Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Area office & Innovation Centre in India at a programme in Vigyan Bhawan on 22nd March, 2023 at 12:30 PM. During the programme, Prime Minister will unveil Bharat 6G Vision Document and launch 6G R&D Test Bed. He will also launch ‘Call before u dig’ App. Prime Minister will also address the gathering on the occasion.
ITU is the United Nations specialised agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs). Headquartered in Geneva, it has a network of field offices, regional Offices and area offices. India signed a Host Country Agreement in March 2022 with ITU for establishment of Area Office. The Area Office in India also envisaged to have an Innovation Centre embedded to it, making it unique among other area offices of ITU. 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. 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.
Bharat 6G vision document is prepared by Technology Innovation Group on 6G (TIG-6G) that was constituted in November 2021 with members from various Ministries/Departments, research and development institutions, academia, standardisation bodies, Telecom Service Providers and industry to develop roadmap and action plans for 6G in India. 6G Test bed will provide academic institutions, industry, start-ups, MSMEs, industry 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.
