Convergence India '99

Starting

8th of December 1999, the biggest communications exposition

in the country, Convergence India '99 begins at Pragati Maidan

in New Delhi. Considering the fact that last year 184 exhibitors

from 20 countries participated in the show and about 17,000

trade visitors from Government departments, public and private

sector attended the exposition, its expected that the show will

be even better and bigger this year. Convergence being the theme,

Convergence India '99 is divided into three broad category of

exhibitors : Broadcasting , Communications, and Internet.

"The

renewed hope on telecom liberalization in the country will only

add to the enthusiasm for the show this year", believes

Prem Behl, managing director of Exhibitions India, the show

organizer. In the last few months there have been dramatic developments

in telecom , IT, Internet, satellite, and cable TV worldwide

as well as in India. Licenses have been issued for basic, cellular,

ISP, satellite, and cable TV operators. Convergence of technologies

is making it technically possible ton deliver voice, data and

video services to a subscriber through the same network. New

business opportunities are getting created. Teledensity is expected

to grow to 15 percent from the present level of 2 percent in

the next 10 years or so. ISPs are coming up, and Internet will

be available over cable TV, and over 1.5 million Internet users

are expected to be by the end of this year. . The Railways,

the State Electricity Boards, and the National Power Grid Corp

will be setting up Internet backbone infrastructure.

Clearly,

huge investments are required for all this. According to estimates,

Foreign Direct Investment in telecom which was about $ 7.6 billion

in India is expected to shoot up now. About $ 7 billion worth

of investments is needed in the next 7 years in the area of

broadcasting.



The major exhibitors expected from across the world this year
will be manufacturers and suppliers of telecom and voice &

data broadcast equipment, cellular, paging, radio trunking,

WILL, VSAT, ISDN, video conferencing, test and measurement,

switching, GSM products, fiber optics, satellite communications,

voice processing systems, pay phones, cable testing equipment.

On the services front there will be ISPs, web based application

developers, network solution providers, gateway and bandwidth

service providers, network security application providers, and

datacom solution providers. Many of them will also be seeking

partners and collaborators.

Among the

visitors will be senior officials from sectors like broadcasting,

communications, defense, paramilitary, electronics, finance,

aerospace, mines, oil, power, railways, space, steel, transport,

banks, insurance, and stock exchanges. Among visitors from telecom

sector will be officials from telecom equipment vendors, cable

operators and cable equipment vendors, cellular operators, basic

telecom service providers, satellite equipment vendors and VSAT

service providers, and DoT, MTNL. VSNL officials.

The highlight

of the exhibition will be the conferences on topics such as

Wireless and Wireline Technologies, GMPCS, Internet, and FM

Radio Transmission. This years theme is based on convergence

of technologies. The Global VSAT Forum is coordinating with

the VSAT vendors to organize a session at the show. Other eminent

speakers will delve on the realm of broadband infrastructure

and networking, interactive multimedia applications, wireless

solutions, the future of communications, and its convergence

with computers. Among the noted speakers will be Vinton G Serf,

said to be the father of Internet, Dr Houlim Zhao, director,

Telecom Standardization Bureau, ITU. The DVB (Digital Video

Broadcasting) Project office from Switzerland, will organize

a workshop. Internet@India '99 pavilion will display internet

and networking technologies to display e-commerce and EDI applications.

In this era of exhibitions and expositions, Convergence India

'99 is likely to generate a lot of interest, not only because

its perhaps one and only one complete communications event,

but also because this year the focus is on convergence-a phenomenon

that every one is talking about.