 17 June 2015 is the deadline for the transition from analog to digital broadcasting for all countries in Region 1, which is Europe, Africa, CIS countries, and Middle East countries, and Iran. This deadline for switching off analog television broadcasting in the UHF band was set by the ITU member states at the Regional Radio Communication Conference in 2006. As the Specialized Agency of the United Nations dealing with information and communication technologies, including spectrum and satellite orbits, ITU applies the decisions of administrations at World Radio Communication Conferences and Regional Radio Communication Conferences, such as those relating to setting deadlines. In this case, the deadline was agreed by the consensus decisions of all participating member states, that is 120 member states, and ITU has no power at this stage to impose or modify this decision. It is important to say that the process of switching from analog to digital television has been long and complex. In this process, the ITU provides technical and planning assistance to its members, but the implementation lies in the hands of each administration. Some countries which are signatories to do 2006 agreement have already introduced digital television simultaneously with analogs. Others are in the process of doing so. We expect most countries in the region to meet the deadline. The countries that will not be able to implement the deadline will face the following situations. First, they will have an obligation to immediately resolve any harmful interference that may occur into digital television of other countries. And second, they will have no longer protection against harmful interference by these countries. Of course, the digital switchover is not restricted to the countries which are part of the 2006 Geneva agreement, but they are not bound by any deadline for the switching of analog broadcasting. Today, the overarching trend is to go digital. And countries around the world are actively working towards the switch to digital television, which itself creates a domino effect. Digital broadcasting has many advantages. Viewers and users can view a vast variety of additional programs, and they can do so on additional reception modes such as portable TV or even on mobile devices. In addition, there is improved quality of picture and sound, including HDTV, and there is soon ultra HDTV. Finally, there are additional services such as interactivity, electronic program guides that are extremely useful and attractive for the end users. For TV operators and content providers, digital TV offers significant decrease in transmission costs compared to analog. Power costs are reduced, the number of transmitters is also reduced, and this obviously translates in overall network costs reduction. In summary, the investment costs are decreased as one DTT transmitter can broadcast multiple channels or program leading to a substantial reduction of this cost through the sharing of infrastructure. New TV services can be developed without spectrum constraints, and new innovative services can be offered such as mobile TV, data, games, interactivity, voice, and much more. Digital TV is also a boon for regulators. More efficient use of radio spectrum provides the so-called digital dividend, frame a fresh spectrum for use by other services such as mobile broadband, a key and a blur for social and economic development. Digital TV lends itself to fair competition with the development of a terrestrial platform that is competitive for both with both cable and satellite platforms. In parallel, the global harmonization of the use of the 700 and 800 MHz band by the mobile service is progressing well with the adoption in Latin America, Asia and Europe of frequency arrangement which can be used concurrently for both bands in the same terminals. Political wheel and economies of scale are therefore setting the conditions for the rapid, ubiquitous and affordable development of broadband mobile through 3G and 4G IMT networks in developing and developed countries around the world to a large extent through the extensive use of the UHF band. As it has always done, ITU will keep supporting new technologies by promoting best practices in the use of spectrum and introducing new provisions in the regular relations when it is required to enable their development while protecting other services and providing long-term assurance for investments in radio communication systems. Finally, I would like to congratulate the administrations which have successfully switched to digital television broadcasting. As for the others, they can be assured of the continued support of the ITU to carry out this process. I wish all countries a successful transition to digital television broadcasting.