It is quite common that instead of regular call signs abbreviations of the stations' names are used (e.g. ARD, RTL in Germany, ORF in Austria, BBC and ITV in the United Kingdom, TF1 in France, etc.).
In Russia, call signs are used to identify about 34,000 licensed amateur radio operators and are regulated internationally by the ITU as well as nationally by Ministry of Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation.
[1] In the United Kingdom, call signs are used to identify 60,000 ham radio licensed operators and are managed by 'The Office of Communication', known as Ofcom.
[4] The International Telecommunication Union has assigned Ireland the EIA–EJZ call sign block for all radio communication, broadcasting or transmission.
Automatic stations (e.g. repeaters) are issued call signs with the separating numeral identifying the band on which it works and the last letter indicating the type of transmission.