Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Oct 14, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Oct 14, 2003 |
|
|
|
|
|
Info-Tech
-
Telecommunications `Third World to power telecom revival' Krishnan Thiagarajan
Geneva , Oct 13 THE rebound of the telecom industry will come from the developing world, according to Mr Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary General, International Telecommunications Union. Addressing presspersons here, he said that "the industry is in a soul searching mode trying to understand what went wrong." Technologies such as broadband and wi-fi (Wireless Fidelity, one of the wireless local networking technologies) may fuel growth in the sector, which would hopefully spill over to other sectors, he added. He admitted that there were fewer attendees during this event compared to the one held in 1999 and the downturn had affected the entire industry. Responding to a pointed question on the absence of big European names such as Alcatel or Ericsson, he said that this implied the changing dynamics of the industry. He said, "One out of every two exhibitors is exhibiting for the first time. This shows how the telecom industry is reshaping itself with a new wave of smaller, innovative companies beginning to emerge." Topping the list of first time exhibitors from Europe are the UK - 22 per cent, France - 12 per cent and host country, Switzerland - 7.5 per cent. Among other countries, the US - 7 per cent and South Korea - 4 per cent are first timers leading the pack. Elaborating on this theme, Mr Hamadoun Toure', Director Telecom Development Bureau, said that there were 1.15 billion mobile subscribers around the world as compared to 1.12 billion fixed telephone users. One in five people around the world now has a mobile phone as compared to one in 339 in 1991. Most of the growth is coming from the developing markets, as mobile penetration is already fairly high in the developed markets. Reinforcing the strength of the mobile markets, he added that the Chinese mobile market was adding five million subscribers per month. In Russia, in August, nearly 1.6 million subscribers were added. India also has added 1.8 million mobile and WLL (limited mobility) subscribers in August. Dr. Tim Kelly, Head, Strategy and Policy Unit said that despite the crisis in the industry, the industry revenues grew by 5.5 per cent between 1999, the last ITU event and 2003.
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication
|
Stories in this Section |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | Home |
Copyright © 2003, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line
|