Summary

  • Europe proposes rewriting ITU Resolution 203 around advanced broadband and IMT-2030, with the Secretary-General and all three Bureaux coordinating work against the ITU-R framework.
  • Radio specifications, non-radio standards and country capacity building get distinct assignments; national governments still decide deployment, spectrum access and affordable service policy.

There is no single office marked “6G” at the ITU. Europe’s proposed rewrite of Resolution 203 makes that a virtue. Filed as addendum 40 to contribution 75, it would put IMT-2030 into the Union’s broadband mandate and give its three Bureaux different parts of the job. ITU-R carries the radio framework; ITU-T handles the non-radio standards effort with other standards bodies; ITU-D helps countries build the capacity for national network strategies.

The 2022 Resolution 203 already recognised fixed and mobile, terrestrial and satellite connections. It called for affordable access, spectrum where appropriate and help for underserved places. It also told ITU-D to work with its radio and standards counterparts on capacity building within existing budget constraints. The 2026 text sharpens the assignments. It renames the resolution around advanced broadband networks and asks the Secretary-General and the three directors to coordinate IMT-2030 work with industry, academia and standards organisations.

ITU describes IMT-2030 as 6G. Its radio framework is already published; the European proposal asks related ITU work to take that framework into account. One instruction is unusually practical: ITU-T should cooperate on non-radio aspects and minimise duplicate standards work. ITU-D should help countries plan advanced networks while respecting the Union’s existing budget constraints. Member States are invited to support affordable deployment and a global approach to IMT-2030, including routes to remote areas through terrestrial and satellite connectivity.

PP-26 will decide the wording in November. The useful test after that will be whether the three desks produce compatible work that a country can turn into a national strategy. A new generation number looks neat on a slide; a radio interface, a working back end and a place that can actually afford service take more than one slide.

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