Trade Shows

January 8, 2003
Asia emerging as the epicenter for global growth

HONG KONG -- The sixth regional ITU Telecom Asia 2002 - the telecommunications exhibition and forum for the Asia Pacific, was recently held from 2 to 7 December at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), Hong Kong SAR, China. The event attracted world and regional leaders from the telecom and IT industries, as well as key figures from governments across the region.

It combined policy initiatives and discussions with a trade showcase for information and communication technologies. The depth of technology innovation in the Asia Pacific was highlighted by the fact that 60 percent of the exhibitors were first time participants from the region.

According to Yoshio Utsumi, secretary-general of the ITU, the extremely high quality of exhibitors, trade visitors, industry and policy leaders in attendance "reinforces the ITU Telecom's reputation as a unique, non-profit showcase for telecommunications technologies and as a forum for strategic policy discussions relevant to the regional and global industry."

The role of the Asia-Pacific region as the largest telecommunications market and emerging epicenter for global growth was also confirmed during Telecom Asia. The effects of a global economic slowdown have been milder in the region, which has emerged as a global player in technology deployment and the innovative and flexible nature of its policy models.

However, the event was not immune to the challenges faced by the global telecommunications industry including the technology exhibition sector, with 30 percent fewer exhibitors as compared to ITU Telecom Asia 2000.

Asia the mobile Internet giant
The release of the 2002 edition of the acclaimed ITU Asia Pacific Telecommunication Indicators during the event reinforced the theme of Asia Leading Change as the theme of the event. In the mobile economy, the Asia Pacific region is poised to overtake Europe as the world's largest market during 2002, although mobile penetration is still below 10 percent. Two of the top three mobile economies worldwide, as measured by mobile phones per capita, are from the region. Those are Taiwan and Hong Kong. The region also hosts the economies with the largest number of mobile Internet users - Japan and the Republic of Korea.

Mobile technologies also contributed to raising the total teledensity dramatically in many developing countries that might otherwise have expected to remain locked into low levels of access. Thanks to mobile substitution, while half the region's developing countries had a teledensity of less than one in 1993, this had been reduced to only two (Afghanistan and Myanmar) by mid-2002.

A decade ago, the Asia Pacific region was home to just over 20 percent of telecommunication users worldwide. It now accounts for over one-third of all subscribers. It is unique in being the only region in the world to have significantly grown its market share. It is currently adding new connections at the rate of more than one new user every second of every day, a growth rate that has been sustained for over 10 years.

Forum for the future
Two hundred forty leaders in the field of telecommunications were selected to make presentations in the forum on new technologies and their applications. Over 600 delegates participated in discussions on cutting-edge theories focused on the relationship between policy and market structure, the essential steps to create a dynamic communications environment, the relationship between regulation and the business environment, and the evolution of new types of content and new ICT business models throughout Asia.

Henry Tang, the secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China set the tone of the forum. He said, "Looming over the industry are issues relating to overcapacity, market consolidation, a need for greater investor confidence and better corporate governance."

China's minister for Information and Industry, Wu Jichuan, posed several challenging questions for delegates to consider in their deliberations. He asked: "What is happening to the giant industry that once outperformed other industries in the capital markets? Will it regain its past glory? What has shielded countries like China from the upheaval of the market? In a highly complex environment, how can some of the countries in the region maintain the steady and pragmatic growth they have built up in recent years?" He shared his views on some of the underlying causes of the current crisis saying, "The huge network bubble has led to the exaggerated expectations of multimedia services and false forecast for the network bandwidth market, which has given rise to unrealistic market demands."

ITU secretary-general, Yoshio Utsumi, remarked that one of the reasons for Asia's continuing growth is that when the region faced its own crisis in the late 1990s, its leaders decided that the best way out was to invest in next-generation networks and to continue to innovate. He noted, "We have witnessed, throughout the week, how Asia is blazing the trail in third-generation (3G) mobile communications and in the deployment of broadband technologies."

