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March 31, 2000 21:26
SAO PAULO, Brazil, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Three events held simultaneously in Sao Paulo last week -- Telexpo
(International Telecommunications, Networks and Business Internet Convention and Exhibition); InterExpo (International
Corporate Internet Solutions Convention and Exhibition); and InvestNet Forum (Meeting of Investors and Entrepreneurs in
the New Digital Economy) -- all promoted and organized by Advanstar Brasil, was just the right measure to turn the Expo
Center Norte Exhibition Complex into the main corporate negotiations center of the South American market in just four
days. More than 80,000 visitors, including executives and professionals from a large variety of economic sectors, had the
chance to analyze, discover, and even close deals with the 650 exhibitors on the state-of-the-art global high technology
during the events.
The exhibition's success and potential for domestic telephony caught even Telexpo's promoters by surprise. "I am truly
astounded by what I observed during these four days at Telexpo in Sao Paulo", said Joe Flynn, Director of Technology
Events for Advanstar Communications. "Of the 120-plus events that we promote worldwide, Telexpo is already the second
largest after the MAGIC Fashion event in Las Vegas. The high-tech sector is without a doubt, among the most popular of all
of our events, and has been receiving special attention from our company."
Carlos Eduardo Goncalves, Advanstar Brasil's General Director, celebrated the event's success and announced the dates for
next year's event, which will occur March 20-23 at the Expo Center Norte in Sao Paulo. He also said that 80% of next
year's exhibition space has already been reserved. "We will also increase the available area at InterExpo, which was
extraordinary successful in its first year", he concluded.
Drawn by the new technologies, a multitude of businessmen, industry professionals and media representatives filled the
hallways of the event's five pavilions and three annexes, which encompassed a total of 570,000 square feet.
Companies invested heavily to attract attention. For example, Motorola invited the entire Sao Paulo Futebol Clube soccer
team to autograph t-shirts and to meet visitors in its booth. Its effort and investment seem to have worked, since Motorola
announced the closing of a letter of intention for the sale of over one million cellular terminals to Telesp Celular. According to
Gilson Rondinelli, General Director of Telesp Celular in Brazil, "the agreement should reach US$ 200 million in 2000."
Silvio Stagni, Motorola's Operations Director in Brazil, declared, "This is the largest commercial agreement in CDMA
cellular terminals that Motorola has signed this year." The equipment will be supplied with a web browser that allows mobile
phone users to access the Internet on their phone's display.
In a political lobbying effort, the company joined the group of North American companies formed by Qualcomm, Ericsson,
Lucent, Nortel and Nec, which are competing with European companies Alcatel, Siemens, Nokia, Inepar and Intelig, to
obtain the country's C-Band contract. Anatel, the Brazilian National Telecommunications Agency, will announce its decision
on the C-band before the end of the April. The government will be deciding whether to adopt the 1.8 MHz bandwidth
(GSM -- European standard), or the 1.9MHz bandwidth (TDMA and CDMA, American standards), as well as which
companies will be awarded contracts to explore this market, worth an estimated US$10 billion. Anatel's President, Renato
Guerreiro, said that the selection would be based on the needs of the Brazilian people. "We will be ta |
