ITU TELECOM WORLD 2003 highlights industry's new dynamic
Event focused on doing business and building growth

Geneva, 18 October 2003 — ITU TELECOM WORLD 2003, which took place from 12 to 18 October in Geneva, underlined why it stands as the most important meeting place for the global communications industry. With the industry only now showing signs of recovery, 911 exhibitors representing 51 countries were present with over 375 industry's CEOs and 148 government ministers and regulators participating in the event. Over 1 500 journalists including 300 broadcast media and more than 120 industry analysts were also accredited for the show.

"WORLD 2003 has been about getting down-to-business, restoring confidence and building growth," said Mr Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union (ITU). "Exhibitors have told us it has been particularly effective both as a business networking hub and for brokering deals and meeting key decision-makers."

In addition, industry-leading CEOs, government regulators and telecommunications ministers participated in the WORLD 2003 Forum. The Forum included six days of presentations and debate on critical industry issues ranging from broadband and mobility, to new business models and new sources of revenue. There was in many of the sessions, passionate discussion on how new technologies can best be harnessed to bring connectivity to more than 1 million villages in the world that are yet to connect to the information society. Some concern was expressed by participants from developing countries who feared that their efforts to bridge the digital divide could be hindered if advances in technology were too rapid and they were unable to keep pace.

While the number of exhibitors and visitors was down from the previous event that took place at the height of the Dot.com bubble, qualified traffic and high business value have been identified as dominant features of this event. Despite the absence of some big players, the turnout has been very good as "the industry can go nowhere but up". Several exhibitors praised the maximum size guidelines put in place for stands, which they said "make it a more level playing field."

"The reduction in attendance this year has favoured personal interaction between participants and led to more of a focus on high-level networking and business contacts," said Jean-Claude Delcroix, Research Director, Telecommunications Research EMEA at Gartner. "What we saw was a stronger emphasis on the market implementation of business models and technologies rather than innovation".

This was a theme echoed by Skip Cox, President of Exhibit Surveys, quoted in the on-site daily newspaper: "People have been using the event for very closely focused networking and in my opinion, that's the future of the exhibitions business."

Strong market shifts were reflected as many new, smaller entrants used the show as a global showcase alongside many industry heavyweights. Exhibitors used the show as a platform to announce more than 150 new products and contract wins valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as a number of joint ventures.

Among the major contract announcements were those from BT valued at EUR 100 million with "3" in Ireland to build and operate its 3G radio access network, ACE*COMM's multi-million dollar contract with Giza Systems to provide a country-wide data collection solution for Telecom Egypt, and Nortel Networks' supply agreement estimated at US$30 million over three years with Israel's Pelephone, to expand its 3G Wireless Data Network. Other contract deals included Quarry Technologies providing carrier-class security service routers to Dacom Corporation, one of Korea's leading service providers; the European Commission's investment of EUR 3.8 billion over the next four years in key areas including microelectronics, nanotechnology, and e-health; and FLAG Telecom who announced a US$207 million amalgamation deal with Reliance Gateway Net Private Ltd.

Announcements of partnership agreements included that of Microsoft creating mobile Web services standards with Vodafone, Boingo (TM) Wireless announcement of a deal with PicoPoint, an Amsterdam-based global Wi-Fi hot spot enabler, HP's announcement with Alcatel of advanced business services to the SMB market, Samsung Electronics' agreement with Orca Interactive, Optibase and Kasenna to provide triple-play solution for video over xDSL services, and many more.

Business value was a common theme too in feedback from exhibitors. "As our business is global, ITU TELECOM WORLD provides a unique forum for us to meet senior representatives of national governments, our customers, partners, industry colleagues and the world's press. We will be back in 2006," said Patrick Gallagher, CEO of FLAG Telecom — a leading global network services provider and independent carriers' carrier.

"Having less attendance but more a targeted audience is important," said Carolyn Jolin of Canada's SR Telecom, a world leader in fixed wireless access solutions for voice, data and Internet applications. "It is all about the right people. We always talk to engineers but here we access the decision-makers — CEOs and high level executives from our target markets".

"ITU TELECOM WORLD 2003 is another milestone for the Company," said Frank Dunn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nortel Networks. "It has been a platform for introducing our vision for the industry and our strategy for meeting customers' practical needs. It has been a positive event for Nortel Networks".

"ITU TELECOM WORLD 2003 is one of the best shows in level and quality of leads", said Chris Green, Marketing Manager at Micromuse, a London-based provider of service and business assurance software. "Getting the right people through the door and getting the right delegates to the stand — this year ITU (TELECOM) has done it well."

Gillian Dalslaanen, Director of Corporate Marketing EMEA for TANDBERG, a global leader in video communications, said, "The show has been an outstanding success for TANDBERG."

The show reflected the fast-changing nature of the telecommunications industry, with a strong presence from Asia. More than 145 of the 911 exhibitors represented the Asia-Pacific region, including large companies such as NTT DoCoMo, Sony and NEC showcasing their latest technology, while Panasonic, Sanyo and Samsung featured consumer products just coming to market.

Two of the show's largest stands were those of Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corporation, both Chinese companies — and not surprising given that China has now become the world's largest telecommunications market (measured by number of subscribers).

"As China's largest telecommunications vendor, the show was a good opportunity for us to merge into the international telecommunications industry and a positive step forward in our goal of becoming a global company," said Richard Lee, Manager of Corporate Communications, Huawei Technologies. "Throughout the show, we had four major announcements, met with many of our partners, and spoke with over 1 000 existing and potential customers."

New market entrants demonstrated a strong presence at the show, with one out of every two exhibitors showcasing its products and services at a TELECOM WORLD event for the first time. Most of these companies were small and medium-sized businesses, approximately 70 percent of which exhibited in the 26 pavilions hosted by governments and telecommunication associations.

"The show was a great way for us to display the strength and diversity of our products, particularly for countries in need of low cost solutions for the development of communications in rural areas," said Vijoy Kumar, Deputy Director-General, Department of Telecommunications, Government of India, and Director of the India Pavilion." The event was a great success and a useful platform for us to engage in face-to-face meetings with high-level members of various governments and the private sector."

"A great forum to send our message to global service providers," said Leron Ploani, Vice President, Strategic Business, CosmoCom. "The industry is in transition and the companies in this show will be the leaders of the new face of this industry."

Exhibitors participating in the Event showcased products and services on Fixed and Wireless Broadband (fibre, ADSL, WLAN), Next-generation convergence networks, Voice over IP (including voice over ADSL), mobile data solutions and high-speed 2.5 and 3G wireless systems. In contrast with the previous WORLD event, there was less focus on technology for technology's sake, and much more focus on technology in action in real-life business environments — business communications and solutions targeting improved productivity and new revenue streams.

Since 1971, ITU TELECOM WORLD has provided an unrivalled platform for strategic debate and business networking, bringing together the industry's CEOs, government ministers and regulators. The next ITU TELECOM event is ITU TELECOM AFRICA 2004, which will take place from 4 to 8 May in Cairo, Egypt. It will be followed by ITU TELECOM ASIA 2004 in Busan, Republic of Korea from 7 to 11 September.

ITU TELECOM WORLD 2003, which was one day shorter than the previous WORLD event, attracted an average daily flow of visitors of 14'406. The daily traffic flow as well as key statistics for the World 2003 event are as follows:

For more information please contact:

Francine Lambert
Head, Corporate Communication
ITU
Tel: +41 22 730 5969
Fax: +41 22 730 5939

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