During the discussions, a number of speakers reiterated the sentiment that investor confidence had been utterly shaken by many companies filing for bankruptcy protection and corporate governance scandals. There was broad discussion and consensus on the fact that investors need a stable and certain environment, where the rules of the game were clear for all players, regardless of whether they were domestic or foreign. Transparency and providing a stable regulatory environment that offer a level-playing field were stressed as pre-requisites for attracting investment.

Focus on next generation of telecom leadership
For the first time at an Asia regional telecom event, the ITU hosted a youth forum. Seventy-six young, high achievers from 40 countries across Asia participated in four days of interactive panel discussions with industry leaders on topics of special interest to youth. Participants were selected via a region-wide essay competition, and the ITU, in conjunction with sponsors, covered the full cost of their participation as part of efforts to cultivate Asia's next generation of ICT leaders.

The principal aim of the youth forum was to spur innovation and transformation within the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, particularly within developing countries, and to empower and prepare a new generation to take up the reins of leadership. An important objective of this forum was to help attract and groom future telecom professionals within a global economy that already places high value on technology leaders.

A Youth Forum Declaration was presented to all of the delegates that envision a world where the digital divide has been bridged, where communication is a fundamental right, a world where we become closer in a global human network. The complete declaration is:

Helping Afghanistan and the world communicate
The ITU announced at ITU Telecom Asia 2002 that it will provide emergency support to the government of Afghanistan in its efforts to restore its heavily damaged telecommunication and broadcasting infrastructure. The two-year agreement between Afghanistan and the ITU will strengthen the country's institutional competence to govern the sector.

Masoom Stanekzai, Afghanistan's minister of Communications said that his country "Has moved backward toward the stone age at a time when we need to enter the digital age and we need the assistance of an impartial international organization like the ITU to ensure we again move forward in telecommunication development." A national framework is needed to "help Afghanistan leapfrog to the digital age and create an environment that will ensure our people have the right to access communications," he added.

The flight of qualified persons during 24 years of war has resulted in a severe shortage of skilled staff in the country and ITU's timely assistance will pave way for a restructuring of the ministry of Communications, equipping it to deal with the governance issues on a day-to-day basis during the emergency phase and beyond. In readiness for a large-scale deployment of wireless communication services, the ITU will also play a role in the orderly planning and management of the national frequency spectrum, develop a national frequency plan, install a spectrum management system and put in place coherent licensing and assignment procedures.

Building human resource capacity
The ITU and Cisco Systems Inc. announced a significant milestone in the ITU Internet Training Centre Initiative for Developing Countries (ITCI-DC). The initiative, a model for public-private partnership to bridge the digital divide, has now more than 26 centres worldwide. The 807 students currently enrolled in this initiative are now armed with skills to face the challenge of the new economy. In the Asia Pacific region, eight centres have been signed up, with another four set to join by the end of the year.

The previous Telecom Asia event, held in Hong Kong in 2000, had attracted 28,450 trade visitors, 500 exhibitors from 29 countries, and 810 accredited media. Exhibition space comprised 27,8962m including upper floors.

Statistics for ITU Telecom Asia 2002*:
Exhibitors
Exhibition space net: 15,5952m
Number of exhibitors: 319 exhibitors from 24 countries, including 10 national pavilions
Companies exhibiting from China: 94
Visitors
Registered trade visitors: 18,677 from 122 countries
VIPs ministers/ministerial representatives: 33
Regulators: 7
Directors-general: 30
Ambassadors/consuls-general: 61
Delegations: 294
Chief executive officers: 188
Total VIPs: 613
Forum
Speakers: 240 from 38 countries
Youth forum participants: 76 from 40 countries
TDS sponsored delegates: 67 from 34 countries
Total forum participants including speakers (not including VIPs and press): 985 from 55 countries
Media
Accredited media (on-site): Total 515 journalists plus 232 photographers, camera crews and support staff;
117 journalists represented the international press.
Total: 747 from 204 media and 29 countries.
Total participants: (including exhibitors but excluding exhibitor's personnel): 21,330 from 127 countries.

Contact:
International Telecommunication Union
Tel: 41-22-730-6039
Fax: 41-22-730-6939
Email: pressinfo@itu.int
Web: www.itu.int