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WHAT IS ITU TELECOM ?ITU TELECOM was born in 1971, following the decision taken by the Administrative Council of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to hold an exhibition of telecommunication equipment to promote the benefits of telecommunications and demonstrate recent technological advances, as a service to the ITU's Membership. Members include leading players from the telecommunication, computer and broadcasting industries as well as major user associations, private companies and research agencies. The ITU is headed by its Secretary General Yoshio Utsumi who was elected by the Plenipotentiary conference in Minneapolis in 1998. The ITU TELECOM management team is headed by Hans Pieterse, President of ITU TELECOM, Tom Dahl-Hansen, Senior Vice President and Head of the Business Development and Marketing Division and Fernando Lagraņa, Vice President and Head of the Forum Division. ITU TELECOM organizes global and regional trade shows and conferences. They are coined ITU TELECOM events, such as AFRICA TELECOM 98 held in May 1998 in Johannesburg, or TELECOM 99 + INTERACTIVE 99, held in October 1999 in Geneva, the biggest telecommunications exhibition and forum worldwide. As a partnership between almost 200 governments and more than 600 companies and organizations, the ITU is in a unique position to organize events on both a global and a regional scale which provide a showcase of the latest products and services the industry has to offer. The combination of an Exhibition with a Forum was designed not only to cover exciting developments in technology, but also to provide a means of pinpointing industry trends and sharing information, and to foster the transfer of this new technology and information to less developed countries. Since ITU TELECOM is a not-for-profit organization, one of its main aims is to support specific telecommunication development projects, primarily in the UN-designated least developed countries (LDC), through its donation of a significant part of any surplus income over expenditure resulting from ITU TELECOM events. These funds are increasingly important to the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), which executes development projects for the ITU. ITU TELECOM has become the most prominent public face of the ITU, and successfully embodies one of the principal statements in Article 1 of its constitution, describing the purposes of the Union as "…to promote the extension of the benefits of the new telecommunication technologies to all the world's inhabitants". Today, ITU TELECOM events continue to contribute to the ITU's leadership role in promoting international telecommunications as a prime driver of global economic activity, in close collaboration with the ITU's members from industry. ITU TELECOM EVENTSAfter establishing the World Telecommunications Exhibition and Forum as the leading telecommunications event worldwide, organized on a four-year cycle, the first steps were taken in 1985 to diversify into regional events. These aim to bring the potential benefits of telecommunications closer to the peoples of all continents by emphasizing the specific solutions appropriate to each region. Regional ITU TELECOM events are now organized in Asia, Africa and the Americas. The first regional ITU TELECOM, ASIA TELECOM 85, took place in Singapore in 1985. AFRICA TELECOM 86 was held in Nairobi, and 1987 saw another World TELECOM in Geneva. The following year the first Americas regional TELECOM was held in Rio de Janeiro. By the end of the 80's, the four-year cycle had been established not only for Geneva, but for the Americas, Asia and Africa. In the 90's, ITU TELECOM has become the world's most important telecommunications exhibition and forum. The exhibitions are a showcase of the latest advances in telecommunication techniques, and publicize the possibilities of applying telecommunication science and technology. They provide the industry with a unique opportunity to present really significant technological advances. The Forums highlight all aspects of telecommunications and provide a platform for discussion on key technological and strategic issues. They have become a privileged and unique meeting place for government leaders, administrations and top executives from operators, industry and service providers as well as users, investors, regulators and the press. From the year 2000, following strong demand from the industry and the ITU's members, there will be two regional ITU TELECOM events per year - ITU TELECOM AMERICAS 2000 and ITU TELECOM ASIA 2000 will initiate the new cycle. Forthcoming TELECOMs are:
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