ANDICOM 2009, the Preferred Event of the Region's ICT Industry, is Now Underway

The ANDICOM Telecommunications Conference shall take place October 28-30

* Throughout the 24-year history of this Conference, CINTEL has been able to
present great visionaries in the development of ICTs, identify strategic
partners at an international level, generate synergies among different key
players and sectors in order to achieve the multi-sector potential of ICTs, as
well as have the government, academics and the industry gather in one single
location.
* ANDICOM is divided into four topical segments: the Central Academic Forum, the
Business Forum, the Exhibits, and the Business Roundtables.
* In addition to these segments, ANDICOM will conduct the Congress of the
Operators` Association of Subscription and Satellite Television of Colombia
(TVPC) and the European Community Cooperation Conferences (Hall +).

CARTAGENA DE INDIAS, Colombia--(Business Wire)--
With the presence of the Minister of Information and Communication Technologies,
Ms. María del Rosario Guerra, and with the participation of more than 70
international-caliber lecturers, 100 companies, and more than 2,700 attendees,
the preferred event of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
industry will have its start on Wednesday, October 28th: the ANDICOM 2009
Telecommunications Conference, which is celebrating its 24th edition.

This event, which shall take place October 28th through 30th, shall be brought
to a close by the President of the Republic, Álvaro Uribe Vélez.

For three days, the Cartagena de Indias Convention Center shall be ground zero
for the ICT industry; a place to learn of all the latest trends that are
defining this industry's global trajectory, to make direct contact with
providers of technological solutions, to share experiences with
international-caliber lecturers, and to participate in a business roundtable to
which participating companies shall have access.

Recognized as the most important regional event of the ICT industry, an event
that has brought more than 20,000 visitors from all five continents to the
Heroic Capital since 1995, ANDICOM 2009 will be hosting France as its Guest
Country of Honor.

As expressed by Manuel Martínez Niño, Director of the Telecommunications
Research Center (CINTEL) which is the entity organizing this Conference, ANDICOM
has been set up as the academic and business meeting point for the key players
of the public and private sectors of the ICT industry in Latin America.

The Conference's main theme shall revolve around the slogan "Times of Change...
Times for Opportunities". With the same positive and future-oriented vision that
has characterized every edition of the Conference, ANDICOM is the starting point
where the topics of the Central Academic Forum shall be raised, where the new
business models for the production of content and services, the new vision for
broadband, satellite and security communications, the development of mobile
phones, policies, regulation and ICTs as fundamental elements in improving the
quality of life of citizens, shall be the topics explored by national and
international experts during the three days.

Participants shall share experiences, strategies and public and private
alliances, they shall meet with providers of solutions, learn the trends of
products and services during a year that is bringing profound changes to the
industry: The new ICT Law, the creation of the National Spectrum Agency, new
control and monitoring environment within the framework of legal reforms
pertaining to user competence and protection, 15 years of mobile telephony
operations, 3G mass penetration and evolution to 4G, the interrelationship
between mobile telephony and digital TV, the choosing of the digital terrestrial
television standard (DVB, Digital Video Broadcasting), the National Television
Commission (CNTV) studies the adjudication of a third private channel and has
approved contract extensions for the other two private channels, the Cooperation
Agreement between France and Colombia for development of the ICT industry and
Postal Services, among other topics.

Central Academic Forum

The Central Academic Forum is located at the place where lecturers of known
national and international caliber, who will be making high-level academic
presentations, shall explore the topics that are having the greatest impact on
the development of the ICT industry.

ANDICOM 2009 shall offer topical tracks that will be approached from different
perspectives: business, regulation, markets, technology and society:

1. Mobile communications:

- The mobile terminal has become a piece of equipment that allows, as part of
its traditional functions such as voice traffic, access to the Internet,
generating an increase in data traffic. This situation requires us to define
strategies for management of the mobile services business, particularly as it
pertains to spectrum requirements, bandwidth, the use of mobile broadband, and
also to carry out a meticulous identification of the applications and contents
demanded by its users, as well as those applications that are directly offered
by the suppliers of intelligent terminals or Smartphone's, among others.

