PM Modi to inaugurate India's first-ever ITU-WTSA event today

New Delhi, Oct 15 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the International Telecommunication Union-World Telecommunication Standardisation Assembly (ITU-WTSA) 2024 at the Bharat Mandapam here on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister will also inaugurate the eighth edition of India Mobile Congress 2024 during the programme, whose focus this year is 'The Future is Now'.

"A big day for the telecom sector! At 10 a.m. tomorrow, October 15, the International Telecommunication Union-World Telecommunication Standardisation Assembly and the India Mobile Congress 2024 will be inaugurated. These forums are important ones, bringing together leading stakeholders from across the sector," PM Modi said in a tweet.

The ITU-WTSA will see about 3,000 industry leaders, policy-makers and tech experts, representing telecom, digital, and ICT sectors, from more than 190 countries descending to the Bharat Mandapam for participation.

"This historic gathering signifies a pivotal moment for India. We will be driving the future of global standards, ensuring connectivity for all and showcasing our tech prowess," said Union Minister of Communications, Jyotiraditya Scindia, adding that "we must ensure innovation thrives not in isolation, but in harmony".

The Union Minister also spoke about India's success with new technology as it rolled out 5G across 36 states and union territories within a span of just 22 months, covering 98 per cent of all the districts.

Union Minister Scindia also spoke about Global Stack - Unified Payment Interface (UPI), Aadhaar and DigiLocker which stores about 6.75 billion documents serving 300 million users.

"The roll-out of 5G is expected to inject $450 billion into the economy by 2040," the Minister told the gathering.

WTSA is the governing conference for the standardisation work of the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations Agency for Digital Technologies, organised every four years. It is for the first time that the ITU-WTSA will be hosted in India and the Asia-Pacific. It is a pivotal global event that will bring together more than three thousand industry leaders, policy-makers and tech experts from over 190 countries, representing telecom, digital, and ICT sectors.

The ITU-WTSA event will provide the country with an opportunity to play a key role in shaping the global telecom agenda and also to set the course for future technologies. A lot of Indian startups and research institutions are likely to be set to get critical insights on developing Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and Patents.

The India Mobile Congress 2024 will showcase India's innovation ecosystem, where leading telecom companies and innovators will highlight advancements in Quantum technology and Circular Economy.

The India Mobile Congress is Asia's largest digital technology forum and provides a platform for participating members to showcase innovative solutions, services and state-of-the-art use cases for industry, government, academics, and startups.

More than 400 exhibitors, and about 900 startups from more than 120 countries are likely to showcase their offerings and products. The event also aims to showcase more than 900 technology use case scenarios, and host more than 100 sessions and discussions with over 600 global and Indian speakers.