ITU: Wanted: Open & Inquiring Minds Challenge ICT industry's top names and explore future visions at ITU TELECOM WORLD 2009 Forum

As the Internet and mobile phones become increasingly accessible and available worldwide, how can we best deliver broadband to emerging markets? What will be the next mobile broadband innovation? Where are revenues coming from in a world where consumers don't pay? How can the ICT industry continue to shape our responses to climate change? How do we leverage ICT investments to the benefit of the broader information society? Find the answers to these and other critical questions facing today's ICT industry in the Forum (www.itu.int/WORLD2009/forum/programme.html) at the upcoming ITU TELECOM WORLD 2009, which takes place from 5-9 October in , Switzerland.

At the event you can interact with stakeholders from across the ICT industry, including Heads of ITU Member States, Ministers, Regulators, CEOs and many more to tackle the issues that will help shape tomorrow's ICT industry. Confirmed participants include Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and group CEO, Bharti Enterprises; Jianzhou Wang, Chairman and CEO, China Mobile; John T. Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco Systems; Carl-Henric Svanberg, President & CEO, Ericsson; Chiaki Ito, Vice Chairman, Fujitsu; Michael Hill, General Manager, IBM; Eugene Kaspersky, CEO, Kaspersky Lab; Ryuji Yamada, President and CEO, NTTDoCoMo; Paul Reynolds, CEO, Telecom NZ; Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, Secretary-General, IMO; and Francis Gurry, Director-General, WIPO.

Under the broad-reaching theme of "ICT for economic recovery and sustainable development," the Forum will focus on a number of key areas, or tracks, each of which will encompass a number of different sessions:

- Technology foresight: Technologies that are shaping the future of ICT - ICT and economic growth: ICT as a growth engine

- Development: The Forum explore core issues relating to ICT and development

- New Regulatory Models: Meeting the challenges of regulation in today's world and re-thinking regulation in emerging markets

- Cybersecurity: The challenges of keeping our networks secure for us and future generations - ICT and climate change: What's the way forward for Green ICT practices?

The Forum leads with a special summit open to all and in the presence of Heads of State and other key VIPs, which will look at how ICT can help growth and contribute to sustainable development worldwide. The Forum will also include a host of exciting round-table discussions bringing together CEOs and CTOs from across the industry to share their views on hot issues, such as globalization and localization or adaptation to today's business circumstances.

Sessions will feature thematic discussions, allowing participants to hear a wide range of expert views. Participants are encouraged to put forward questions via a range of innovative formats to foster free and open debate and to provide as many opportunities as possible for meeting and networking among stakeholders from across the industry and from all corners of the world. ITU welcomes inputs from the participants prior or during the sessions.

Media accreditation

Accreditation for media and for industry analysts for ITU TELECOM WORLD 2009: www.itu.int/WORLD2009/media/accreditation/.

All journalists and industry analysts who wish to gain full access to information and benefit from media services for this event need to be accredited.

For more information, please visit www.itu.int/WORLD2009/ or contact:

Sanjay Acharya Chief, Media Relations and Public Information ITU Tel: +41 22 730 5046 Mobile: +41 79 249 4861 E-mail: sanjay.acharya@itu.int

About ITU

ITU is the leading United Nations agency for information and communication technology issues, and the global focal point for governments and the private sector in developing networks and services. For nearly 145 years, ITU has coordinated the shared global use of the radio spectrum, promoted international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, worked to improve telecommunication infrastructure in the developing world, established the worldwide standards that foster seamless interconnection of a vast range of communications systems and addressed the global challenges of our times, such as mitigating climate change and strengthening cybersecurity.

ITU also organizes worldwide and regional exhibitions and forums, such as ITU TELECOM WORLD, bringing together the most influential representatives of government and the telecommunications and ICT industry to exchange ideas, knowledge and technology for the benefit of the global community, and in particular the developing world.

From broadband Internet to latest-generation wireless technologies, from aeronautical and maritime navigation to radio astronomy and satellite-based meteorology, from convergence in fixed-mobile phone, Internet access, data, voice and TV broadcasting to next-generation networks, ITU is committed to connecting the world.

CONTACT: Sanjay Acharya, Chief, Media Relations and Public Information, ITU Tel: +41 22 730 5046 Tel: +41 79 249 4861 e-mail: sanjay.acharya@itu.int

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