Iridium LLC, an international consortium of telecoms and industrial groups, showed off its global one number' personal communications system. The system will combine the worldwide reach of 66 low-earth-orbit satellites with land-based wireless systems to enable communication from one number' handsets anywhere on earth. The competitive advantage of Mobile Satellites offers the customer base more services, increasing the loyalty of your customer base,' said Craig Bond, Iridium's Vice President of Market Development. The key issue is access. With Mobile Satellite Systems you have complete and unprecedented coverage to make and receive calls. The quality of service is the most important factor and the least is price,' he said. 
 
Harris Farinon, a world leader in the manufacture and supply of microwave radio equipment and service, announced a deal signed at Arabcom 98 with LibanCell, a leading Lebanese cellular operator to expand its extensive network in the Middle East. LibanCell expects to grow its capacity to accommodate 250,000 subscribers by using MicroStar Plus 38 GHz flat antenna radios. Denis Cote, Harris Farinon's Vice President of Marketing and Sales, said: This project demonstrates Farinon Division's continued leadership in developing new microwave technologies to help cellular companies in emerging markets deploy and grow reliable systems.' 

Kuwaiti company Gulfsat provides world class satellite communication services using VSAT Earth Stations across the world. At Arabcom it demonstrated its applications in the fields of Government and Oil industries, manufacturing and distribution, banking, finance, education, transportation and medical. Products included Integrated Satellite Business Network for TDMA services and Telephony Earth Station for voice, data and ISDN. 

Glenayre demonstrated its equipment and software in the wireless PCS market and public network service markets. This included the Intelligis product family offering enhanced services on a single platform, calling card services and operational support systems optimising support systems. IT also showed off its paging infrastructure and the ERMES European Radio Messaging System. Mike Dunne, of Glenayre, outlined the benefits of two-way paging systems. The benefit of two-way paging is that the user is in control of communications device and not the other way round - unlike cellular phones,' he said. 

France Telecom, the world's fourth-largest telecommunications operator displayed its data wireless and on-line and Internet services. It also showed off its smart payphone technology as well as its cellular network in Lebanon, FTML which now covers 95% of the Lebanese populated areas.  

Alongside these is the GlobalOne international joint venture between France Telecom, Deutsche Telekom and Sprint, which provided visitors to Arabcom 98 with a look at the company's world-class data solutions. 

These solutions, including the company's flagship Global Frame Relay and Global X.25, as well as its new Global Intranet and Internet solutions, were on full view. The Global Call Center offers a convenient way to manage inbound an outbound calls, routing calls from local phone numbers to a regional call center. Its Global Calling Card allows customers to bill calls from phones worldwide to their Global One account. We are pleased to participate in Arabcom 98 and to demonstrate how Global One data solutions can help businesses throughout this important region become more competitive and cost-effective,' said Joe Shehadeh, Global One General Manager for the Middle East and North Africa. Global One has introduced the first electronic messaging system, the first frame relay network and the first Internet network in the Middle East. 

Sodetel is another group at Arabcom with investments from France Telecom, Lebanese Ministry of Post & Telecom & Italtel. The Lebanon-based company demonstrated its Libanpac system, the sole national packet switching data network, which offers a wide range of data transmission services. It also provides Internet network and public payphones.  

SR Telecom is pioneer in point-to-Multipoint, TDMA, Digital Microwave Systems. Its products demonstrated at Arabcom enabled some of the most isolated regions in the world to get up-to-date communications, ideal for parts of the Arab world. As SR Telecom Manager Jerry Wight says, We are active in a number of Arab countries and are looking to expand our presence and our sales people have made excellent contacts that will open up new doors for us as well as give us an opportunity to go back to our existing customers and tell them what's new with what our company is doing. We've had both sides and we're very happy with what we've seen.' 
 
 

Sirti is an Italian group which specializes in telecommunications systems and is already active in Lebanon. Since 1994, when the PTT Ministry launched a product in order to carry out a new telephone network, Sirti has made available 420,000 lines and 56 fibre optic links in Beirut and Mount Lebanon. It has also extended fibre optic links and provided the backbone between Beirut and Sidon. Sirti also has its own product which it exhibited at Arabcom 98 - a software model system dedicated to design, planning and operation of telecoms networks, whether copper pair or fibre optic. We have installed many communications platforms in the Middle East, especially South Africa, Oman, Egypt and Libya - we also built up all Saudi Arabian long distance communications. Arabcom is important because it is the first major event in the area dedicated solely to telecommunications,' said Sirti General Manager Giordano Perni. 

