South Africa is seeking another term on the International Telecommunication Union Council as its delegation takes part in the organisation’s Plenipotentiary Conference in Doha, Qatar.
The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies set out the bid in a statement dated 9 November. It says the conference runs from 9 to 27 November and will elect the ITU’s five officials and Council members.
The Council governs the union between plenipotentiary conferences. South Africa is already a member and is seeking support for re-election, rather than announcing a confirmed new term.
The delegation’s stated priorities include affordable digital access, digital government services, skills, data and cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and inclusion.
It also intends to advocate for developing countries’ needs in the ITU’s programmes and resource allocation, including improved broadband connectivity and equitable access to spectrum and satellite-orbital resources.
The official statement describes South Africa’s negotiating priorities and candidature. It does not establish an election outcome or promise a particular change in domestic data prices.
Thematic digital-access archive: the computer lab at Cape Town Central Library on 29 August 2025, not the Doha conference or its delegates. No identity or affiliation is assigned to the people pictured. Photo: Derek J Moore / Wikimedia Commons. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Computer_Lab_-_Cape_town_Central_Library.jpg . Licence: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Cropped and resized for display.
