Timor-Leste

Thank you Mr. Chairman Distinguished Delegates, 

Firstly, I would like to express our gratitude to the Government and the people of Romania for their warm welcome and the hospitality they extended to us since we landed in Bucharest for this conference. 

I am honored to address this conference on behalf of the Government of Timor-Leste to affirm our aspirations for a better digital future for everyone. 

Distinguished Delegates, 

Timor-Leste joined the ITU just twelve years ago in 2010 at the PP in Guadalajara, Mexico. In this short period of time, we have learned that for Timor-Leste to be successful in the new century, digital connectivity is more than just an enabler; it is a requisite for our country to participate meaningfully in the new economy; hence, we have embraced the view that building a sound digital infrastructure for Timor-Leste is a necessary precondition for raising the living standards of our people. 

In that spirit, I am glad to inform you that Timor-Leste has made progress in building its telecommunications networks and services to connect the 1.3 million people in our country one to another and to the world. 

More specifically, the aggregate International bandwidth of Timor-Leste has grown from 150 Mbps in 2010 to over 30 Gbps this year. This number will rise further and in rapid pace to multiple hundreds of gigabit per second as early as 2024 once we complete the construction of our first International submarine cable system. 

I am also pleased to inform you that we have had a functioning market vibrantly contested by 3 International mobile service providers since 2012. The mobile network coverage in Timor-Leste has exceeded 96 percent of our population areas since 2015. Indeed, our youth are already on social media platforms, from Instagram to TikTok, using 4G data services that are accessible in all municipality towns across the country. 

Distinguished Delegates, 

Each of the modest achievements mentioned were realized with the technical assistance meaningfully and generously extended to us by the ITU and individually by several member states. 

I would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to the Secretary General of ITU, His Excellency Mr. Houlin Zhao; to the previous and current Directors of the Telecommunications Development Bereau and to the ITU Regional Office in Bangkok and its Area Office in Jakarta. 

I would also like to thank the Administrations of Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Indonesia and Portugal along with other distinguished members of the ASEAN and the CPLP communities. 

Distinguished Delegates, 

Looking forward, we aspire for a digitally connected economy where all countries can work collaboratively to achieve progress in their journey of development. 

In Timor-Leste, we will continue to redouble our efforts to extend digital infrastructure; to connect those who are not yet connected, most especially the students and faculty members in our schools and universities; to raise the digital literacy of our population and to strengthen our capacity to manage and reduce cyber security risks. 

Distinguished Delegates, 

As we prepare ourselves to increasingly integrate our economy and people with the ever connected digital world of our time, we have high hopes that this conference will produce outcomes that live up to its theme, namely to connect and unite. 

Timor-Leste trusts that it can count on the wisdom and collegiality of the ITU, the virtues the ITU membership have carefully nurtured throughout the past 157 years, to ensure that we will build a better digital future that will connect and unite us all, large and small. 

Thank you.