TSDSI Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony

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Namaste!

Many thanks to Shri N. G. Subramaniam, Chair TSDSI and Prof NK Goyal, Chairman Emeritus of TEMA and President of CMAI Association of India, for your kind invitation to join this Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony, for your welcome and introduction. 

Let me firstly recognize Shri Ashok Kumar Mittal, Member of the Digital Communications Commission, Dr Rajkumar Upadhyay, Executive Director C-DOT, Ms Pamela Kumar, TSDSI Director General, and the former Chairs of TSDSI - Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Dr Kumar Sivarajan, and Prof Abhay Karandikar.  

Secondly, let me add my congratulations to Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director of IIT Madras, and Shri R.K. Pathak, Deputy Director General of the Department of Telecommunications for their well-deserved Hall of Fame Awards, for having done so much to advance and promote the important work of TSDSI worldwide. I wish them every success as they continue to harness digital technical standards to help make our world a better place. 

I have long been an advocate of the power of international standards to reduce costs through economies of scale, ensure a level playing field, and drive competitiveness - not just for individual businesses, but for the world economy as a whole. Thanks to the “Bridging the Standards Gap” initiative I launched in ITU back in 2008, developing countries now account for the largest share of participants and leadership in ITU’s standardization work. As the world enters its third year of the COVID-19 pandemic there is a greater need than ever before for standards to underpin the global recovery effort and build back better. 

Increased cooperation and collaboration will be very important, between countries, industry sectors, and all relevant stakeholders. ITU and TSDSI can play an important role in this effort, both following a consensus-based approach to standards development that brings together members from government, industry, academia and the research community. 

This common approach has led to a strong and productive relationship between our two organizations. In 2017, for example, TSDSI was instrumental in securing the adoption of ITU’s Low Mobility Large Cell (LMLC) requirement for IMT-2020 which is so important for rural communications. More recently, TSDSI successfully submitted one of the three radio interface technologies contained in ITU’s Recommendation on IMT-2020 specifications (5Gi) —technologies which form the basis for the implementation of 5G networks around the world.

ITU has already started to examine future technology trends for “IMT towards 2030 and beyond” (6G) and we are very pleased to have already had a TSDSI contribution on this. 

I would also like to congratulate TSDSI on its Roadmap 2.0 which is a great mix of contemporary, emerging and futuristic topics. We look forward to this contributing to ITU’s future output.

Through its growing engagement and alliances with various global standards bodies and industry forums, TSDSI has quickly emerged as a highly-respected standards development organization on the international stage. This will facilitate the the development of standards in India, and the promotion of Indian technology around the world. 

This year marks the 75th anniversary of India’s independence. Since then, the country has become a technology powerhouse and I am confident that the upcoming establishment of the ITU South Asian Area Office, and the Technology Innovation Centre, in Delhi will strengthen the role of India, and its standards, in the region and beyond. I very much hope that it will also further increase the strong participation of Indian companies in the standards development activities in ITU.

In closing I wish TSDSI all the success in promoting the development of standards that will serve the needs of people in India, and across the globe, and congratulations again to the new TSDSI Fellows! 

I wish you all a healthy and happy New Year, from me and everyone at ITU!

Thank you.  

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