The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) signed an inked ‘Host Country Agreement’ with the Indian Govt to set up an ITU area office and an Innovation Center at New Delhi. This center at the national capital is expected to serve South Asian countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and India. It is expected to be operational from mid 2022.
The Host Country Agreement provides the legal and financial framework for the establishment and operations of the Area Office. The agreement was signed by Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Communications and Houlin Zhao, Secretary General of ITU, a press information bureau release stated.
Vaishnaw said, “Post the pandemic, India had to face a lot in the field of communications. Now we are ready to bridge the digital divide and help access the ensuing inequalities in digital access affecting the entire region”. India is the 2 nd largest telecom market in the world with a subscriber base of more than a billion. The 5Gi standard developed within India has now been recognized by ITU as one of the three technologies for 5G.
The multinational agency is also expected to relocate regional staff to India and at the same time also hire locals as support staff.