Hello, I'm Nova, your virtual guide to the forthcoming ITU TELECOM ASIA 2002 Exhibition & Forum, and Hong Kong.

In your mind, Hong Kong might be a city of:

• neon lights,
• Kung-fu thrillers,
• won-ton noodle,
• skyscrapers, and
• 'dim-sum.'

Then you should come again and take a better look. Let me show you around; there's a whole lot more amazing marvels to uncover!

• Around-the-clock public transport.
• Buy-and-use mobile phonecards.
• Cash machines in the wall every fifty yards that connect to your bank at home.
• Super-cheap IDD and broadband.
• 24-hour business support in English and Chinese.
• Walk-our-talk business practice.
• Convenience stores everywhere if you feel like a drink or VCD in the middle of the night.
• Chain-stores full of electronic surprises.

Check us out! You'll soon find that the real Hong Kong is a whole lot larger than the dot on the world map.

Hong Kong Host Portal for ASIA 2002

Register Online Now!

You may already have thousands of business cards in your rolodex. Still, perhaps you can still do with these folks'.....

• leaders of ITU,
• important figures in the China telecom scene,
• major suppliers of technologies and equipment,
• ministers and policy makers, and
• key executives of major networks.

That said {chuckle} they may not have any because they don't need business cards at all.

Anyway, this December, 1st - 7th, I'll show you the largest card-trading event in the telecom industry. They could be 'must-haves' from new partners and old friends that moved on to another job, or 'negligibles' from faces that you can't recall. Either way, ITU TELECOM Asia 2002 is sure to boost your collection!

Forum Programme

Delegate Registration Forum

"3G," "MMS," "UTMF," "GPRS"... Had enough of people bluffing you with jargon? Come to our corner of the world and explore unusual ideas like these:

• Could email, SMS, and instant messaging ever compete with hand-written love letters for romance?
• Could wireless telecom close the cultural distance between the shaman in the Pacific island and the shepherd in the Everest?
• Wouldn't most traffic jams be more readily solved if I could report it with SMS?
• Does a method exist to painlessly teach my grandma about email?
• How do I survive without an Internet connection at places like Angkor Wat, where there is not even electricity?
• If an entire city makes calls at the same time, and brings down the mobile network, could it be considered a terrorist's attack?

Eminent University students from over 40 Asian countries will gather at the Youth Forum of ITU TELECOM Asia 2002 and share their views of telecom's future. Most of the visions will surely be far out but, who knows, some of them just might become real!

Youth Forum Mini Web Site

There's going to be a sea-side farewell party 20 minutes from town after the event-1,000 VIPs from all over the world in Hong Kong, the meeting point between the East and West!

I'll have more details about the farewell reception in the next issue of this e-newsletter!

After traveling all that distance, you'll want to get into town smoothly with your luggage, equipment, and documents. Look for the big sign that says ITU TELECOM Asia 2002 and experience Hong Kong's special hospitality for business visitors!

There'll be more detailed information about the event in the next issue -- to be released mid-November.