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Context:

• Minister of State for Communications attended the opening ceremony of World Summit of Information Society (WSIS) 2022, being organized by International Telecommunications Unions(ITU) at its headquarter in Geneva, Switzerland from 30^thMay to 3^rd June, 2022.

Details:

• Over six hundred villages are being connected on Optical Fibre cable, with nearly 175,000 already connected.
• Villages left out of 4G connectivity are being covered through Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).
• Developing 5G test bed, indigenous 4G and 5G stack, development of Indian 5G standards and setting up of 6G innovation forum are the initiatives to reduce cost, facilitate faster 5G spread in rural area and eliminate dependency on specific vendor.
• The Telecom Standards Development Society of India – India’s Standards Development Organisation, along with IITs have developed the Low mobility Large Coverage Standard (earlier called 5Gi) using a new waveform that enables 5G towers to cover wider areas in rural and remote areas.
• These standards were among the first 5G standards, which have been approved by the ITU and have also become part of Globally harmonized 3GPP Release 17 standards.
• These will be immensely helpful for countries with similar geographical spread. India is poised to play a leadership role in global digital revolution.

About WSIS:

• The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was a two-phase United Nations-sponsored summit on information, communication and, in broad terms, the information society that took place in 2003 in Geneva and in 2005 in Tunis.
• WSIS Forums have taken place periodically since then.
• One of the Summit's chief aims is to bridge the global digital divide separating rich countries from poor countries by increasing internet accessibility in the developing world.
• The conferences established 17 May as World Information Society Day.

About ITU:

• The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies.
• It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Union, making it the oldest UN agency.
• The ITU was initially aimed at helping connect telegraphic networks between countries, with its mandate consistently broadening with the advent of new communications technologies; it adopted its current name in 1934 to reflect its expanded responsibilities over radio and the telephone.
• On 15 November 1947, the ITU entered into an agreement with the newly created United Nations to become a specialized agency within the UN system, which formally entered into force on 1 January 1949.
• The ITU promotes the shared global use of the radio spectrum, facilitates international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, assists in developing and coordinating worldwide technical standards, and works to improve telecommunication infrastructure in the developing world.
• Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the ITU's global membership includes 193 countries and around 900 business, academic institutions, and international and regional organizations.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1829848

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