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ITU was deeply honoured to have Mexico’s
President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa open our 18th
Plenipotentiary Conference, held in Guadalajara, the
“Pearl of the West” and one of the country’s foremost
cultural centres. We greatly appreciate his support.
We also thank the Governor of the State of Jalisco,
Emilio González Márquez, for the wonderful hospitality
shown to ITU and to our membership. Jalisco is
famous as Mexico’s Silicon Valley. It is home to many
global companies in information and communication
technologies (ICT), and is therefore the perfect venue
for ITU’s Plenipotentiary Conference.
It is with great pleasure that I write to you all,
following my re-election in Guadalajara for a second
four-year term as ITU Secretary-General. I thank our
Member States, once again, for placing their confi-
dence in me, and I feel deeply moved that they have
chosen to allow me to lead the Union for the next
four years.
Along with 192 Member States, ITU’s membership
includes around 700 private-sector companies and
Associates, as well as national, regional and international
bodies that have an interest in information and
communication technologies (ICT). I am pleased to announce
that Timor-Leste is the Union’s 192nd Member
State, effective from 24 August 2010, and will participate
for the first time in the Plenipotentiary Conference.
Since I took office, at the beginning of 2007, the
number of mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide
has almost doubled — to reach an extraordinary
five billion subscriptions. The number of Internet users
has also come close to doubling in the same period,
so that today around two billion people have
access to the Internet. And by the end of the year
we expect there to be 900 million mobile broadband
subscriptions.
The success we have achieved over the past four
years is a credit to all our members and to ITU staff.
What we have accomplished is important, but what
truly matters now is how effectively we can work together
to achieve our compelling and critical objectives
in the next four years. These include:
Expanding ICT and broadband infrastructure to all
citizens, especially those living in the most challenging
places (Small Island Developing States,
landlocked countries). A stable, flexible spectrum regime that can support
the technical and commercial dynamism of
this amazing sector. Efficient and collaborative standards leadership
promoting worldwide connectivity and accessibility,
and the ability to rapidly adapt to innovation
and evolving public and consumer needs. A membership empowered by the latest information
and best practices, with continued updating
of our skills. A strong recognition that young people and
women matter — a lot — and must be central to our agenda.
I cannot over-emphasize the importance of the
work undertaken in Guadalajara. The whole future of
the ICT sector — which now influences every other
business sector worldwide, and touches the lives of
almost everyone on the planet — depends on our
Member States being bold and being visionary. It depends
on agreements being reached that will provide
a sound platform not just for the next four years, but
for the decade ahead.
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