ITU Telecom World 2003 officially opened at the Geneva Palexpo in Switzerland.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union, said the telecom industry had weathered turbulent times over the past four years, but that signs of growth had returned. He noted that in 1999 there were around 1 billion installed lines worldwide whereas today there are nearly 2.5 billion lines. More than 75% of the new capacity was installed in the developing world, a statistic that Utsumi described as “fantastic” but still “woefully inadequate” as there are still more than 1 million villages in the world without any form of connectivity. The growth in mobile telephony is especially important in developing countries — for instance, in Morocco, Cameroon and Uganda, mobile phones now have a density that is five times more than fixed-line telephones. Utsumi called on the captains of the telecom industry, policy makers, and regulators to have a universal vision to “Reach the Unreached.” He asked the audience to take a personal responsibility to ensure equitable access for all.
ITU Telecom World 2003 features over 900 exhibitors from 52 countries. Over half of the exhibitors are there for the first time.
In terms of booth size, the 15 biggest individual stands are Microsoft, HP, Huawei Technologies, NTT, Panasonic, Telecom Italia, Samsung, NEC, Intel, Swisscom, InvestUK, Alenia Spazio, LG Information & Communications, ZTE and Nortel Networks.
Alcatel, Ericsson, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Nokia and Siemens are among the companies not exhibiting.
http://www.itu.int
