The new millennium opened with high optimism over the industry’s resilience – and relentless progress — after the non-disruption of Y2K and the burst of the dotcom stock bubble. Renewed expansion focused on emerging markets, cutting-edge mobile technologies, and new services and applications beyond network infrastructure. “You do not have to create new demand in the world,” said Yoshio Utsumi, …
As the industry expanded, so did its impact on an increasingly interconnected world. And so, too, did the definitive industry conference and exhibition. In its inaugural 1971 edition, the flagship Telecom event convened by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) had welcomed some 70,000 visitors and 250 exhibitors. By the end of the 1990s, ITU Telecom attracted more than 175,000 participants …
After the introduction of computer-led network operation in the late 1970s, the telecommunications industry was in for even bigger changes in the 1980s. The new decade would usher in enormous changes in technology, industry structure, policy and regulation. The innovative eighties heralded mobile telephony, the first standards for e-mail, and an accelerating convergence between computing and communication technologies. The flagship …
When the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) opened World TELECOM 1971 in Geneva 50 years ago, officials proclaimed the dazzling new conference and exhibition a “message to the 21st century.” “All those who had the opportunity to visit the various stands were able to appreciate the fundamental role played by ITU in the spectacular evolution of telecoms techniques and in the …
One of the key annual events of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has just turned 50. ITU Telecom has evolved over the years to reflect a rapidly evolving industry ecosystem. But international cooperation to connect the world remains at the core of the conference and exhibition series. The first-ever Telecom, featuring a high-level conference combined with a major international telecommunications …
