India re-elected as member of ITU council till 2022

India has been elected as a member of the International Telecommunications Union Council (ITU) for another 4-year term - from 2019 to 2022, the government said Tuesday.

"We are delighted to see India as a member of the ITU Council once again. This is a recognition of the role our country plays in the area of Telecom and ICT on the global stage," Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said in a statement.

The elections to the council were held during the ongoing ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2018 at Dubai, UAE.

India secured 165 votes and ranked third among the 13 countries elected to the council from the Asia-Australasia region, and eighth among the 48 countries elected to the council globally.

The ITU has 193 member states who elect representatives to the council.

The presence of India in the council of global body will help the country have its say at a time when global standards for technology will be freezed and currently work is going on around 5G standards.

India has been an active member of the ITU since 1869, earnestly supporting the development and propagation of telecom in the global community of nations.

The country has been a regular member of the ITU Council since 1952, and has played an important role in harmonising the contributions of member states from the region, always respecting the principles of equality and consensus-building.

"India shares the dream and vision of ITU to realise the world as one nation and knowledge society. Our strong partnership with the ITU is also demonstrated in the recent ITU decision to set up the ITU South Asia Area Office and Technology Innovation Centre in New Delhi. We are on target to have this Centre operational by January, 2019," Sinha said.