The United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU) last week announced that it had signed an agreement with key Asian standards developers aimed at allowing new technologies to come to market more quickly and at a lower cost.The agreement with the Japan-based Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB), the China Communications Standards Association (CCSA), the Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA) of the Republic of Korea and the Telecommunications Technology Committee (TTC) of Japan recognizes ITU as “the pre-eminent global information and communications technology standards body,” the ITU said. “The agreement seeks to smooth the way for regional standards, developed in these four key regional bodies, to be internationally recognized,” according to the agency. “The agreement “will build on the good relationship ITU has built with all four bodies over many years, increase transparency between the organizations, avoid duplication of work and increase efficiency in the publication of standards, all of which means that product manufacturers will be able to more efficiently incorporate globally standardized solutions in their products, leading to greater economies of scale and lower costs to consumers.” The agreement will bring better access for ARIB, CCSA, TTA and TTC to international standards-making activities, allowing all partners to profit from information sharing on the standardization aspects of nascent technologies. The deal will also encourage the identification of topics for joint work programmes to avoid duplication, ITU added. Hamadoun Touré, ITU Secretary-General, said: “China, Japan and Korea have been at the forefront of the development of many of the technologies that underpin the information society. At the same time, all three countries have shown a commitment to the development of the international standards that provide the interoperability needed to seamlessly connect the world. This agreement cements the relationship between ITU and four premier standards organizations in the region.” BM/UN
