India is a Full Member of the CTO who makes financial contribution to the CTO. Presently there are 33 countries that are Full Members Countries of the CTO and 18 other countries and territories are represented indirectly.
The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization (CTO) was established in 1901. It is an international development partnership between Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth governments, business and civil society organizations. It provides effective means to help bridge the digital divide and achieve social and economic development in the international community, by delivering unique knowledge-sharing programmes to the developing countries in the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the specific areas of Telecommunications, IT, Broadcasting and the Internet. The CTO aims to become the pre-eminent international ICT organization dedicated to promoting social and economic development in the Commonwealth and beyond by helping to bridge the digital divide by initiating the following measures:
Offer the highest quality programmes for capacity development, knowledge sharing and information services to member countries;
Deepen, expand and diversify the partnerships between governments, businesses and other organizations to reduce global poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals for ICT;
Help bridge the digital and knowledge divide especially in the five key sectors of food & agriculture (e-nutrition), education (distance learning), health (telemedicine), e-government and e-commerce;
Facilitate the successful development of telecommunications and other businesses to support social and economic development objectives of governments and civil society.
