ITU Telecom World expo shifts in response to economic crisis

The ITU Telecom World exhibition has returned to Geneva after a visit to Hong Kong in 2006 -- and has brought many Asian exhibitors back with it. There are also signs that the way some companies are using the show is shifting.

The booths of China Mobile, ZTE and Datang Telecom Group loom over the entrance to the main hall, alongside those of NTT DoCoMo and Fujitsu, while upstairs Huawei Technologies and Samsung Electronics booths dwarf that of Cisco Systems, which has more meeting rooms than products on display.

"Ten months ago, people were urging us to cancel the event," said Hamadoun Touré, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union, which organizes the exhibition and the policy forum that runs alongside it.

The pessimists feared that the show would attract neither exhibitors nor visitors, as companies slashed marketing budgets and cut back on business travel in the midst of the economic downturn.

While the show is noticeably smaller than previous editions -- it only occupies Halls 2, 4 and 5 of the sprawling seven-hall Palexpo exhibition center, with some yawning gaps between stands, Touré is satisfied.

"It's a good show, despite the crisis," he said. The ITU still expects 40,000 visitors at this year's show; 82,000 turned up at the last Geneva event, in 2003.

This year, around half the show is occupied by national pavilions: Saudi Arabia has the biggest, followed by those of Spain and Russia. Other European nations, including Belgium, France and the U.K., also have pavilions, but by far the most numerous are those of the African nations: Burundi, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

Microsoft and IBM have booths, but you'd barely notice. The biggest company stands are those of the Asian network operators and equipment manufacturers, with the U.S. and Western European countries keeping a low profile.

This domination of the show floor is not down to size alone: It's also about tactics. Russia deployed what looked like an army of violinists dressed mostly in sequins on its stand on Monday. There were actually only three of them, but their effect was magnified by loud music and the multiple video walls on the booth.

China Unicom has taken a similar route, with the logo of its 3G mobile brand, Wo, swirling and pulsing hypnotically across the walls and even the ceiling of its booth.

ZTE has taken a more traditional route, with glass cases full of mobile phones, modems and cellular base stations. Similar exhibits fill the stands at NTT DoCoMo and Samsung.

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