Trade Shows

October 28, 2002
Curtain Raiser: ITU Telecom Asia 2002

HONG KONG -- Following the unparalleled success of ITU Telecom Asia 2000 in Hong Kong, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) will be staging the second edition of this event -- ITU Asia 2002 -- in Hong Kong, from December 2 to 6, 2002, at the magnificent Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center (HKCEC) at the kind invitation of the government of the People's Republic of China.

ITU Telecom Asia promises to be the biggest ITU event in the Asia Pacific region. ITU expects to attract over 500 exhibitors and over 50,000 trade visitors at the five-day event. Participants will be focusing on the growth possibilities in Asia and examine the methods and ways of increasing access to basic telephony as well as modern telecommunications facilities and services.

Since early this year, several million people have gained access to the telephone network for the first time. Millions of others have signed up for mobile phone services. The Internet is providing access to an exponential number of subscribers. Policy makers and major industry players would have their tasks cut out at ITU Telecom Asia 2002 to ensure that this progress is enhanced and further developments bring telecommunications services within the reach of all of Asia Pacific.

Asia Pacific is home to over 60 percent of the world's population. It is also the world's largest and fastest growing telecommunications marketplace. By the beginning of 2001, the region had over 360 million fixed telephone lines and 260 million cellular subscribers, giving it a fixed-line teledensity of 10 percent and a cellular teledensity of 7.2 percent, compared to the global averages of 15 percent and 12 percent respectively.

The uptake of mobile Internet in Asia Pacific has been extraordinary, especially in countries like Japan and Korea. China itself became the world's single largest market by July 2001 and is likely to have over 200 million mobile phone users within the next one to two years. In several countries, such as Japan, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and the Philippines, mobile phone subscribers clearly outnumber fixed-line subscribers. There is a huge enthusiasm for the Internet as well in the Asia Pacific region. China, Japan and Korea are the second, third and fourth largest markets in the world, by users, today.

Special programs at ITU Telecom Asia 2002 will include a Telecom Development Symposium and a Youth Forum. The Telecom Development Symposium will sponsor two telecommunications specialists from each one of the UN-designated lowest-income countries (LICs) and least-developed countries (LDCs) as part of a fellowship program. Following the successful launch of Youth Forum at ITU Africa 2001, the ITU Telecom Asia 2002 will continue with the initiative in bringing together two university students from each one of ITU's member states in the region, on a fellowship, to participate in the event. Three separate tracks will discuss and debate Investment and Business Issues, Policy and Regulatory Issues, and Technology and Applications Issues.