- CINTEL, together with 3G Americas, and in its position as Conference Partner,
has structured the thematic track "Increasing benefits in a continuously
evolving mobile panorama", so that topics such as "Where is the mobile services
business heading" shall be explored with the participation of important industry
leaders, in terms of voice and data packaging, 3G mass penetration strategy and
evolution to 4G, with a focus on the segments of pre-payment and post-payment,
and how mobile telephony, digital TV, digital radio, and other value-added
applications are interrelated.

- Aside from this, rapid technological evolution is one of the topics that must
be explored at ANDICOM, especially as it pertains to the spectrum requirements
that are necessary for new broadband applications and the evolution of
intelligent devices to support new applications.

- We would like to highlight the participation of national and international
operators such as Telecom Personal de Argentina and TIGO, as well as the
presence of RIM Blackberry, Ericsson, Microsoft and Sony Ericsson. In addition,
Gemalto and Redeban Multicolor will make a presentation on the evolution of
mobile financial services in Latin America.

2. The business of digital media: content and services:

- This topic will be developed with a focus on the business opportunities
offered by the generation, management and supply of audiovisual content and
interactive services. This academic session includes the presentation of
national and international experiences, where topics such as the challenges and
difficulties of digital radio and video will be explored.

- It will also present instances of success in the development of businesses
based on the optimization of technological resources, which shall allow
attendees to learn of strategies and lessons learned from the success of Google
and the presidential campaign of Barack Obama.

- Aside from this, regulatory aspects shall be covered through the exploration
of international experiences in the regulation and auto-regulation of content,
for which purpose CINTEL has assembled the Presidents of the Association for the
Auto-regulation of Commercial Communications of Spain, the National Television
Commission (CNTV), the Superior Audiovisual Council (CSA) of France, the
National Association of Communication Media (Asomedios), the Operators'
Association of Subscription and Satellite Television of Colombia (TVPC), the
Colombian Union of Advertising Companies (UCEP), the Association of Television
Programmers of Latin America (TAPLAT), and of Brigard & Urrutia.

- Parallel to this and complementing this set-up, the Subscription Television
Session, organized by the TVPC, shall be carried out as the "Partner Event" of
ANDICOM 2009. "This will be an ideal place to evaluate the new television model
for Colombia, which shall allow us to assess the future path of the industry
from different perspectives: economic, technological, regulatory and social",
said Alfredo Deluque Zuleta, Executive President of TVPC.

3. U-LIFE

- Technology Oriented Toward Viable and Profitable Well-Being. Topics such as
the Internet of the Future, E-learning, the educational revolution enabled by
information technologies, the fostering of informational development in Latin
America, and the relationship of citizens to the State using ICTs and the
eco-sustainability that could be profitably achieved will be covered by national
and international experts among whom the following stand out: Daniel Kofman,
Professor at the Paris Tech Telecom Institute; Peter Tittenberger, Director of
the Center for Learning Technologies - University of Manitoba; representatives
of international organizations such as the OAS, ITU, the World Bank and the
IADB.

4. Beyond broadband: a new vision.

This track, in which the presidents of the operating companies ETB, Telmex,
Internexa and UNE will be present, will allow attendees to learn about the
vision of these executives when faced with the new business models that allow
for optimization of fixed and mobile broadband, as well as the possible
interaction between these access modes and the new technologies in this area.

5. Policies and Regulation:

The regulatory environment within the framework of ICT Law, and the control and
monitoring environment within the framework of legal reforms as pertains to
competition and user protection, are topics that will be explored by their key
players: the Executive Director of the Communications Regulation Commission
(CRC) and the Superintendent of Industry and Commerce (SIC). We will also be
graced with the participation of the Minister of Information and Communication
Technologies of Colombia, which will allow attendees of the ANDICOM Conference
to learn, in one single location, about the course that the industry is taking
from the Government's point of view.

