A key conference focused at promoting global TV Technology Standards was recently held in India. Delegates and representatives from a number of nations, including Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Congo, Egypt, France, Gambia, Germany, India, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Myanmar, Nepal, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Syria, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Ukraine, and others, attended the meeting, which was organised by the Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The occasion was significant since it was the first time India has hosted ITU-T Study Group 9 (SG-9) in person following the COVID-19 outbreak.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN organisation founded in 1865, works to improve access to Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in underserved areas, facilitate global radio spectrum and satellite orbit allocation, and facilitate international connectivity in communication networks. ITU Study Group 9 (SG9) focuses on new interactive media and telecommunication systems for the dissemination of audiovisual material, including accessibility services.

Avinash Agarwal from TEC, Prof. Rajesh Sundaresan, Dean of the Division of Electrical, Electronics, and Computer Sciences at IISc, Prof. Pradipta Biswas, Vice-Chair of ITU-T SG9, and the TSB team from ITU Geneva were among notable attendees at the meeting’s opening session, which was held at the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering, IISc.

An ITU Workshop on The Future of Television for South Asia, the Arab World, and Africa Regions was held in conjunction with the SG9 summit. The hybrid workshop included discussions on new ICT infrastructures and services, regulatory and legislative frameworks, user interfaces, and human factors. There were almost 200 attendees from over 50 nations, and important speakers included ITU, IISc, and the Indian Ministry of Communications experts. Exalto, Doordarshan, Qualcomm, Exalto, C-DOT, Saankhya Labs, ITI, and three IISc Labs—Center for Networked Intelligence, 5G test bed, and I3D Labs—also provided demos during the event.

The Indian Ministry of Communications and the Indian Institute of Science were thanked for organising the workshop by Seizo Oneo, Director of the ITU’s Telecommunication Standardisation Bureau. Oneo emphasised the debates surrounding upcoming digital broadcasting technologies and the difficulties many nations experienced in making the switch from analogue to digital broadcasting. The ITU workshop aims to close this gap by providing a forum for the exchange of best practises.