Can we count on digital networks? Why resilience matters.
Throughout 2025, the International Telecommunications Union celebrates its 160th anniversary.
This blog about digital resilience is part of a series for International Geneva examining ITU’s contribution to pressing global issues, set in a city with a long tradition of multilateral cooperation.
Imagine a world with meaningful connectivity for everyone. That means more than extending Internet services to every part of globe. It also means ensuring resilience – so that networks can withstand challenges ranging from earthquakes to cyberattacks to simple human error.
Many people protect the data in our daily lives so that it flows, uninterrupted.
You may not realize just how much the UN agency for digital technologies – the International Telecommunication Union – works behind Geneva’s virtual curtain to foster digital resilience with partners around the globe.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the work behind digital resilience.
Digital backbone: Submarine cables
Today, submarine telecommunication cables carry over 99% of the world’s international data traffic. There is a great deal of cooperation needed to protect these cables – whether from fishing accidents, anchor dragging or even geological events. This is trickier than it sounds, since there is a patchwork of more than 500 networks in operation.
ITU has helped to make submarine cable standards a reality for well over a century, soon after the first cables were laid beneath the sea.
This matters more than ever in a digital age. The new International Advisory Body for Submarine Cable Resilience, created in November 2024, is stepping up submarine cable resilience. ITU joined forces with the International Cable Protection Committee, the leading industry body promoting submarine cable protection, to create this body.
The 42 members include government ministers, heads of regulatory authorities, industry executives, and senior cable operations experts. From small island states to major economies, they bring unique insights. Their advice influences public-private collaboration behind the scenes to address agreed priorities: cable maintenance, damage prevention, recovery times after disruption and sustainable practices.
Lifesaving alerts: Early warnings for all
As countries face the realities of climate change, digital technologies help protect people from disasters and save lives. Digital components, including mobile networks, are essential to send timely disaster alerts to reach people at risk.
The Geneva community sings from the same song sheet, leading the UN Secretary-General’s Early Warnings for All initiative. ITU – working alongside the World Meteorological Organization, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies – leads on Warning Dissemination and Communication with regional and national telecommunications bodies around the world.
As the custodian of the world’s radio frequency spectrum, ITU safeguards the frequencies to gather environmental and climate data. Broadcasting and mobile networks, coordinated through ITU, deliver emergency alerts via radio, television, and mobile devices. Thanks to ITU standards and regulatory frameworks, high frequency and very high frequency emergency radio networks take the stage during disasters, when traditional infrastructure cannot.
Resilience: Investing in people
A basic fact: in high-income countries, 93% of people are online. In low-income countries, only 27% of people are online. Resilient economies can depend on resilient digital infrastructure.
Industry commitments
ITU’s Digital Infrastructure Investment Initiative, co-led with seven development finance institutions, aims to close a USD 1.6 trillion digital infrastructure investment gap to help connect everyone meaningfully by 2030.
Meanwhile, the ITU-led Partner2Connect (P2C) Digital Coalition has reached over US $73 billion worth of industry commitments for universal, meaningful connectivity. The latest pledges reflect momentum among mobile and satellite companies to bridge the digital divide.
Listening to youth
Physical location is not the only divide. Young people are critical for digital resilience. Worldwide, 79% of people aged 15 to 24 use the Internet, 13 percentage points more than among the rest of the population. While youth are digital natives, only 43% of young people are online in low-income countries.
ITU gives youth a voice in the world’s digital future. ITU engages global youth, encourages their participation as equal partners alongside the leaders of today’s digital change, and empowers young people with skills and opportunities to advance their vision of a connected future.
Among their priorities? Technologies for digital education and employment searches, digital skills in a shifting landscape, youth digital entrepreneurship, green technology, and – importantly – regulatory frameworks that boost connectivity, confidence and trust in technologies.
Including women and girls
Women, too, feel the digital divide. Of the 2.6 billion unconnected people, most are women and girls. Like youth, they suffer from access and skill gaps. But they are less likely to study science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, so they also have leadership and digital entrepreneurship gaps.
Women have attained leadership positions throughout ITU, and in 2023, Doreen Bogdan-Martin was elected as Secretary-General, the first woman to hold the position. We now have more women in D2 executive level positions then men.
The ITU-led International Girls in ICT Day encourages girls and young women to consider STEM studies and careers – and shape digital resilience. Looking to make a practical difference? Check this toolkit with guidelines and inspirational cases to raise STEM awareness among women and girls.
The ITU160 Gender Champions initiative – launched for ITU’s 160th Anniversary to promote gender equality in digital transformation – recognizes and supports young women who contribute to digital development and transformation. With support from the Government of Canada, the initiative is enabling 10 young women leaders (ages 18–25) to share their work, engage with global stakeholders and help shape the future of digital connectivity at high-profile ITU conferences this year.
Remember the Northern Lights over Lake Geneva?In May 2024, people in the Geneva area got an exceptional glimpse of the Northern Lights. The aurora lights, triggered by intense solar activity, were visible from many places in Switzerland, as well as further south. Digital networks escaped unscathed, this time. But solar storms can trigger major disruptions, and our world has experienced its share of near misses. A solar-induced radar blackout in 1967 set off military alerts of a nuclear attack. Another solar storm caused a nine-hour blackout in Quebec back in 1989. The largest solar storm ever recorded took place in 1859, triggering auroras in the tropics. New Yorkers read their evening papers by the bright night sky, while gold miners in the Rockies made breakfast at 1 am, mistaking the Northern Lights for a cloudy morning. But the storm triggered more than the scenic event of a lifetime. Telegraphists reported sparks and fires, and transcontinental communication lines became inoperable. Today, a similar storm could devastate our vastly more connected world. It could trigger long-term power outages, widespread communication failures, and trillion-dollar losses. The British TV series COBRA, premiering in February 2020, featured a fictional solar storm setting off massive social and political unrest. Digital resilience is a shared task. From national emergency telecom plans to cyberdrills, early warning tests, submarine cable tests and more, we need to act together to build digital awareness, improve digital skills and protect digital infrastructure. |