Mobility Large Coverage Standard:

The Telecom Standards Development Society of India, India's Standards Development Organization, and IITs collaborated to create the Low Mobility Large Coverage Standard (earlier known as 5Gi). It will use a new waveform to allow 5G towers to cover larger areas in rural and remote areas.

These standards were among the first 5G standards to be approved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and they are now part of the globally harmonised 3GPP Release 17 standards.

These will be extremely beneficial to countries with similar geographic distributions. India is well positioned to lead the global digital revolution.

The International Telecommunication Union is a United Nations specialised agency in charge of many issues concerning information and communication technologies.

The International Telegraph Union was founded on May 17, 1865, making it the oldest UN agency.

Mission:

1. Original mission was to help countries connect their telegraphic networks.
2. As new communications technologies emerged, the ITU's mandate grew, and in 1934, it was renamed to reflect its expanded responsibilities over radio and telephone.

The ITU signed an agreement with the newly formed United Nations on November 15, 1947, to become a specialised agency within the UN system, which went into effect on January 1, 1949.

The ITU promotes global radio spectrum sharing, facilitates international cooperation in satellite orbit assignment, aids in the development and coordination of international technical standards, and works to improve telecommunication infrastructure in developing countries.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), based in Geneva, Switzerland, has a global membership of 193 countries and around 900 businesses, academic institutions, and international and regional organisations.

Source: PIB