Hong Kong, China, is the venue this week of ITU Telecom World 2006. Coined as the Olympics of communications, Telecom World 2006 will be hosted by the government of the People's Republic of China and organised by the UN specialised agency, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Telecom World 2006 stands out as the most international Information and Communications Technology (ICT) trade show and networking event of the year. With a number of new growth areas and next-generation products and services to revolutionise the way we communicate on a global scale, the ICT industry is showing very positive indications of a bright future.
The Hong Kong event will be manifesting the expectation when top ICT players from around the world will flock to make new professional acquaintances, explore the emerging technologies and play party in the industry's renewed vigour.
Along with the biggest industry names exhibiting companies and organisations will also encompass new technology segments and growth regions around the world. As well as global representation, Telecom World 2006 will showcase the full diversity of the industry from next-generation networks to mobile, wireless, broadband, digital content and much more.
The ITU has announced that the mix of the exhibiting companies, both geographically as well as in terms of the range of technologies, shows that the ICT industry is as healthy and strong as never before.
A fact that gives the ITU full confidence that Telecom World 2006 should be a critical milestone for the industry insofar as new technologies unveiled, connections that will be forged as well as positive progress that will be made in extending the reach of ICTs.
Top players in the industry, which include China Mobile, China Telecommunications, Hitachi, HP, Huawei, LG, Lucent, Microsoft, Motorola, NEC, Qualcomm, Sun Microsystems and ZTE, are already in Hong Kong well geared to join into the next wave of innovations, as they focus on the shaping of the future through technology and partnerships with other players in the field.
The exhibition
The secret of a successful outcome of this leading global ICT event is in both in its marketing build-up as much as in the preparations of the exhibition halls, coupled with the pertinent supporting services.
The figures as divulged by the organisers are, to say the least, impressive and the leader of the technical operations and his team, who are responsible to ensure that no detail is overlooked before the final curtain call, must have experienced sleepless nights as they executed such a massive operation.
The ITU's statistics indicate that over two kilometres of temporary trusses have been installed to rig exhibitors' hanging structures. These have been installed in the 11 halls by a team of structural engineers, and weigh up to 23 tons.
The heaviest include those belonging to NEC, Ericsson, Samsung and LG Electronics. Thirty-five kilometres of power cables have been installed to meet the electrical requirements of exhibitors' stands. The result: impressive visual and audio displays as the industry's biggest and best organisations joust for the visitors' attention.
It also creates fully equipped offices and meeting places where exhibitors can ink details behind the scenes. Huawei and China Mobile both have stands with three levels, with Huawei even having a lift to connect them. Fifty-six exhibitors have double-decker stands. To power the area an estimated 350,000 kWs of electricity will be consumed at Telecom World 2006 by more than 650 of the world's leading ICT organisations gathered together under one very large roof. This is equivalent to the power needed to supply a city of 580,000 inhabitants, or all Malta!
The number of trucks and heavy-duty vehicles arriving for the event total more than 2,000 and it will take 1,540 man-hours to unload. Sixty-three dedicated and 480 shared Internet links have been set up at several locations on the globe, including special high-bandwidth links with Sweden, Beijing and Shenzhen.
These will enable exhibitors to share the exciting new technologies launched at the event with audiences worldwide; 50,000 expected visitors will tour the 11 halls and 28, 484 m2 of carpeting will absorb their footfall!
Forum World
Concurrently with the exhibition, ICT industry leaders of world repute are convening to share their strategies during Forum World 2006. The forum will provide the opportunity to discover how, what, when and why the latest ICTs are affecting our lives.
Some of the key themes to be explored at the forum include triple play services, which in effect elaborates on how the television, voice and Internet delivered over the same 'pipe' from a single provider are becoming increasingly mainstream. Indeed, some countries now offer multiple play services by adding in mobile voice.
It is of great satisfaction for us in Malta that as a result of the government's commitment to invest heavily in communications infrastructural development during the early Nineties we have reached these stages even before other more developed countries. Another important topic is the fast-growing digital content industry.
The quest to provide innovative digital content for ever more content-hungry consumers has brought together a new set of players. From broadcasters or record labels to hardware and software producers or credit card providers, all have a stake in this burgeoning industry and it should be very interesting to follow the respective directions of experts that matter during Forum World 2006.
Needless to mention wireless services, such as WIMAX and ultrawide band, are significant topics. Forum World 2006 will divulge the true potential for these types of services and how they can coexist alongside current 3G mobile networks.
It will be interesting to learn what will be the best business model to promote widespread take-up of new technologies as we head closer to a truly 'ubiquitous' network society where information can be accessed anywhere, anytime by anyone or thing.
World Youth Forum
The Youth Forum will also feature as a notable experience at the Telecom World 2006. The Youth Forum is a capacity-building event. As a result of discussions at the Youth Forum, youths will explore the facts and experience gathered by the ITU and the telecommunication industries about ICTs.
This forum enables exceptionally talented university students (men and women) from all ITU member states to share their ideas and access ICTs. It is a logical outcome that once people are equipped with information and know-how, they will be able to use their ingenuity and resourcefulness to develop their economic potential, to guard their hard-earned liberty, and build sustainable democracies.
The Youth Forum is managed by the ITU in collaboration with ITU member states worldwide, the ITU regional offices, other international organisations, industry representatives and universities. ITU headquarters in Geneva provides centralised monitoring, and information-gathering and project implementation services for the programme as a whole.
There is an urgent need to improve the knowledge of ICTs among the talented young people who will be future government and industry leaders, given the increasing importance of ICT in the global economy and on existing regulatory structures. University level youth are the driving forces in their community in making improvements.
Malta will also have its two ambassadors at the forum. Nathalie Chircop and Justin Chircop, two university students, were successful candidates, chosen by an adjudicating board and recommended to the ITU by the Ministry of Competitiveness and Communications to avail themselves of two ITU fellowships, enabling them to take part in the World Youth Forum in Hong Kong.
The adjudicating committee was chaired by Anthony De Bono in his capacity as vice-chair of the ITU's Advisory Board, which was conducted in conjunction with the University of Malta. Minister Censu Galea, who is leading a delegation to Hong Kong to attend the ITU World Exhibition and Forum will meet the new ITU secretary general and other industry leaders will also be meeting the two Maltese youngsters.
The regulation, pricing and marketing of triple play, the opportunities offered by the digital content industry, the factual potential of wireless services are certainly excellent ingredients for Minister Galea and his delegation to digest in the further shaping of Malta's pro-competitive communications environment.
There were five cities bidding to be the venue for ITU Telecom World 2006. These were Geneva, Hong Kong, Milan, Istanbul and Algiers.
ITU Telecom events were launched more than 30 years ago with the first global event being held in Geneva in 1971.
The 2003 Telecom World was held in Geneva and had been officially opened by King Juan Carlos of Spain with Microsoft chairman Bill Gates as keynote speaker.