Q3/2019 - ITU World Telecom
Budapest, 8 – 12 September 2019
The ITU World Telecom – a telecommunications fair and conference – held every four years was attended by 4,000 representatives from 125 states. The conference was opened by ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The theme of the conference was “Innovating Together: Connectivity that Matters”. The major issues of discussion were the future of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, 5G airships and drones, green 5G, mobile communication and programs of digital education and training.
A special focus was on the further development of frequency spectrum use. At the "Regulators' Dialogue" it was discussed how governments and industry can achieve an optimal mix that uses both terrestrial and space-based frequencies and provides optimal Internet access in the 5G range to metropolitan areas as well as to sparsely populated rural areas, especially in Africa. Innovative solutions could be rendered by so-called High Altitude Platform Systems (HAPS) as well as by small satellites and the Low Earth Orbit (LEOs) satellites. The ITU World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19) will take place from 28 October to 22 November 2019 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt[1].
At the conference, a range of newly sponsored awards was granted, especially for innovation in small and medium-sized businesses. These included the “Global SME Excellence Award”, which went to Immersion4 from Switzerland, and the “Best Business Model” award, which was received by Vokacom from Ghana[2].