The Prime Minister inaugurated the new International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Area office & Innovation Centre in India.
- The Prime Minister also unveiled the Bharat 6G Vision Document and launched the 6G R&D Test Bed. ITU is the United Nations’ specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs).
About ITU
- India signed a Host Country Agreement in March 2022 with ITU for the establishment of Area Office. It will serve India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Afghanistan and Iran, enhancing coordination among nations and fostering mutually beneficial economic cooperation in the region.
- The Area Office, which is fully funded by India, is located on the second floor of the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) building at Mehrauli New Delhi.
- ITU is the United Nations’ specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs). Headquartered in Geneva, it has a network of field offices, regional Offices and area offices.
- The Area Office in India is also envisaged to have an Innovation Centre embedded in it making it unique among other area offices of ITU.
Bharat 6G vision document
- India is gearing up to roll out high-speed 6G communication services by 2030 and has set up a Bharat 6G project to identify and fund research and deployment of the next-generation technology in the country.
- Bharat 6G vision document is prepared by the Technology Innovation Group on 6G (TIG-6G). 6G Test Bed will provide academic institutions, industries, start-ups, MSMEs etc. a platform to test and validate the evolving ICT technologies.
- The Bharat 6G Vision Document and 6G Test Bed will provide an enabling environment for innovation, capacity building and faster technology adoption in the country.
- While, technically, 6G does not exist today, it has been conceived as a far superior technology promising internet speeds up to 100 times faster than 5G.
- India’s 6G project will be implemented in two phases, and the government has also appointed an apex council to oversee the project.
- A key focus of the council will be on new technologies such as Terahertz communication, radio interfaces, tactile internet, artificial intelligence for connected intelligence, new encoding methods and waveforms chipsets for 6G devices.
- The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) defines the Tactile Internet as an internet network that combines ultra low latency with extremely high availability, reliability and security. It believes the Tactile Internet represents a “revolutionary level of development for society, economics and culture”.
