Revathi Mannepalli elected for Member, RRB at ITU

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs) today completed the elections to the senior management team of the organization for the next four-year period 2023-2026
Revathi Mannepalli, India’s Candidate for Member, Radio Regulations Board (RRB) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) won the elections with the support of 139 countries out 180 countries that voted in these elections. She got the highest number of votes in Region E – Asia and middle east. Candidates from Saudi Arabia and China also won while Indonesia lost the RRB elections.

India also won a seat in the administrative council with 2nd highest votes winning the support of 160 countries. China was the last winner of the 8 seats for Region E with only 135 supporters.

Welcoming the results of the ITU elections, Bharat Bhatia, President IAFI who has been supporting the Indian team in Bucharest, since the opening of the PP-22 last Monday said that the India has won both the seats with overwhelming majority and would contribute more effectively to global spectrum regulations and satellite orbit allocation during the next four year period.

In the run up to these elections, Indian government hosted a dinner reception organized by ITU-APT Foundation of India (IAFI) in Bucharest, Romania on 27th September 2022 for the International delegates attending the conference. The Indian Government delegation which was present included prominent government members of Department of Telecommunication (DoT) such as R Shakya (DDG International Relations) & Ms. Aprajita Sharrma (DDG Budget & Public Enterprise Finance) along with Bharat B Bhatia, President (IAFI) & Ms. Aarush, General Manager (IAFI). The dinner reception was a huge success with more than 500 plus delegates, various IT Ministers and different excellencies who provided with formidable compliments and support in the conference for India’s candidate for the election of Radio Regulation Board.

International Telecommunication Union (ITU) also concluded elections for the organization’s top five management posts, with voting for the Secretary General, the Deputy Secretary General and the three bureau directors responsible for the three main areas of ITU’s work. Ms. Doreen Bogdan-Martin of the USA was elected Secretary-General of the ITU and Tomas Lamanauskas of Lithuania was elected the ITU Deputy Secretary-General. Mario Maniewicz (Uruguay) was re-elected for his second term as Director of ITU’s Radiocommunication Bureau, Seizo Onoe (Japan) was elected as Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Bureau and Cosmas Zavazava (Zimbabwe) was elected Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, each of the five elected officials is set to serve a four-year term starting on 1 January 2023.

CT Bureau