Geneva to host 9th ITU Telecom World in 2003

NEW DELHI: On the eve of Telecom 99 + Interactive 99, the 8th World

telecommunications exhibition, the Secretary General of the International

Telecommunication Union (ITU), Yoshio Utsumi, announced that the 9th World

Telecommunications Exhibition and Forum would be held at Palexpo, in Geneva,

Switzerland in 2003. This decision, based on the agreement reached by the board,

is on the understanding that all measures proposed by Geneva concerning

availability of hotel rooms, room prices, abolition of the minimum length of

reservation and the expansion of the venue will be fulfilled.






In January 1998, the ITU invited its member states to bid to host the event and
received invitations from France (Paris), Germany (Berlin), India (New Delhi),

Italy (Bologna, Verona or Milan) and Switzerland (Geneva). After an initial

evaluation, Berlin and Geneva were retained as finalist contenders.






The World Telecom event was organized for the first time in 1971. It was an
instant success that has since been repeated every four years. Today, World

Telecom is recognized as the Olympics of telecom--anybody who matters in the

telecom circle attends the Forum. From service providers to operators to

governments and leaders in manufacturing industry. Enhanced by the addition of

an interactive element, World Telecom now gives a comprehensive picture of what

the fast converging communications



industry--telecom, computer, broadcasting, internet applications--has to offer.





The ongoing event of Telecom 99 + Interactive 99 will be followed next year by
ITU Telecom Americas 2000 (Rio de Janeiro, 10-15 April) and ITU Telecom Asia

2000 (Hong Kong, China, 4-9 December). In the year 2001 there will also be two

events, ITU Telecom Africa 2001 and ITU Telecom Middle East & Arab States

2001, with the Asia and Americas events following in the year 2002.