ITU teams up with leading Asian standards organizations to bring new technologies to market more quickly and at lower cost

ITU has signed an agreement with key Asian standards developers that will mean new technologies come to market quicker and at lower cost.

Japan’s Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB); China Communications Standardization Association (CCSA); the Republic of Korea’s Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA); and Japan’s Telecommunication Technology Committee (TTC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ITU recognizing ITU as the pre-eminent global ICT standards body.

The agreement seeks to smooth the way for regional standards, developed in these four key regional bodies, to be internationally recognized.

This will enable product manufacturers 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 MoU will also encourage the identification of topics for joint work programmes in order to avoid duplication.

“China, Japan and the Republic of 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”, said ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Touré.

Masayoshi Wakao, Secretary General of ARIB considers that “This MoU presents an enormous range of benefits to the ICT industry.

While our joint efforts will benefit all participating organizations, the real winners will be industry and ultimately consumers.

More efficient and effective global standardization activities will facilitate an open global market for systems, lowering costs and providing for global interoperability.”

Keun-Hyeob Lee, President of TTA also welcomed the MoU as the foundation for further strengthening the relationship among the five organizations.

“TTA believes that this MoU will create the momentum for moving forward with international standardization of newly emerging ICT technologies”, he said.

Yoichi Maeda, CEO of TTC added that the MoU leverages expertise in some of the most technologically innovative minds in the world today. “This is a sign of visionary and constructive thinking”, he commented.