The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) will convene its 2026 Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-26) in Doha, Qatar, from November 9 to 27, 2026, bringing together representatives of Member States to determine the organisation’s strategic direction and priorities for the next four years.
The conference, which will take place at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center, is the ITU’s highest policy-making body and is held every four years. It is expected to make decisions that will shape international cooperation on telecommunications and digital technologies, including the ITU’s strategic and financial priorities for the 2028–2031 period.
The ITU describes PP-26 as a key event at which its 194 Member States determine the future role of the UN specialised agency responsible for issues ranging from global telecommunications standards and radio-frequency coordination to digital development and connectivity.
A major feature of the conference will be the election of the ITU’s senior leadership for the 2027–2030 term. Member States will elect the Secretary-General, Deputy Secretary-General, and Directors of the Radiocommunication, Telecommunication Standardization, and Telecommunication Development Bureaux. They will also elect the 48 Member States that will constitute the next ITU Council and the 12 members of the Radio Regulations Board.
The ITU has identified Ahmad Abdulla AlMuslemani, President of Qatar’s Communications Regulatory Authority, as the Chair-designate of PP-26, while the formal election of the Conference Chair will take place at the inaugural plenary session.
The election process is scheduled to begin during the first week of the conference, with elections for the Secretary-General, Deputy Secretary-General, and the Directors of the three ITU Bureaux.
Beyond the leadership elections, Member States will consider and adopt the organisation’s strategic and financial roadmap for the next four-year cycle.
The decisions taken at PP-26 will therefore influence how the ITU approaches global connectivity, telecommunications development, technical standards, radio-frequency and satellite-orbit coordination, and other aspects of the international digital ecosystem.
The conference will also consider possible amendments to the ITU’s basic legal and institutional instruments, including its Constitution and Convention and other governing texts.
African countries are participating in a regional preparatory process coordinated through the African Telecommunications Union (ATU). The ITU records that Africa held its first preparatory meeting for PP-26 in Namibia in July 2024, followed by a second African preparatory meeting in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, from May 27 to 29, 2026. A third and final African preparatory meeting was scheduled for September 15 to 17, 2026.
The regional preparatory process is significant because African countries will have an opportunity to coordinate positions on issues affecting the continent’s digital development and its participation in global telecommunications and technology governance.
For countries such as Nigeria, the conference provides an international forum for engaging with questions concerning connectivity, digital inclusion, telecommunications regulation, emerging technologies, cybersecurity, standards and the broader governance of the digital environment.
Nigeria also has a particularly prominent institutional connection to the 2026 ITU process as the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, is serving as Chair of the ITU Council for 2026, which provides Nigeria with a leadership role in the organisation’s work in the period leading up to PP-26.
The ITU’s work encompasses the coordination of radio frequencies and satellite orbits, development of telecommunications standards, and promotion of worldwide telecommunications development.
Its membership includes 194 Member States and more than 1,000 Sector Members, including companies, universities, research institutions, and regional and international organisations.
The conference’s decisions will consequently have implications beyond traditional telecommunications policy, particularly as governments and other stakeholders address artificial intelligence (AI), digital infrastructure, cybersecurity, data-intensive technologies, and the continuing digital divide.
The ITU reported earlier this year that 2.2 billion people remained offline, underscoring the continuing challenge of achieving universal and meaningful connectivity.
The substantive work of PP-26 will be based largely on proposals submitted by ITU Member States.
According to the ITU, Member States were entitled to submit proposals to the conference, with March 9, 2026, set as the deadline for proposals to amend the Constitution and Convention and July 9, 2026, as the deadline for other proposals. Meanwhile, October 19, 2026, is the firm deadline for contributions.
The conference will operate on a paperless basis, with documents made available electronically through the PP-26 website and related ITU systems.
The outcome of PP-26 is expected to establish the institutional, policy, and financial framework for the ITU’s work through the next four-year cycle.
The conference will be preceded by the final meeting of the 2026 ITU Council session on November 7, followed by an informal meeting of Heads of Delegation on November 8. The formal opening, election of the Conference Chair, and first plenary meeting are scheduled for November 9.
