Next stop Rio: Americas TELECOM 96

The Event

Brazil will be the host country for the most important event on this year's world telecommunications calendar when Americas TELECOM 96 brings the region's decision makers together from June 10-15 at the Riocentro Conference and Exhibition complex.

It will be the third regional event of its kind organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in the Americas: the first also took place in Rio in 1988, followed by Acapulco in 1992. These events have spanned an unprecedented period of change in the development of the region's telecommunications infrastructure - seen as a critical driver of economic resurgence both within nation states and across the continent as a whole.

Americas TELECOM 96 will be the seventeenth in the series of prestigious events organized around the world by the ITU since 1971. The Exhibition and the Forum guarantee an unmatched overview of current technology, a glimpse of tomorrow from speakers of worldwide prominence, and a high-level exchange of ideas on strategic and policy issues.

Above all, TELECOM events have a unique track record as a meeting place for governments, industry, operators, investors and others with a stake in the future of the telecommunications sector.

The event is timely, and is already attracting strong interest from around the world. The success of the two previous Americas TELECOMS reflected latent demand for services in the region. Since then, deregulation and advances in mobile communications, multimedia and other key technologies have created new opportunities for suppliers to aim higher and move more boldly towards model telecommunications infrastructures for the 21st century.

The location, too, is appropriate. The invitation of the Brazilian government to return to Rio in 1996 will bring delegates from around the world to a country which in many ways embodies both the challenges of modernization and social and economic development that face the region as a whole - and its enormous potential for the future. The return of Americas TELECOM to Rio is a measure of the importance the Brazilian government places in telecommunications as a means of realising that potential.

Americas TELECOM 96 is where the world's technology and the needs of the region's 560 million people converge - the next stop on the journey to an exciting telecommunications future.

The Americas Reach for the Future

The Region

In the year leading up to Americas TELECOM 96, Central and South American countries will install over one million new telephone lines and offer new cellular service to another million new subscribers. The first all-digital telephone network will be commissioned. Some consumers will gain access to digital television and digital cellular radio. Business will gain from new services in a global trading environment where split seconds count.

Throughout the region, telecommunications is changing the way people live, think and work. Investor confidence is growing as nations shake off the political shackles and uncertainties of the past and seek the benefits of market-driven economies and international trade.

Pent-up demand Telecommunications is crucial to the next stages of development. Americas TELECOM 96 will focus attention on the challenges and opportunities this brings. The contrast between north and south of the continent remains stark. The teledensity (lines per 100 people) of the United States is over eight times the average for Central and South America where, in some countries, fewer than 10% of the population have access to basic services.

There is enormous pent-up demand from consumers and business for new services, greater efficiency and lower cost. International networking and traffic needs have risen sharply, and the emergence of vigorous trading blocs within the Americas is straining regional interconnections. Network growth is surging ahead at over 10% per annum to meet this demand. Industry estimates suggest upwards of $10 billion of external investment was channelled into regional infrastructure developments in 1994.

Central and South America are now high on the agenda of most global manufacturers and service suppliers, and telecommunications is equally high on the agenda of most of the region's governments. Some are beginning to overturn generations of state control and take a wider view of the future. Privatisation and some partial deregulation are opening the region to competition and outside investment.

The process of liberalization may have come later, but it is taking root fast. Governments recognize the critical importance of telecommunications to socio-economic development, and because infrastructure and investment has been limited in the past, there are opportunities to leap-frog ahead - in particular, through the development of cellular networks, access to multimedia via satellite and cable, and the growth of services such as Internet. Sophisticated cellular-based networks in smaller Caribbean markets point the way.

Commercial interest is running high: with growth slowing in home markets, North American and European telecommunications suppliers are particularly interested in developing their stakes.

Open markets

While this convergence of technology and national and commercial interests looks set to ensure that the region remains a hot spot on the global telecommunications map well into the next century, there are considerable variances by country.

Chile, widely recognized as one of the leaders in privatization and deregulation, now has one of the most liberal telecommunications systems in the world, with consumers and business reaping the benefit of low cost service. Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela have also privatized all or part of their national networks.

The issues involved are nevertheless complex. In some cases, wider access to telecommunications must take priority over the benefits of open markets, at least in the short term. Brazil, with a fast-growing economy and strong trade surplus, is investing heavily to this end. It has increased the number of available lines from 10 to over 15 million since the early 90s, and significantly improved the quality of service to both business and private users.

Telecommunications has a key role to play in shaping the future competitiveness of countries like Brazil and narrowing the gap between north and south, but the necessary infrastructure doesn't come cheaply.

A unique contribution

In an ideal world, capital flows to where the returns are potentially greatest. In the real world, nationalism, restrictive practices, lack of investor confidence and other road blocks inhibit this process. And while the economic prospects for Central and South America look better today than they have done for a generation, there is still risk and fragility.

Part of the ITU mission is to help overcome such obstacles. The two previous Americas TELECOMS made an important contribution to the development of the regional telecommunications market. The next one promises even more. It's a unique occasion for the telecommunications world to identify opportunities and make high level contacts that will benefit the industry, local economies and ultimately enrich the lives of millions of people.

No one with a serious interest in the region can afford to miss it.