The Government explains that the UN’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU) allocates global spectrum and satellite orbits, which enable everyday technologies to function. It also develops the technical telecommunication standards used by these information and communication technologies (ICTs) across the world.

The Government says that being a member of the ITU’s governing council would “bolster the UK’s efforts to support the ITU’s mission to ‘connect the world’ and tackle some of the biggest issues affecting the telecoms, tech and space sectors”. These include the growing demand for radio spectrum and closing the global digital divide by widening access to ICTs.

The UK has been an active member of the ITU for more than 150 years but, John Wittingdale MP said, “now we are running for a seat at the council so that we can champion the innovation of tomorrow across the globe and use it to tackle the world’s biggest challenges”.

The election will take place in the first week of the ITU’s Plenipotentiary Conference at the end of September 2022, and the UK will launch its manifesto later this year. To read the Government’s press release in full, click here.