ITU's quadrennial World Telecom show-held every four years since 1971-is not supposed to be for profit. However, if it does profit, ITU uses the surplus income for specific telecom development projects in the world's least developed and lowest income countries.

Every four years, the who's who of telecom-in the government and the corporate world-rush to Geneva. Geneva, the headquarters of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), world's oldest intergovernmental organization founded in 1865, has been known for the telecom show considered the Mecca of telecom whiz kids. Telecom99, the eighth such event, held from 10-18 October lived up to its image and glory this year too. It was here that crossbar systems were launched in 1975, ISDN in 1983, GSM in 1987, and ATM/SDH in 1995.

With telecom ministers of almost all of ITU's 189 member countries as well as CEOs of almost all its 560 sector and corporate members, could one afford to miss not being there? Over 300,000 visitors-more than Geneva's population-did not. It is another matter that almost anything habitable within 1 - 2 hour's drive of Geneva was occupied-on Geneva's terms. And it was true of the most eating-places.

The total expenditure-estimated at around 2.5 billion dollars-on the 9-day show is enough to meet the annual budget of many a developing countries. Many of nearly 1,200 exhibitors spent tens of millions of dollars including the multi-level elevator-equipped stands, complete with swank offices, private conference rooms, mini-theatres, and bistros with elaborate bars.

Extreme Marketing
Swisscom pinned 35,000 white roses on the walls. It even replaced the same the moment one wilted. All aimed to please "customers"! Newly formed "Concert" painted a big "why" with BT written on one side and AT&T on the other. Everyone seemed to understand the subtle messages. And for those who could not find BT's stand in the show, one could not miss the big white "BT" yacht-probably the biggest in the Lake Geneva-entertaining its guests. Many stands had professional dance performances and some even live fashion shows. Names like Daina Ross, Natalie Cole were heard to perform for some.

One wonders whether it was a loud orgy of self-importance or just extreme marketing and muscle flexing. However, for some like me, it was a peep into the future; provided one is able to look through the glare.

Peep into the Future
It took Geneva to make Bill Gates announce in his keynote address at the accompanying conference, "Microsoft Corp. wants to be at the forefront as data communication converges with mobile telecommunications and television. We intend to offer customers access to their information at any time, anywhere, and on any device". It was the realization that soon mobiles will outnumber the PCs that the OS suppliers started wooing and partnering the mobile phone manufacturers.

Internet: the Show Stealer
Someone commented "Internet would make it all redundant". And the Internet it was indeed what the show seemed to be obsessed with. Be it WAP enabled mobiles, 3G multimedia terminals, DSLs, digital interactive TVs, broadband satellites…everything that seemed to help in delivering Internet and eventually multimedia. Going by the impressive range of their 3G-multimedia products, one needs to watch out: Japanese and Koreans are finally arriving in mobiles too!

We had heard of glitzy give-aways like top-of-the-line cell phones, palm-tops etc. But the unusual gifts this time were VoIP gateways being given away to ISPs. Just for popularization of VoIP. With such an obsession, it is difficult for IP not to arrive.

More and more people believe in the Internet as the "cyber bullet" with the instant power to improve everything from GNP to health care to education and to solve the other socio-economic problems of developing nations. There is skepticism, but the Internet with applications like e-commerce, is being considered different from preceding technologies. It took the telephone 75 years to reach 50 million users while it has taken only four years for Internet to reach the same number. The Internet is showing signs of having power to change everything. Telecom99 seems to have succeeded in driving the point home. Time will only tell if the few billions were worth spent for.

The Other Side
One only wonders why everyone has to put up with all those taxi queues, the crushing crowds, late nights, and the skyrocketing prices for basic necessities. And every four years, as the show becomes bigger and bigger, all this only worsens. Someone complained, "To me it means sandwitches and sandwitches…enough to put me off them for a year. Staying almost two hours away, I eat them for breakfast in the bus, for lunch on the stand, and many a times for the dinner too".

May be, the Internet will help!

NIRAJ K GUPTA, from my cell, Voice & Data, December 1999.