Other academic activities

Similarly, other academic activities shall take place within the scope of
ANDICOM 2009, among which are seminars on "Satellites: Applications and New
Services" and "Trends in communications for safety", and a seminar on "Trends on
the use and management of the spectrum".

ANDICOM will also sponsor a TechnoDigital Workshop seminar entitled "Journalism,
Technology and Citizen Services", in which approximately 40 national and
regional journalists will take part, and will exchange views on the effect that
the digital world has on the activities of communication professionals.

In addition, a Cooperation Session on collaboration in Technological Research
and Development (R&D) between the European Union and Colombia will take place:
Hall +. Conceived as a "Support Action" (SA) financed by the European
Commission, the Hall+ Project will foster international cooperation in the area
of networked audiovisual technologies (Networked Electronic Media - NEM) among
researchers, technological centers, companies, universities and European and
Colombian experts.

With this goal, the session is creating an exceptional framework to foster
project proposals within the scope of programs for collaborative R&D support,
such as the Seventh Framework Program of the European Commission (which has a
budget of more than 9 billion euros at its disposal for the period 2007-2013,
destined for ICT), in which Colombian companies can participate alongside
European ones.

Exhibits and Business Forum

As it does every year, ANDICOM 2009 is offering an important commercial
exhibition with the participation of 100 companies that demonstrate, in this
manner, their trust in this event. There will also be conferences on industry
innovations in the Business Forum.

Business Roundtable

For the third consecutive year there will be a Business Roundtable which, this
time around, will be facilitated through an online platform for the Conference's
national and international participants. This methodology, used by macro
business roundtables, is intended to enable interested parties to directly plan
meetings without any middlemen, ensuring in this way that the needs of the
parties are in agreement at all times.

This great academic encounter is the basis for joint work that has to be carried
out by all, where the management and development of the ICTs must be the
starting point and must be complemented with a good strategy that is centered on
an appropriate focus. This way, high economic, social and technological levels
can be achieved that will allow us to compete in the big markets.

For more information: www.andicom.org.co. Telephone: +57 1 6353538.

About CINTEL

The Telecommunications Research Center of Colombia (CINTEL) has as its
fundamental mission the promotion and fostering of the development of
Information and Communication Technologies. It is comprised of several members,
among which are telecommunications operators, universities and governmental
entities. Its Management Board is presided by the Minister of Communications of
Colombia.

Some of its goals are: to study and assimilate emerging technological trends
with the goal of disseminating and analyzing their implementation; to offer room
to all key players in the industry to discuss and analyze the economic, market,
social, political and technological aspects that affect or influence the
development of the industry; to promote the development of projects of interest
in the sector; to provide specialized technical assistance; and to inform on the
state and trends in telecommunications in our nation and in the world.
Additional information is available at http://www.cintel.org.co

The original source-language text of this announcement is the official,
authoritative version. Translations are provided as an accommodation only, and
should be cross-referenced with the source-language text, which is the only
version of the text intended to have legal effect.

ADDITIONAL PRESS INFORMATION
TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH CENTER (CENTRO DE INVESTIGACIÓN DE LAS
TELECOMUNICACIONES) - CINTEL
Telephone:+ 57 1 635 3538
Amilde Frías, Professional Project Manager-Journalist
Ext. 143. Cell + 57 3002160717
E-mail: afrias@cintel.org.co
Olga Garcés. Professional Project Manager-Journalist
Ext. 166. Cell + 57 315 6023539
E-mail: ogarces@cintel.org.co
Susana Velásquez, Professional Project Manager-Journalist
Cell + 57 317 7700207
E-mail: svelasquez@cintel.org.co
Eduardo Rodríguez, Communications Consultant
Cell + 57 300 2132592
E-mail: edurod@cintel.org.co

Copyright Business Wire 2009