* Indicates confirmed participants
Development
DEV.1 : Rethinking rural access: The microtelecom business
Tuesday, 06 October 2009, 16:30 - 18:00, Room G
With established markets in developed countries either saturated or maturing, the telecoms business is
turning to the huge untapped pool of potential customers: the rural residents of the world's emerging
economies. The term microtelecom to describe the optimization of telecom infrastructures and business
models for the "bottom of the pyramid" low-income, hard-to-reach communities in rural areas. However,
bringing access to regions with unstable power supplies and low income subscribers requires fresh thinking
on which technologies should be used and the business case for growth. This session considers growth
projections for access in rural economies, the technology and business challenges these markets present, and
some innovative approaches being taken by both established and new players.
KEY QUESTIONS: - What are some of the hidden challenges and opportunities for telcos? - How can
good KPIs be established to enable replicable models to be developed?
Moderator
* Mr Bill Kerr-Smith, Principal Industry Specialist, Global Information and Communication Technologies,
The World Bank - International Finance Corporation (IFC CITTM), World Bank
Panellists
* Ms Khédija Ghariani, Secretary-General, Arab Information and Communication Technologies
Organization (AICTO), Tunisia
* Mr Bob Lyazi, Director Rural Communications Development Fund (RCDF) and Chairman , African
Universal Service and Access Fund Association, AUSAFA
* His Excellency Dr José Rafael Vargas, Minister - President of the Board of Directors, Instituto Dominicano
de las Telecomunicaciones (INDOTEL), Dominican Rep.
* Ms Lynne A. Dorward, Chief Group Regulatory Affairs Officer, Zain Group, Bahrain
* Mr Bruce Baikie, President & Founder, Green-Wi-Fi, United States
* Mr Vishal Sehgal, Research Scholar, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology,
India
DEV.2 : ICTs innovation for emergency response and disaster relief
Wednesday, 07 October 2009, 14:30 - 16:00, Room G
The innovation, interoperability and correct usage of Information and Communication Technology (ICTs
systems in crisis management situations is about saving lives and preventing the maximum property
destruction. Currently every emergency response and disaster relief operation is riddled with IT black holes
and handicapped by information structures that are closed and inaccessible.
KEY QUESTIONS: - What technological innovations need to be implemented? - How to better use the
ICTs we already have?
Moderator
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* Mr Patrick McDougal, Vice President - Corporate Development, Inmarsat, United Kingdom
Panellists
* Mr Michel Bobillier, Global Business Development Executive, Trusted Identity Initiative, IBM
Corporation, United States
* Dr Sven Gustav Rohte, Chief Commercial Officer, Thuraya Telecommunications Company, United Arab
Emirates
* Mr Nihat Oktay, VP & CMO, TURKSAT Uydu Haberlesme Kablo TV ve isletme A.S., Turkey
* Mr Jeffrey White, Regional Director EMEA and Russia, Iridium Satellite LLC, United States
* Mr Emad Elmasry, Director, Corporate Strategy, Arab Satellite Communications Organization
(ARABSAT), Saudi Arabia
DEV.3 : Rethinking regulation in emerging markets
Thursday, 08 October 2009, 09:00 - 10:30, Room C
Developing countries are in the midst of both a technological and economic communications transition with
the rapid growth of Internet Protocol (IP) and mobile networks at the heart of this revolution. There is a
wide recognition that the most successful national ICTs strategies have always tackled two interrelated
elements: infrastructure and an enabling environment. The latter is typically seen as synonymous with an
enabling regulatory framework that encourages competition, privatization and market liberalization. But for
emerging economies, this is clearly too simplistic. Emerging markets present particular starting conditions
that cannot be addressed by blindly copying regulatory frameworks from developed countries that have
completely different historical contexts and telecom infrastructures in place. Generally, the right regulatory
environment means finding a balance between creating competition, improving access (whether to basic
services or to broadband) and attracting investment (in the case of developing countries, typically FDI). But
emerging telecom markets typically differ greatly from mature markets. Usually the fixed-line penetration is
substantially lower while mobile penetration is much higher. Yet, build-out of wireline infrastructures is
seen by many as the most "future proof" solution for longer term ultra-broadband access. Particularly in a
troubled global economy with capital markets tightening up, finding the right balance means that regulators
have to juggle between promoting investment in infrastructure versus promoting service-based competition.
This session considers whether a 'rethinking on regulation' needs to take place in developing economies,
particularly when a national ICTs infrastructure has become an underpinning layer of networked economies
and information societies.
Moderator
* Mr Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid, Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), International
Telecommunication Union (ITU), ITU
Panellists
* Mr Robert McDowell, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission, United States
* Dr Joseph S. Kilongola, Director, ICTs, Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authory (TCRA), Tanzania
* Prof. Eli M. Noam, Professor of Finance & Economics and Director, Columbia Institute for
Tele-Information, Columbia University, United States
* Ms Karen Rose, Director, Access and Development Initiatives, ISOC , ISOC
* Mr Ahmed Khaouja, Directeur de la concurrence et du suivi des opérateurs, Agence Nationale de
Réglementation des Télécommunications (ANRT), Morocco
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DEV.4 : ICTs and climate change in developing economies
Thursday, 08 October 2009, 16:30 - 18:00, Room F
In September 2008, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) organized a session with the
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to highlight the close linkages between climate change and sustainable
development and highlighted the benefits of mainstreaming climate change considerations as part of overall
approach to sustainable development. This reinforced the findings in the IPPC's Fourth Assessment Report
released just before the UN Bali conference in September 2007, which included an extensive perspective on
the close linkages between climate change and sustainable development. Climate change is the latest in a
long list of developmental stressors that challenge our ability to achieve the economic and social objectives
that define sustainable development.
KEY QUESTIONS: - How can we bring the climate-change adaptation/mitigation and development
communities together to promote sustainable development? - What role can be played by the ICT sector? This session considers the key issues currently on the table for developing economies with regard to climate
change and to ICT developments. - While recognizing that sustainable development and adaptive capacity
for coping with climate change often have common stressors (e.g., access to water resources, food supplies),
what weight should developing economies give to climate change when development priorities might argue
otherwise? - What role can ICTs play in creating synergies with these development priorities?
Moderator
* Mr Graham Vickery, Head, Information Economy Group, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development, OECD, France
Panellists
* Mr Dan Bross, Senior Director of Corporate Affairs, Microsoft, United States
* Mr Parvez Iftikhar, CEO, Universal Service Fund Pakistan, Pakistan
* Mr Bhushan Raj Shrestha, Chairman, Nepal Research and Educational Network (NREN), Nepal (Republic
of)
* Dr Carolin Richter, Director, GCOS Secretariat, WMO, Switzerland
* Mr Patrick Kalas, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Switzerland
* Mr Souheil Marine, Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), International Telecommunication
Union, ITU
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