3rd Annual Media and Telecommunications Convergence Conference 2006 kick starts in Amman.

June 06, 2006

Conference Kicks off with participation of over 330 regional and local key players from telecom and media sectors. The conference is also webcast over the Internet for the first time. Delegates and speakers will discuss vital topics related to the telecom and media sectors as liberalization progresses further in the Arab World: Arab Advisors research shows that over 8 new cellular licenses are expected to start operations in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Kuwait, Tunisia Palestine and Bahrain in before the end of 2007. Moreover, over 20 new fixed and international traffic operators are expected to start operations in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Tunisia, Oman, Iraq and Palestine also before the end of 2007.

Under the Patronage of His Excellency Engineer Omar Al Kurdi, Minister of Information and Communications Technology, the third Media and Telecommunications Convergence Conference 2006 kicked off today with the participation of over 300 regional and local key players representing media and telecom sectors. The two-day conference organized for the third year in a row by Arab Advisors Group, will tackle vital issues related to the development and the convergence of these two sectors. Arab Advisors Group is a member of the Arab Jordan Investment Bank Group.

“We believe Media & Telecommunications Convergence offers a great opportunity that Jordan and the rest of the region cannot ignore, and should make great strides to leverage, for the benefit of their respective economies and people”.Said H.E. Eng. Omar Kurdi, Minister of ICT in Jordan. “Media & Telecommunications Convergence is revolutionizing the provisioning of services in all life aspects and policymakers in Jordan and many parts of the world are taking proactive steps, towards providing a forward looking and flexible legislative environment”.

The two-days conference will have various interactive sessions in addition to presentations delivered by local and regional key players from telecom and media sectors. The conference speakers are all top executives and decision makers from major operators in the region. Speakers in the conference include executives from the following companies and organizations (listed alphabetically): Al-Bawaba, Batelco Jordan, Booz Allen Hamilton, Saudi Arabia’s CITC, Comium Group, Connexus Consulting, Microsoft, Etisalat –eCompany, Etisalat- E-vision, Fastlink, Future TV, Globitel, Inside Satellite, Jawwal, Jordan Telecom, Kalaam Telecom, MBC, Oger Telecom, Paltel Group, Roamware, Spot on PR, TE Data, Umniah and Xpress.

During the Arab Advisors Group Conference in Amman, Saudi Arabia has announced its plans to liberalize its fixed telephony sector ending the current monopoly, and opening the mobile sector for more competition. CITC, the Regulator in Saudi Arabia, announced its intention to issue “New Licenses for Fixed & Mobile Services” at the end 2006, as a major step towards further liberalization of the ICT sector in Saudi Arabia with the objectives of promoting competition, generating consumer benefits and attracting regional and foreign investment. Saudi Arabia's telecom regulator, the CITC has sent a high level delegation to participate in the Conference and present on the opportunities in Saudi Arabia. Prof. Ibrahim Kadi, Senior Advisor at CITC, will talk about these liberalization plans in one of the conference's panels.

During day one participants and speakers will be discussing the following issues; “Developing the Broadband potential-An Etisalat perspective”, “Operating under extraordinary circumstances-The example of Jawwal”, “Life after the end of international gateway monopoly: Future growth strategies for incumbents”, “Operating in a competitive telecom market, the challengers perspective”, “Broadband Internet and VoIP services; An ISP perspective”, “Media Flavor in Emerging Voice and Messaging Services”, “Fighting fragmentation –integrating business and communications strategies to retain market share and build new revenue in Arab mobile and fixed markets”, “Mobile Media Content; issues of branding, production, usability and aggregation”, “Mobile TV: current state and prospects”. A panel discussion will conclude the activities of day one, which will discuss the blurring lines between media broadcasters and telecom operators and Business models in the era of convergence.

On the second day participants will discuss the following issues; “Opportunities and challenges for alternative operators. Building a brand and other challenges of a start up. A case study from Bahrain”, “Triple Play Solutions: A Vendors perspective”, “Cable TV development: Success and Challenges”, “A panel discussion-, Telecom and media markets regulation: Best practices and approaches in the era of convergence”, “The Arab Sat TV Industry: Success factors for different revenue models (Pay TV, Ads and telecom –based revenues”, “Mobile Data Services: The Promise and the current reality?”, “An overview of the Arab telecom and media markets”, “How will convergence impact voice traffic? Should Mobile operators worry or is it just business as usual?”

The day will also have a Panel discussion that will tackle the subject of, The future winning strategies for Telecom operators: One stop shop or specialization? Would integrated incumbents win the day?

“We are very proud to organize this conference for the third year in a row, and in order to maximize the benefit for everyone, we decided to broadcast the conference online to enable interested people to attend the conference wherever they are.” Said Jawad Abbassi, General manager of Arab Advisors Group. “We would like to thank all the sponsors and supporters for the commitment to make this conference successful.”

Regional and local operators joined forces to support the Media and Telecommunications Convergence Conference and sponsored the major regional media and telecom conference. The main conference sponsor is UAE’s Etisalat. Etsialat’s sponsorship comes as the operator launched a new corporate identity and strategy in May 2006 that reflects its ambitions to attain a leading position amongst telecom operators on the global level.

The conference is also sponsored by Jawwal, Batelco Jordan, Fastlink, TE-Data, Jordan Telecom, Kalam, ROAMWARE. Spot On PR is the conference PR Partner. Conference partners also include Microsoft Eastern Mediterranean, Al Bawaba, menafn.com, Maktoob.com, CommsMEA and Globitel. The Information Technology Association of Jordan (int@j) is also supporting the conference.

The Arab Advisors Group’s team of analysts in the region has already produced over close to 570 reports on the Arab World’s communications and media markets. The reports can be purchased individually or received through an annual subscription to Arab Advisors Group’s (www.arabadvisors.com) Strategic Research Services (Media and Telecom). To date, Arab Advisors Group has served over 370 global and regional companies by providing reliable research analysis and forecasts of Arab communications markets to these clients.