Bangalore, India, November 23, 2012: ITU (International Telecommunication Union), the United Nations’ specialized agency for information and communications technologies, and GISFI (Global ICT Standardization Forum for India) the Indian Standardization body active in the areas of ICT, will hold a joint Workshop on Bridging the Standardization Gap: Sustainable Rural Communications from 17 to 18 December 2012 in Bangalore, India. This event, which will be hosted by GISFI and supported by Huawei India, will be followed by the Eleventh GISFI Standardization Series meetings from 19 to 20 December 2012.

The Bridging Standardization Gap (BSG) programme is a continuation of the ITU’s historic mission and concern about the digital divide and development disparities in information and communication technologies.

Now ITU and GISFI, supported by Huawei, have joined forces to contribute to and influence international ICT standards in the area of sustainable broadband and rural communications.

Malcolm Johnson, Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB), ITU said: “ICTs can be a major enabler for socio economic development and enable countries to create opportunities for the masses living in rural areas. The main objective of the event is to discuss the strategies, emerging technologies and ICT standards which could be enablers in bringing telecommunications systems and broadband Internet to rural areas in a sustainable fashion. The event will also consider innovations in the ICT industry which will play a major role in bridging the broadband gap in rural areas”.

Ramjee Prasad, Founding Chairman of GISFI stated: “The Joint ITU-GISFI Workshop is a strong tool to measure the standards gap in the area of sustainable broadband and rural communications and a platform for reaching consensus on how to build standards capacity while overcoming this gap. Major stakeholders will gather for discussions and collaboration on how to develop case studies of national standards capability and guidelines to help establish standardization policies in line with global international standardization”.

About ITU:

ITU’s role as creator of the world’s most universally-recognized infocommunications standards dates back as far as the organization itself. Since its inception in 1865, the Union has been brokering industry consensus on the technologies and services that form the backbone of the world’s largest, most interconnected man-made system. In 2007 alone, ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) produced over 160 new and revised standards (ITU-T Recommendations), covering everything from core network functionality and broadband to next-generation services like IPTV.  For more information about ITU, visit www.itu.int.

About GISFI:

The Global ICT Standardization Forum for India (GISFI) is an Indian standardization body active in the area of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and related application areas, such as energy, telemedicine, wireless robotics, biotechnology.

GISFI addresses the research and product development of ICT in India and provides a bridge towards the globalization of the Indian achievements; the issues of technology, governance, and development; and a platform for raising an awareness of the importance and the internationalization of the higher education in the field are supported by the joint partnership with the Government of India. The working groups organized in GISFI will draw knowledge from academia, business, civil society, and Government/policy-making circles. For more information about GISFI, visit www.gisfi.org.

About Huawei

Huawei is a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider. Through our dedication to customer-centric innovation and strong partnerships, we have established end-to-end advantages in telecom networks, devices and cloud computing. We are committed to creating maximum value for telecom operators, enterprises and consumers by providing competitive solutions and services. Our products and solutions have been deployed in over 140 countries, serving more than one-third of the world’s population.

Huawei supports mainstream international standards and contributes to the formulation of such standards. Huawei has joined 130 industry standards organizations, such as the 3GPP, IETF, ITU, OMA, ETSI, IEEE, and 3GPP2. Huawei submitted more than 28,000 proposals to these standards organizations and has served as a board member for OMA, CCSA, ETSI, ATIS, and numerous other authoritative organizations in which it holds more than 180 positions.

For more information, visit Huawei online: www.huawei.com. Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/huaweipress and on YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/HuaweiPress.