Keynote
Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Good afternoon, everyone.
What an honour to celebrate the stellar achievements of the satellite industry here with you.
Let me start by congratulating all the nominees of the Via Satellite Magazine Annual Awards, as well as those in the Startup Space 2024 competition.
As Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union, I am so proud to be part of such an innovative and vibrant ecosystem.
ITU is a United Nations (UN) agency that focuses on radiocommunication, standardization and digital development.
Everything that makes global communication possible.
We are also the only UN agency in which the private sector participates actively in its work.
And I'm thrilled to share that, in addition to 193 Member States, we've just passed the milestone of a thousand Sector Members.
Many of them include satellite operators, new space companies, from established firms, to start-ups, as well as regulatory bodies and space agencies.
All these innovators contribute to ITU's mission to connect the world.
That's a big part of why I'm so excited to be here today.
Another reason is that I've been fascinated by space ever since I was little.
I watched the Apollo missions in awe − and caught the tech bug early.
Some of you may know my career began some 30 years ago as a US Government official in the Commerce Department.
International satellite systems were part of my portfolio back then, when satellites were still largely the domain of governments.
I remember well the efforts of PanAmSat in pushing for more competition, as well as the early filings of Iridium, Teledesic, and others.
ITU's role in the space and satellite industry stretches back even further.
We began allocating radio frequencies for space activities 60 years ago – not long after Sputnik-1 was launched in 1957.
Even part of the Moon is protected from radio-frequency interference − thanks to a visionary ITU decision taken in 1971.
It probably sounded like something out of sci-fi at the time.
- And yet, five decades and 77 successful lunar missions later, the ITU-maintained Radio Regulations continue to safeguard that lunar zone: for radioastronomy; for critical space research; and for humanity's return to the Moon that is just on the horizon.
Still, the satellite industry has changed so much since those Sputnik days.
Space is more accessible than ever — no longer dominated by government agencies alone.
Hundreds of private companies are developing space projects.
Operators from 91 countries have put satellites in orbit in just two decades, propelling them from niche applications to critical global infrastructure – especially for broadband connectivity.
There are now a whopping 7 billion satellite-enabled smartphones in use around the world.
And as devastating climate disasters become more frequent, satellites are contributing to UN initiatives like Early Warnings for All, which aims to protect everyone on Earth with an early warning system by 2027.
I'm proud that ITU leads the Communication and Dissemination pillar of this initiative, which involves making sure those alerts and warnings reach everyone, especially those communities most at risk.
Our Common Alerting Protocol enables us to scale the dissemination of warnings through multiple communication channels, including satellite direct broadcast.
And of course, satellites are key in the detection, monitoring, analysis and forecasting of hazards.
In fact, at least 40 per cent of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals rely on: Earth observation, remote sensing, and global navigation satellite systems.
I've just returned from the G7 meeting in Italy last week, where Digital Ministers also recognized the vital importance of satellite constellations, highlighting their ability to advance ecosystem resilience while providing essential services, including global, uninterrupted broadband connectivity.
Now, with all these opportunities comes a great deal of complexity − and no shortage of challenges.
Chief among them is the long-term sustainability of spectrum and orbital resources, which require careful coordination and management for this industry and the entire global economy to function.
And that's exactly where ITU comes in.
The entire space ecosystem is underpinned by ITU standards and regulations.
We're responsible for coordinating radio frequency spectrum on Earth and in space, and we help coordinate positions in the geostationary orbit.
This is done through an international treaty that ultimately secures your investments, by seeking to prevent − and eliminate − harmful interference between radio systems.
The outcomes of our World Radiocommunication Conference — held just three months ago in Dubai — directly, and I think positively impact how satellite business is conducted globally.
Key WRC-23 decisions include: the allocation of more spectrum to space services; additional protections for space research and Earth exploration; a more stable and transparent regulatory framework for space services; and forward-looking studies that include inter-satellite links, low-orbiting constellations, lunar communications and other novel applications.
And just before WRC-23, the Radiocommunication Assembly adopted a specific resolution on ITU's role in space sustainability.
We've already begun to collect disposal strategies and methodologies for non-geostationary satellites, and have set up a dedicated portal to ensure best practices are shared widely.
Satellite operators, manufacturers, launch providers and other space stakeholders are all encouraged to share their deorbit strategies and plans with ITU so that they can be considered in our study groups.
World Radiocommunication Conference delegates also agreed on the agenda for 2027, which I'm excited to tell you is more than 80 per cent space-related.
It includes a visionary new agenda item that will help establish the first generation of lunar communications, and another that will pave the way for the direct-to-device market.
It just goes to show that international cooperation on space communications is more important than ever, whether for multinational or commercial missions.
And ITU is where it's happening every single day.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The space economy is now worth hundreds of billions of dollars — thanks in part to your incredible ingenuity, adaptability, and resilience.
But as this industry advances at the speed of light, digital inclusion is inching forward at a snail's pace.
Even with thousands of satellites orbiting overhead, 2.6 billion people are still unconnected.
The digital divide remains one of the biggest challenges of our time.
It's right up there with climate change and environmental sustainability.
But I'm optimistic, because I know that there's so much this industry has to offer.
Together, we can make our shared space environment more sustainable — while connecting the third of humanity that remains offline.
That's why I'm calling on the satellite industry to join the Partner2Connect Digital Coalition.
This is a groundbreaking, multi-stakeholder, ITU-led initiative to reach the hardest-to-connect places in the world — in this decisive decade.
So far, we've mobilized USD 6 billion.
And at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, USD 9 billion worth of commitments from the mobile industry brought us nearly halfway to our target of USD 100 billion in pledges by 2026.
But we can't reach that ambitious goal without you.
Sometimes, satellite broadband is the only option to get these rural and remote communities online.
ITU is the satellite industry's UN partner.
We're here to support our members: with frequency management; capacity-building; technical studies and standards − that are defining the future of space communications.
I hope you'll join us in our mission to connect the unconnected, to: bring the benefits of digital transformation to everyone, and to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals.
Because not even the sky is the limit to what we can achieve together.
Thank you.
