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                                           Paris, 4 September 1996
                                 
                                 
                   Fifth Satel Conseil Symposium
                     Paris, 4-6 September 1996
                                 
                         Opening Ceremony
                   Remarks by Dr. Pekka Tarjanne
                      Secretary-General, ITU
                                 


Ladies and Gentlemen,

When I think about the purpose of this symposium -- to draw a
picture of telecommunication needs at the dawn of the twenty-first
century -- the first thing that comes to mind is the need to
ensure that people everywhere in the world have access to at least
basic communication services.  This was the goal set for the ITU
by the Maitland Commission in 1984.  Today, it is still our most
important goal as we approach the new millennium.
Quite a bit of progress has been made towards this goal in the
last decade.  There are a number of countries where universal
access to at least basic telephone service is a reality, and has
been for some time.  There are many more countries and regions
that are making good progress towards this goal, particularly in
eastern Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific.  Today,
however, with just a little over three years to go towards our
deadline for achieving universal access, we are still in a
situation where somewhere between half and two-thirds of the
people in the world have never made a phone call.
Of course, the telephone is not the only important
telecommunications tool found in the world.  Today, there are
perhaps twice as many televisions sets in the world as telephones,
and they are much more evenly distributed between developed and
developing countries.  New technologies will make it possible to
turn television into a 2-way, interactive medium, and we should
not ignore this possibility.  However, both telephone and
television systems are limited as communications media when we
compare them to computers, and only an infinitesimal proportion of
the world’s population currently have access to the computers and
systems like the Internet.
What all of this means is that those of us in the communications
business still have a lot of work to do before we can begin to
talk seriously about the “global information infrastructure” --
and to be taken seriously when we talk about the “global
information society” of the twenty-first century.
But we should not be too hard on ourselves.
The second purpose of this symposium is to address the techniques
and resources needed to satisfy mankind’s communication needs, and
to spotlight the role of satellites in this environment.  Here,
there is definitely good news to report.  We are at the beginning
of a revolution in satellite communications, a revolution which
has the potential to make the dream of universal access a reality
in the twenty-first century -- universal access not just to basic
voice and data services, but to a full range of broadband
multimedia services.
These new satellite systems are famous for their acronyms.  Today,
some so-called “Little LEOs” are already in operation, providing
monitoring, paging and low-speed data services.  In the next three
to five years, they will be joined by constellations of their
bigger brothers, the so-called “Big LEOs”, MEOs and HEOs, and the
range of available services will be expanded to include voice, fax
and higher speed data.  In five to ten years’ time, future
generation fixed and mobile satellite systems e.g. Mega-LEO’s will
provide broadband services and what has sometimes been called
“Internet in the sky” services.  And let us not forget the
international and regional satellite systems that are in place
today and already offering many of these services.
Does this mean that there are no real problems that stand in the
way of achieving the goal of universal access, if not exactly by
the first of January in the year 2000, at least not too many years
after that?  I would like to be able to answer this question in
the affirmative; but unfortunately, I cannot do so.
It is clear that the technologies required to achieve universal
access are already here, or soon will be.  What is not so clear is
how they will be implemented.  Unlike previous international
satellite systems, these new “global satellite systems” are mostly
privately owned.  Instead of being regulated through international
agreements between State Parties, they will be licensed and
regulated by each and every country in which they want to operate
and offer their services.  Rather than acting as capacity
wholesalers or “carriers’ carriers”, the services of the new
generation of global satellite operators will be retailed directly
to end users, who will expect to be able to access these services
using small, hand-held or easily transportable terminals wherever
they are, without having to get a licence or pay customs duties
every time they cross a border.
Sorting out the policy and regulatory issues that stand in the way
of implementing global satellite systems is a major challenge for
the ITU -- and our sister organization, the WTO.  Global mobile
personal communications by satellite, or GMPCS, will be the
subject of our first-ever World Telecommunication Policy Forum,
which will be held in Geneva from 21-23 October, this year.
During these three days, we hope it will be possible for ITU
government and private sector members to agree on a cooperative
course of action which will facilitate the early introduction of
global satellite services, and the consequent benefits to mankind.
I hope to see all of you there for what promises to be a most
interesting event.
But even if the regulatory obstacles to the implementation of
global satellite systems can be cleared away, other issues will
surely remain.  Will the services offered by these systems be
affordable for developing countries?  Or will the dream of
universal access continue to remain an unaffordable dream for the
majority of the world’s population?  What will be the impact of
these services on the telecommunications industry?  Are they
complementary to terrestrial networks, as the system operators
claim?  Or will they too be caught up in the increasingly
competitive telecommunications marketplace?  And what will be the
impact of future generation broadband satellite services on
economic, social, cultural and political structures?  Will they
lead us all to the “global village”?  Or reinforce existing
differences between the world’s peoples?
As we look to the future and contemplate the wonders of
technology, we should not forget to think about these basic, human
questions either here today and tomorrow, during the course of
this symposium, or when we return to our offices and go about our
business.  All of us carry a heavy responsibility.  Let us resolve
to act wisely and well, in the long term interests of mankind.

                              *******