Industry World Leaders to Speak at Telecom 99 + Interactive 99

Geneva, 27 September 1999 — Telecom 99 + Interactive 99, the 8^th World Telecom event being held at Palexpo, Geneva, from 10-17 October 1999, will feature world leaders from the telecoms and IT industries as well as key figures from governments around the globe. They will meet to discuss the issues that will shape the future path of an industry already worth over a trillion dollars in 1998.

The Telecom event is organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a specialized agency of the United Nations and this year’s Forum sessions will present a series of opportunities as broad as the telecommunications field itself, with more than 450 speakers coming from over 80 countries.

High on the agenda this year will be the huge growth and influence of mobile communications and the Internet. "As the third generation mobile systems made possible by the ITU’s work on the
IMT-2000 standard come into use, in the early years of the next decade, we will finally see the dream of anywhere anytime communications come true – for both voice and data," said Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary-General of the ITU.

"But in our excitement over the apparently all-pervasive growth of cellular telephony and the Internet," he continued, "we should not forget that the vast majority of the world’s people do not yet have access to even basic telecommunications services. It is essential not to create a new form of information gap between the world’s richer and poorer countries."

In addition to ITU Secretary-General Yoshio Utsumi, the specialized Forum sessions on October 10 will feature John Roth, Vice Chairman and CEO, Nortel, Louis Gerstner Jnr., Chairman and CEO, IBM, Jichuan Wu, Minister of Information Industry, China, John Manley, Minister of Industry, Canada, Conny Kullman, DG and Chief Executive, Intelsat, Richard McGinn, President and COO, Lucent Technologies, Jun-ichiro Miyazu, President NTT, and Kurt Helström, President, Ericsson.

Keynote speakers from the IT sector¹ include: Carly Fiorina, President and CEO of Hewlett Packard, Bill Gates, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft, Scott McNealy, Chairman and CEO, Sun Microsystems, Larry Ellison, Chairman and CEO, Oracle, Michael Capellas, President and CEO, Compaq.

Telecoms operators are represented by Michael Armstrong, Chairman and CEO, AT&T, Ron Sommer, Chairman of the Board, Deutsche Telekom, Michel Bon, President and Director General, France Telecom, while manufacturers are represented by Serge Tchuruk, Chairman, Alcatel, John Chambers, Chairman and CEO, CISCO, and Terry Matthews Chairman and CEO, Newbridge. Leading some of the discussions in the mobile arena are Jorma Ollila, President and CEO of Nokia, and Takeshi Kawada, President of Matsushita.

Representing government interests at the event will be, Joao Pimenta Da Veiga, Minister of Communications, Brazil, Musalia Mudavadi, Minister for Information, Transport and Communications, Kenya, Cheow Tong Yeo, Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Singapore, Sarat Lallah Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology, Mauritius and Richard C. Beaird, Acting US Coordinator, US Department of State.

Regulatory bodies are represented by Jean-Michel Hubert, President, ART, France, David Edmonds, Director General, OFTEL, United Kingdom, and Jens Arnbak, Chairman, IPTA, The Netherlands. Finally, the satellite sector includes keynote speakers Michael Storey, President and CEO, Inmarsat, Pascale Sourisse, President and CEO, Skybridge LP and Anthony Navarra, President, Globalstar.

The Telecom 99 + Interactive 99 Opening Ceremony, taking place on 9 October, will be honoured by the participation of Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ruth Dreifuss, President of the Swiss Confederation, Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary-General of the ITU, Martine Brunschwig-Graf, President, State Council, Republic of Geneva, and Kurt Hellström, President, Ericsson.

The previous World Telecom event, in 1995, attracted over 180000 visitors, 1066 exhibitors and more than 2000 journalists. Nearly 4000 delegates participated in the Forum sessions. At Telecom 99 + Interactive 99 nearly 1200 Exhibitors and 22 National Pavilions are set to dazzle the imagination. The event will culminate with a specially designed two-day event open to the general public, the World Telecom Internet Days, on 16 and 17 October.

ITU Telecom events have an unprecedented track record in bringing together governments, industry, investors, operators, and other key players in telecommunications. They are also of direct benefit to the developing world, with the surplus funds generated (CHF12 million from Telecom 95) being used for telecommunications projects in the world’s developing countries.

For more information, please see the Telecom 99 + Interactive 99 web site: http://www.itu.int/telecom-wt99/press_service/press_service.html or contact the event’s Press Service:

1. In a complex, converged industry it is clearly impossible to strictly delimit industry sectors; the classifications used here are not intended to be either exhaustive or comprehensive.