Dubai Internet City announced official ICT partner for IPTV Forum Middle East and Africa 2010

Dubai Internet City (DIC) today announced it is the official ICT partner and an exhibitor for the second consecutive year at the IPTV Forum Middle East and Africa, the largest conference and exhibition for the IPTV and telecom industry.

Organised by Informa Telecoms and Media, the fourth edition of the event is being held from 2-3 November at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai.

The conference and exhibition brings participants from various verticals including telecom service providers, handset manufacturers, Internet and cable operators/DTH (direct to home) service providers, broadcasting vendors, content owners and aggregators. It also brings together software providers and operations support systems (OSS)/billing vendors, IPTV software and solution vendors, set-top box manufacturers, IPTV middle ware (that controls customer interaction with the service), content, media, entertainment companies as well as representatives from the regional telecom regulatory bodies.

Malek Al Malek, Managing Director, Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource Zone, said: “The relevance of IPTV technology and solutions reflects the growth of broadband in the region. With the increasing adoption of broadband, popularity of IPTV-related technologies will witness a manifold rise in the coming future.

“In the region, enterprises are making significant investments towards upgrading telecom infrastructure to facilitate future growth and the adoption of broadband-based products and solutions. Considering the growth potential for such solutions in the country, Dubai Internet City is supporting the event for the second successive year.”

Speakers at the event include top executives from the industry such as Khalifa Al Shamsi, Senior Vice-President – Marketing, Etisalat, UAE; Eng. Saad Dhafer Al Qahtani, VP – Residential Sector Services, STC, Saudi Arabia; Samer Geissah, Vice President – Network Development – Core Networks, du, UAE; Dr. Akil Al Akil, Vice-President and Head of Regulatory Affairs, Mobily, Saudi Arabia; Cliff Nelson, SVP, OSN (Orbit Showtime Network), UAE; Rudolf Kogler, Head of Product Engineering (inc IPTV), Multichoice, South Africa; and Cedric L. A. Vansteenkiste, General Manager, Strategic Products, Omantel, Oman.

Gavin Whitechurch, Research Director for IP&TV World Series, Informa Telecoms & Media, said: “We are delighted to have the continued support of Dubai Internet City for IP&TV Middle East & Africa 2010. By pooling our resources and working together we are able to elevate the message of the ever-expanding OTT (over the top) and IPTV services within the MEA region and invite companies to attend the event to see the latest market offerings that are available and meet the major decision makers from the region.”

According to Point Topic, the UK-based industry analysts, and Broadband Forum, global consultants, the growth in broadband subscription witnessed an upswing during the first quarter of 2010, supported in part by healthy DSL growth in every region as well as strong fibre rollouts in Asia and aggressive IPTV service offerings.

The figures show global broadband lines now top 484 million lines (484,788,597), representing a 3.12% growth in the quarter and 12.41% until the end of 1Q 2010. The first quarter growth rate demonstrates a swelling of positive growth for worldwide broadband even as the number of IPTV subscribers has risen to 36.3 million.

China topped the IPTV growth market with over five million lines, while South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong were among the top 10 countries during Q1 2010. The Americas’ market share grew to 18.17%, representing the only other region to increase its share, while the Middle East and Africa region is beginning to show dynamic growth for the first time with numbers from the UAE and Egypt contributing significantly to a record quarter.

The region-wide growth is also reflected within Dubai Internet City as telecom continues to remain the fastest growing sector with the presence of market leaders such as Singtel, AT&T, Verizon and British Telecom.