29 September 2003
The Qtel hosted ITU-BDT Regional Seminar on IMT-2000 for the Arab region was opened today under the auspices of the GCC Technical office. The seminar, which will run from 29 September to 1 October 2003 at the Intercontinental Hotel Doha, Qatar, will address the various aspects of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) including IMT-2000 as an optimum wireless communication infrastructure for the information society.
The seminar was opened by Qtel and seminar Chairman, Sheikh Abdulla Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Thani. Vice-Chairmen of the Seminar, John Visser, Chairman of the ITU-T SSG, Riccardo Passerini Senior Telecommunications Engineer ITU-BDT, Eng. Mahmood M. Sayer, Director of Telecom Bureau for the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf and Dr. Nasser Marafih, Qtel Chief Executive Officer also spoke at the opening ceremony.
Qtel's Chairman welcomed all the dignitaries and attendees to Doha as guests of Qtel. Speaking during the opening ceremony, Qtel's Chairman, Sheikh Abdulla Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Thani said, "It is significant that the first IMT-2000 seminar to be held in the Arab world is being hosted by Qtel in Doha at this time. Qatar has made a number of major developments in terms of technology, education, and industry and Qtel as a company has undergone enormous change."
Sheikh Abdulla continued, "This IMT-2000 seminar is an excellent example of the spirit of cooperation as we all come together to debate the role of technology in today's society and how global solutions can help developing countries."
Eng. Mahmood M. Sayer, Director of Telecom Bureau for the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf said, "This seminar has been organised in cooperation between the GCC Telecom Bureau and the ITU-BDT together with Qtel as hosts in order to enhance the cooperation and information exchange between these parties".
"Telecommunication's penetration has increased because of the facility of mobile communication. While in 1991 it was only 1% penetration, in 2002 it had risen to 90% due to the expansion of cellular networks. Now we find that one in every five people in the world has a mobile phone," he continued.
"IMT-2000 mobile telecommunications is the way of the future - we are working towards seamlessness, transparency and ease of use for the end-user," commented John Visser, Seminar Vice-Chairman and Chairman of the ITU-T SSG.
Close to 100 Telecom and IT specialists representing over 30 countries from around the world have come together to take part in the seminar and to debate global solutions which are suitable for the requirements of developing countries.
Day one of the three-day seminar gave delegates an overview of IMT-2000 and addressed issues such as international standardisation, including frequency spectrum and technical specifications for radio and network with a focus on mobile telecommunication. The first day of the seminar also looked at topics under study in the ITU-Telecommunication Development Sector, IMT-2000 activities in support of developing countries, IMT-2000 core network activities, business considerations for migration to IMT-2000 and the benefits of a powerful service platform across multiple networks as well as looking at CDMA2000 as an IMT-2000 standard.
The seminar will run for a further two days until 1 October 2003.
-Ends-
© Press Release 2003
