New trends and their implications for users will be explored in Forum “Business” sessions

With new digital services and applications such as “triple play” broadband and next generation wireless increasingly part of mainstream offerings, service providers face the challenge of developing new products, services and pricing paradigms that combine competitiveness with profitability.

The “Business” sessions at the forthcoming ITU TELECOM AMERICAS Forum (3-6 October, Salvador da Bahia, Brazil) will look at key growth areas in the Americas region, how regulators and service providers are dealing with new technologies and applications, and how users are reacting to new technological innovations.

Session B1 Focusing on Users will address the ways in which emerging technologies such as Ubiquitous Networking will impact on the lives of users, as well as examining how service providers can best understand user needs when creating new products and services.

So-called “triple play” broadband enables the delivery of voice telephony, video entertainment and data services over the same network and/or by the same service provider. But just how relevant are such services to a developing region like Latin America, where fixed line penetration varies markedly from country to country? Which countries of the region are most likely to be ready for triple play, what will be the “killer applications” for these kinds of services — how can they best be regulated to maximize competition? Session B2 Triple Play, Triple Power? will look at these and other critical issues, featuring panelists from major players including Microsoft and China’s ZTE.

As new wireless services such as IMT-2000, WiFi and Ultra Wideband become increasingly popular, the need to effectively manage spectrum requirements also becomes ever more critical. ITU TELECOM AMERICAS Forum session B5 The Changing face of Spectrum Management will consider whether spectrum allocation practices need to be re-evaluated in the face of a plethora of new technologies vying for radio frequencies. Is it necessary to allocate dedicated fixed spectrum bands for specific services — or should countries should consider allowing secondary spectrum trading, such as is already as practiced in Guatemala?

With mobile use in the region skyrocketing (mobile penetration levels in Brazil and Mexico more than doubled since the last ITU TELECOM AMERICAS event in 2000), the challenge of creating innovative content to satisfy users on a local as well as a global level has become a pressing issue for content providers. While users value local content, creating services that reflect cultural and linguistic differences requires significant levels of investment. Forum session B6, Tackling the Challenges of Content Creation, will address these issues and look at how a distinctive “Latin Beat” is being expressed through regional content production.

Digital inclusion

As the last major ITU event to be held before the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)— set to take place in Tunis in November 2005 — the Forum at ITU TELECOM AMERICAS will provide an opportunity for timely debate and preparations prior to the Summit. Forum session B3 Digital Inclusion will focus on one of the issues central to WSIS 2005 debates. Despite rapid growth in recent years, ICT penetration across Latin America still falls far short of that in developed countries. Fixed line penetration in 2003 was only 10% in Honduras and 12% in Nicaragua — a clear indicator that there is still a long way to go if services like the Internet are to reach a substantial proportion of the population.

Digital Inclusion will examine the kinds of strategies best-suited to extending the reach of ICTs in the region, and the types of infrastructure that can most effectively promote affordable access.

The ITU TELECOM AMERICAS Forum Business sessions will be held each afternoon during the ITU TELECOM AMERICAS event. Click here to see the full Forum programme.