Pacific Partners Meeting, 2nd Asian Carriers Conference
Asia-Pacific telco executives converge in Cebu
September 6, 2006 - More than 300 delegates from 100 telecommunications companies in the Asia-Pacific region recently gathered in Cebu City for one week to discuss trends in the industry, as well as pursue business collaborations.
Industry giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) hosted the mid-year Pacific Partners Meeting (PPM) held on August 27 to 30, and the 2nd Asian Carriers Conference (ACC), August 30 to September 2. Both were held at Shangri-La Mactan Island Resort and Spa in Mactan Island, Cebu.
“We in the telecommunications business have been swept forward by disruptive technologies that it is easy for us to forget that the world until recently was a very large place. Powerful technologies and applications are shrinking our planet into a much more compact and tightly interconnected world,” said Rogelio V. Quevedo, head for Wholesale Business Group at PLDT and its wireless subsidiary, Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART), at the opening dinner for the PPM.
“ACC is a big opportunity to meet and deepen our partnerships,” said Stephane Dartige Du Fournet, vice-president, Carrier Sales AMEA, Networks, Carriers & IT Division at France Telecom, during the welcome dinner for ACC delegates. France Telecom was a co-sponsor.
“We have many challenges in our business, as well as opportunities. We have next generation networks, fixed mobile convergence, and wireless broadband. The industry is now far more complex, but full of potential,” added Don J. Rae, chief operating officer at PLDT.
Vice presidents, directors and senior managers of 14 top Asia-Pacific telecommunications carriers had a blast in true festive Sinulog fashion during the welcome dinner of the PPM held at the Ocean Pavilion of Shangri-la Mactan. Sinulog is Cebu’s biggest and most popular feast in honor of the Santo Niño, which attracts throngs of foreign and local tourists every January.
Almost 300 delegates of the ACC, meanwhile, were treated to a Barrio Fiesta during the welcome dinner. Barrio Fiesta is a Filipino traditional feast, where various local dishes and delicacies are laid out on banana leaves and clay pots under nipa hut-type stalls.
One of the founding members, PLDT last hosted a mid-year PPM 10 years ago. The Pacific Partners principals have met in Hawaii every January since 1988.
In 1993, the group added a mid-year meeting, hosted on a rotational basis among the members, in order to keep up with the pace of change in the telecommunications industry.
PLDT hosted the 1st ACC last year, and is now an annual event. “The ACC will provide a venue for consultations among colleagues on how the wholesale carrier business can be transformed amid the challenges that new technologies such as VoIP present,” said Quevedo.
PLDT, SMART and France Telecom were major sponsors of the ACC. Other sponsors include PCCW, Teleglobe, Belgacom, Sprint, IDT, Verizon, KT, iBasis, Bayantel, Deutsche Telekom, and ComputerTel.
Among the major companies that attended the PPM and ACC are AT&T, BT&T, China Telecom, Chunghwa Telecom, Global Crossing, Japan Telecom, Maxis Communications Bhd, Mobileone, NTT Communications, REACH, SingTel, Starhub, Telecom New Zealand, Telekom Italia Sparkle, Telwise Corp., TM International, Vietnam Telecom, VSNL/ Teleglobe, and Wind Telecomunicazioni.