Convergence of telecom and media /5.07.2006

Dan BEDROS: Of course all here at this table are now competitors, now partners.
But we have a common element: the market.
And the rules are made by customers, not always by us.
Ericsson’s vision is shared by most of the suppliers.
Alcatel focussed more on ADSL and fixed lines. Here we are the leader.
Available statistics say that mobile traffic will be 60% voice, 25% SMS and 15% image for the next 3 years.
The mobile is an extension of the office.
Convergence is imminent. There will be no difference between fixed and mobile networks.
One of the reasons Alcatel acquired Lucent was the positioning on the market, since Lucent has the most up to date IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) technology. IMS lays the foundation for mobile-fixed convergence.
I think we have a common future, media will invade communications and turn them into advertising media. All we will do will be to deliver the support. The business is in the media, that is where the money will come from.
We have to build the highways. What they put through them…

It is a spiraled evolution – each technology generates another tehnology.
Software vendors move very fast, what they create today you will not be able to use in 2 years.
That calls for different systems, so we bring new hardware.
So I think the market is very dynamic, particularly the growth in Romania, albeit from a small base of 10% fixed penetration in 1990.
But late starters which start have a clever politics see impressive growths, see Brasil, China, Asia, East Germany as compared to West Germany.