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The 8^th SAARC CEO Conclave, 2009 will be inaugurated by Mr. Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju, Minister of Posts & Telecommunications, Bangladesh on October 30, 2009 at Dhaka.

The two-day event will be attended by more than 100 telecom professionals from the Saarc region. The theme of the conclave this season is 'Innovation for Growth: How telcos can spend less and earn more'.

At the two-day event, the telecom innovators will again assemble to debate and discuss the demands of the telecom industry. The conclave will have stalwarts of the industry as speakers and few presentations from the people who have pioneered to change the landscape of the telecommunication industry. The conclave envisions at providing a common platform to Saarc nations for open discussion to reduce the geographical separation and disparity of the services. Seven brainstorming sessions amongst delegates within their field of expertise would be an integral part of the conclave. To add to the gala congregation, pioneers of their field will be getting Voice&Data Telecom Awards for innovations and achievements in the field of Telecom across Saarc.

Main confirmed speakers include Mr. Oddvar Hesjedal, CEO, GrameenPhone, Bangladesh, Mr. Iliyas Ahmed, Chief Executive, Telecom Authority of Maldives; Mr. Michael Kuehner, CEO, Aktel, Bangladesh; Mr. Vsevolod Rozanov, CEO, Sistema Shyam Teleservices India; Mr. Sultan Ul Arfeen,Chairman, Telecard, Pakistan; Mr. Anand Raj Khanal, Director & Secretary, NepalTelecommunications Authority, Nepal. Mr. Ahmed Nadeem Syed, Director Interconnect & Regulatory Economics, Mobilink, Pakistan, among others.

About 100 key regulators, operators, telecom equipment makers, and VAS players in the region will together embark on a journey in the quest of possible solutions to the biggest concerns of the telecom industry.

Last year's event in Hyderabad saw the top-notches from the industry talking about 'Telecom 2.0', focusing on operators' initiatives to expand networks and services to cater to the virgin markets in tier-2 and tier-3 locations and rural geographies.

Back in 2006, VOICE&DATA initiated a unique movement of bringing together the key decision makers representing each country at the industry forum, SAARC Telecom Advisory Council (STAC), which would work towards giving telecom industry in the region a voice at the international forum. Over the past few years the STAC has been talking about giving SAARC a strong voice in international forums. But a lot has to come from operators. One big challenge that the region today faces is high intra SAARC international call tariffs. The vendors and users in the SAARC must be able to communicate with each other without having to spend a huge amount and that will only happen if the members decide to slash the ISD and roaming rates in the region. Though there have been some efforts made in this direction, they are minuscule. This year the group on the round table will deliberate how feasible is it to bring the tariffs down further and if it would make a profitable business case.

While the industry is talking about innovation, the operators will have to explore newer business models. With 3G and WiMax coming into the some of SAARC countries, content is going to play an important role in the success of these technologies. Localization of the content calls for a lot of work both on the creative and technological front.

The conclave is the ultimate platform to network with the industry bigwigs and share industry sentiments. Join us at Dhaka.

archanasi@cybermedia.co.in