Plenary sessions will tackle topics key to future of Americas region

As technologies such as broadband, Voice-over-IP (VoIP) and advanced wireless gain ground fast across the Americas region, they bring with them not only improvements in access to information and communication technologies (ICTs), but a range of new challenges for operators and regulators alike. 

The key factors critical to ICT development across the entire Americas region and beyond will be addressed by leading speakers from across the industry at the “Plenary” sessions at the forthcoming ITU TELECOM AMERICAS Forum (3-6 October, Salvador da Bahia, Brazil).

A key component of all ITU TELECOM events, the Forum brings together world class speakers from government, the private sector, civil society and the academic community to tackle the issues that will shape future ICT development. This year’s programme promises much lively debate, with keynote presenters and panelists from leading equipment manufacturers such as China’s ZTE, industry bodies like the UMTS Forum, operators such as Telefónica, regulators including Mexico’s COFETEL and Germany’s RegTP, and civil society groups including the UN Working Group on Internet Governance.

“The theme of this year’s ITU TELECOM AMERICAS Forum is Moving to a Latin Beat,” says Tim Kelly, Head, ITU TELECOM Forum. “We want to explore the distinctive nature of the region and the development of a Latin American information society”.

Fast track to new opportunities

The Forum’s plenary programme focuses on broad topics impacting all segments of the industry. Broadband Connectivity for All (Plenary 3), for example, will examine how, through deployment of existing and new access technologies, broadband could be extended into rural or remote areas. Participants will debate whether broadband could eventually be considered a universal service — and whether it will be possible to achieve worldwide availability and cost-effective solutions for all users.

In the mobile sphere, the kinds of approaches that have helped boost mobile penetration across the Americas region will be explored at Mobile Americas (Plenary 2). This key session will also look at how new wireless technologies such as WiMax or wireless LAN systems (such as Wi-Fi) could be used to help further extend the reach of ICTs — and possibly even to leapfrog the rollout of traditional fixed line infrastructure. Mobile Americas will also examine some of the regulatory and technical implications for facilitating efficient use of the radio spectrum, and the ways in which the Americas itself is leading other developing regions in terms of wireless development.

Key debates on the industry’s most critical issues

The advent of new technologies such as converged networks pose many challenges for regulators. How, for example, can the transition to these new technologies be handled while ensuring that competition between and among dedicated and converged network based services remains fair? Next Generation Regulation (Plenary 5) will look at how regulators are measuring up to new challenges and opportunities, and how they can help facilitate the introduction of new products and services into their markets. 

With keynote speakers including Mr Jorge Arredondo Martinez, president of Mexico’s COFETEL (Comisión Federal de Telecomunicaciones), Mr Jose Leite Pereira Filho of Brazil’s ANATEL (Agência Nacional deTelecomunicaçóes), and Mr Edwin San Roman, Chairman of the Board of Peru’s OSIPTEL (Organismo Supervisor de Inversión Privada en Telecomunicaciones) and President of the Latin America Telecom Regulators Forum (REGULATEL), this session is sure to stimulate an interesting and highly informative debate.

Plenty of room for regional growth

Policy reform and the rapid uptake of new technologies have done much to help extend the reach of ICTs across the Americas. Nevertheless, with 2003 mobile penetration rates still under 30% in a number of Latin American economies including Brazil, Belize, Bolivia, Columbia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama and Peru, there is clearly still much scope for regional growth.

The Forum’s opening session (Plenary 1) will look at how the Latin American region has been setting and shaping its own ICT future, and examine whether there is a distinctive ‘Latin America’ model for telecommunications development — and, if so, what its most successful aspects might be. What implications, and opportunities, might this model hold for the future?

As the last major ITU TELECOM event to be held before the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which is scheduled take place in Tunis in November 2005, the Forum at ITU TELECOM AMERICAS will also provide an excellent opportunity for timely debate and preparation prior to this important global event. Plenary Sessions 4 and 6 — Who Should Run the Internet, and Building an Inclusive Information Society — both focus on hot issues on the Summit agenda, tackling the complex problem of Internet governance and examining the progress being made in achieving the targets set down during the first phase of WSIS in 2003.

ITU TELECOM AMERICAS Forum Plenary sessions will take place each morning from 4-6 October inclusive. To see the full Forum programme for the ITU TELECOM AMERICAS event, click here.