ITU Cancels European Regional Launch

The International Telecommunication Union has canceled the launch of ITU Telecom Europe, previously scheduled Dec. 3–6 at the Inter Expo Center in Sofia, Bulgaria.

"Naturally, the decision to cancel an event, is a disappointment," said ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure. "However, we feel that we have reached the best decision to all event stakeholders, given the constraints of time in which we found ourselves operating."

The ITU board of directors that took over in May made the decision. The board comprises top-level representatives from major global corporations and organizations, including Grant Sieffert, president of the U.S.-based Telecommunications Industry Assn., and Jianzhou Wang, chairman and CEO of China Mobile, to name a few.

According to a statement, the board canceled the event to "focus capacity and resources on upcoming ITU Telecom events, as well as a number of new initiatives." ITU Telecom Europe was to have been one in a series of regional events. Others that weren't canceled are ITU Telecom Africa and ITU Telecom Asia.

The cancellation of the Europe event isn't the only change planned for ITU's future. After holding its flagship event, ITU Telecom, in Geneva for 33 years, it will return there in 2009 following a relocation to AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong in 2006.

Cherif Moujabber, principal of Creative Expos and Conferences, said he thought the Europe event was most likely canceled because returning the main show to Geneva "negates the need for a regional show for Europe."

In 2003, when it was last held in Geneva, the triennial show attracted more than 900 exhibitors and 100,000 attendees.