Arab Advisors Group organizes telecommunications conference

The presence of over 300 delegates from the telecoms and media industries, as well as 28 top executive level speakers from the regional leaders, underlines the opportunities that media and telecom convergence could bring to both industries.

"As competition sets in, voice traffic will have lower and lower rates, and its revenues may well be at an almost flat growth curve." Mr. Luc Savage, Chief Strategy Officer of Jordan Telecom noted. "We believe that future revenue growth will come from data revenues in the form of compelling, contextual and relevant content and services. This is already happening in Jordan Telecom whose decline in local call fixed traffic is being compensated by a surge in Internet traffic. JT is already preparing for the future by unveiling on May 15th, 2004 the IMSP that will show the convergence of media content and telecom services live. Jordan Telecom's support of Arab Advisors Group's media and telecoms convergence conference comes as part of Jordan Telecom's commitment to growing the Jordanian and regional markets and enhancing the users experiences". Mr. Savage added.

Convergence of media and telecoms would allow telecom operators to leverage the regional and global media to create operator-generated or carried data that is beneficial and cost effective for end users. The growth in operator- generated content or operator-mediated third party content will enhance the satisfaction and overall experience of end users. This will translate into higher data revenues and will drive up both revenues and user satisfaction.

"User-generated data content is essentially SMS and MMS messages between friends and colleagues, or faxes sent and received on mobile networks" Sami Sunna, Arab Advisors Group's research manager noted. "Operator-generated content or operator-mediated third party content is data traffic pulled by the consumer or pushed. Examples of operator-generated content or operator-mediated third party content include news alerts, stock alerts, exchange rates and traffic updates. Operator generated content contributes a minuscule amount of operator revenues to date, which underlines why convergence with traditional media outlets may well be the way forward, if a winning combination is reached. Indeed, telecom-based media revenues have seen some massive success as the examples of Future TV's Super Star and LBC's Star Academy have shown". Mr. Sunna added.

"XPress' entry to the Jordanian market is set to diversify the national telecommunication services by offering new business solutions. Based on the iDEN technology, our service combines the abilities of ordinary mobile phones with the instantaneous Push to Talk service, which offers a real time communication tool by enabling one-to-on and one-to-many calls with a push of a single button," Mr. Ashraf Samawi, XPress Chief Sales & Marketing Officer said. "As the first Arab company in the Middle East to offer this service, we are pleased to be part of Arab Advisors Group's media and telecoms convergence conference as it will allow an invaluable platform for information exchange and sharing of expertise amongst the industry players," Mr. Samawi added.

The Arab World's media and telecoms landscape is massive. There are over 300 million people across 22 Arab countries. These are served by 41 mobile operators (with a lot more in the pipeline), 23 fixed operators, 36 datacomm operators and close to 300 ISPs. The Arab World's audience is also served by over 100 Satellite TV channels, and over 90 FM Radio Stations.

"Arab Advisors Group has been analyzing the Arabic telecoms and media landscapes for over three years. Our team has published hundreds of major reports and has been serving over 130 regional and international clients to date. Arab Advisors' organizing this landmark conference in June 2004 in Amman comes as a natural progression on our work and service to our clients in the telecoms and media industries" Mr. Jawad Abbassi, Arab Advisors' Founder and President commented. "I would like to thank the conference main sponsors (MTC and Fastlink) and the conference sponsors (Jordan Telecom, Xpress, Maktoob.com and NAFES), for their very valuable sponsorships which underline their commitment to developing the regional services portfolio by promoting a better understanding of the industry dynamics affecting the markets".

Arab Advisors Group's Media and Telecommunications Convergence Conference 2004 is the ideal forum for discussions and debates on the convergence trends underway in the Arab media and telecom markets. The main sponsorships of such important regional operators like MTC and Fastlink is an indication of the high profile of the conference. The conference has an exhibition space in which over 10 regional companies in the media and telecoms industry have already reserved their places. Moreover, media and telecom operators attend the conference at no charge, while other delegates will receive comprehensive Arab Advisors Group reports as part of their registration fees.

28 visionary executives and industry leaders from regional and global companies and organizations will be presenting at the conference. Over 300 delegates are attending the conference to network, exchange ideas and discuss the future of the regional markets.

The conference has sponsorship opportunities and an exhibition floor for companies interested in showcasing their solutions and products. Moreover, delegates that register to attend the conference will receive their choice of one of Arab Advisors Group's published reports on the Arab World's media and telecom markets.