World Satellite Business Week: Satellite Connectivity as a Catalyst for Global Digital Inclusion
Keynote
ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Paris, France
11 September 2023
Good morning, everyone.
I am so happy to be here. I think this is a first for ITU.
And what a year this has been for this industry.
Congratulations!
The year 2022 alone saw more satellite launches than any year before — and the trend is exponential − with about 50 satellites taking to the skies on average every week.
Some of you may know when I started my career some 30 years ago in the US Government and international satellite systems were in my portfolio, I remember well the efforts of PanAmSat (and its CEO Rene Anselmo) pushing for more competition in international satellite systems, as well as the early filings of Iridium, Teledesic, and others.
The industry has certainly changed since then.
As Secretary-General of the international Telecommunication Union (ITU), I am so proud to be a critical part of this ecosystem.
Over 60 companies from the space and satellite industry are members of our organization.
And we believe that satellite connectivity holds the promise of increasing global digital inclusion.
This is something that is central to ITU's mission, and that's a big part of why I'm excited to be here today.
While connecting the world requires a mix of technologies, satellite broadband is sometimes the only option for rural and remote communities to get online.
That makes it a potential game changer for the unconnected — as well as those who can't afford to stay online, even if they live in an area with coverage.
In Africa, for example, some pay more than 15% of their income for fixed broadband.
That's nearly five times the global average, and well above the Broadband Commission's affordability target of 2% of monthly gross national income per capita.
These disparities in price — but also in quality and access — are exacerbating economic inequalities and undermining the digital future of an entire continent.
This industry has a vital role to play in scaling connectivity not only in African countries, Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries, but also in underserved areas of developed countries — on land, sea and air.
A week from today, world leaders will convene in New York City for the 2023 SDG Summit. We are at the midpoint, halfway to 2030 – or as some say, it's half time – and the SDGs are in peril.
We firmly believe that space-based connectivity can help achieve the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — together with other satellite applications — as 40% of the SDGs are relying on Earth observation and global navigation satellite systems.
In the face of increasing and devastating climate disasters, satellites also benefit UN initiatives like Early Warnings for All, which aims to protect everyone on Earth with an early warning system by 2027.
With all these opportunities comes a great deal of complexity — and the obligation to carefully manage the shared resources crucial for your industry and the entire global economy.
I'm talking about the radio-frequency spectrum and associated orbital slots that satellites need to operate.
These finite resources need to be available, reliable, and free from interference for space-based assets to function.
This is where ITU's role is critical.
It was exactly 60 years ago this year that ITU started allocating radio frequencies for outer space activities.
We've been at the forefront of regulating the use of space for communication and other radio-based purposes ever since.
This is done through the Radio Regulations — a legally binding international treaty that ultimately secures your investments by seeking to prevent and eliminate harmful interference between radio systems.
That requires intensive technical studies, consensus-driven standards, and revising the Radio Regulations every few years at our World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC). Not the Rugby World Cup that's taking place right here in France this year.
The next one, WRC-23, is just a few months away — and I'm happy to tell you that we expect more spectrum to be allocated to space services.
The ability of the WRC process to keep up with technical advances, while preserving legal certainty, offers the stable regulatory environment your industry needs to innovate, and governments need to craft effective space policy.
This is part of ITU's commitment (confirmed by the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference (PP)) to the Space2030 Agenda, the UN-led strategy to use space science and technology to address humanity's long-term sustainable development concerns.
With more than 8,000 active satellites orbiting overhead as we speak — helping us to communicate, navigate, do business, monitor our planet, and address climate change − We are also committed to space sustainability (another new resolution of the last ITU PP).
I'm happy to share with you that ITU and ESA (the European Space Agency) have embarked on a cooperation effort on satellite monitoring from low Earth orbit to help with the geolocation and resolution of cases of interference.
More news to come.
Looking ahead, we expect to see even more space-based networks, applications and services that will be competing for spectrum and orbital slots.
And as orbital traffic intensifies, so does the urgency to maintain a safe and clean space environment that protects trillions of dollars' worth of assets.
Together, we must prioritize the sustainability of our shared space environment and resources.
At stake is our progress on bridging the digital divide as we push the boundaries of space innovation − from mining asteroids for precious resources − to creating an interplanetary Internet.
As the only UN agency with private-sector membership, ITU needs you. The world needs you to join us to make connectivity universal, reliable, and sustainable for all of humanity.
No single satellite operator, government, or UN agency can take that on alone.
That's why I'm calling on the satellite industry to join force in the Partner2Connect Digital Coalition led by ITU – a groundbreaking, multi-stakeholder initiative to foster meaningful connectivity and digital transformation globally.
We have mobilized more than 760 pledges worth over 30 billion US dollars so far — and have set the target to reach 100 billion US dollars in pledges by 2026.
You, the satellite community, have a critical role in this effort.
Make a pledge today!
Follow the example of the Global Satellite Operator's Association (GSOA), with their recent P2C pledge to double — through their members' efforts — the number of people connected via satellite communications to at least 500 million globally by 2030.
This could result in over 250 billion US dollars in global socio-economic benefits, in support of the SDGs.
Through initiatives like Partner2Connect and Giga, which aims to connect every school to the Internet, largely through satellites, ITU can help you facilitate deployment, reduce compliance costs, and unlock investment.
We can also help support you (as members) in complying with regulations, coordinating frequency management, and facilitating your participation in technical study groups and standards processes that will define the future of space communications.
Our diverse membership can also help you reach markets where connectivity remains an expensive and persistent — but not an impossible — challenge.
As I mentioned, I caught the satellite communications bug early in my career. And now it's incredible to see that humanity is returning to the Moon.
We all saw what India – having just concluded the G20, which also had a large focus on the space economy guided by the overarching theme of "One Earth, One Space, and One Future" – has done with its successful Moon landing a couple of weeks ago, becoming the first nation to land in the southern polar region of the Moon.
It just goes to show what we can achieve when we set our minds to something and bring the latest technology to the table.
When it comes to satellites, not even the sky is the limit.
Together, let's harness their power and potential to create a more inclusive, connected, and sustainable environment on and around Earth — and beyond.
Thank you.