Motorola used Arabcom to cement its reputation as a leader in the field of data communications, particularly cellular telephony. Among its products on display was the IDEN i600 cellular phone service, which offers features such as VibraCall, enabling you to be discreetly notified of incoming calls. The Alternate Phone Line facility lets users keep their business and personal calls separate, while three-way calling provides the convenience of conference calling. Motorola's regional office in Dubai allows it to provide solid local support to customers throughout the Arab world.  

International Turnkey Systems has a strong presence in the Arab world, with partnering agreements with four out of six GCC telecoms service providers for strategic mission critical solutions. Three out of seven operators in the Middle East rely on ITS for their customer care and billing systems. At Arabcom 98 ITS displayed its telecommunications administration and billing system, its systems integration capabilities and networking and data communication. Saad el-Barak, ITS Managing Director & General Manager, used Arabcom to outline his message that organisations in the region need to be responsive to change. The world is at a new stage, there is a new fait accompli,' he said. The world is changing rapidly but the key question is are we ready to face the wind of change.' 

Dar Al-Handasah Consultancy is a multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy established in Beirut. Its telecommunications excellency includes fields such as switching system design and satellite network planning. At Arabcom it espoused its philosophy of advanced techniques, state of the art technology, optimisation and economic justification to suit the environment. Most of all, says Dar Al-Handasah Telecommunication Director Dr Paul Doany, Arab countries need to spend time developing strategy. It is the burden of governments to make this happen,' said Dr Doany. Turning to the need for the region to liberalise its telecommunications operations, The reality of doing liberalisation is tough - you've got to put in place strategies and policies, the legal framework with a transportation system to attract investors. Public offerings can be a good vehicle to do this like in the GCC states, some like Jordan have gone for strategic foreign partners. But in the end liberalisation pays off because the state makes more money from taxes and other revenue generation,' said Dr Doany.  

The Alcatel stand - perhaps the biggest at Arabcom 98 - showed offthe company's leading edge in data transmission. Of particular interest to visitors was the SkyBridge system which allows broadband access to interactive services via satellite. We face a race against time as analysts predict over $75 billion in investment in broadband satellite systems by 2010,' said Herve Sorre of Alcatel. Our firm is in a good position to help newcomers. SkyBridge is a competitive solution to deliver high quality communication on a global scale with quick and low cost deployment of telecommunications infrastructure.' The main target is interactive broadband services allowing quick access to Internet and on-line services. The global broadband communication system uses a constellation of 64 low earth orbiting satellites, due to be introduced in 2001. Other systems on display included GSM cellular mobile systems, network integration and support and narrowband and broadband digital switching. 

Ericsson Swedish telecoms giant also had a big presence at Arabcom 98. The Internet loomed large in the company's display, and it offered a number of new products and services in this field. One such is Ericsson's new Phone Doubler service, which allows simultaneous access to Internet and telephone services over a single analogue/ISDN line. Says Hani Madani, Product Marketing Manager at Ericsson: Phone Doubler allows calls to be forwarded to an internal Voice gateway which produces a signal on the user's PC who then decides whether or not to accept the call. If he does, then around 13Kb is allocated for the voice call, and the rest give to continued Internet usage.' Ericsson also showed off its Home Internet Solution, which also allows users to use the Internet and make phone calls at the same time by keeping them on-line all the time. Customers receive a constant on-line connection while simultaneously being able to use their phones, with no time-consuming dial-ups and fast data transfer about four times the speed of most modems. Other products displayed were an ISDN videophone, a fixed cellular GSM system and the ClimSel cooling equipment solution. 

Digital Microwave Corporation took the opportunity of Arabcom 98 to demonstrate its growing presence in the Arab world. The US maker of digital microwave radios designed for use in cellular telephone systems, fixed public network and other telecoms applications, exhibited its DMC Net Management System for managing and controlling whole networks composed of a large number of digital microwave radios. It runs on a standard PC and presents an intuitive series of embedded screens monitoring activity on the network in real-time in addition to providing historical database information for later analysis. The company also announced it was entering the SDH market with its Altium radio, and the ADM Fibrenex solution will bring solutions for GSM operators and private networks. 

ERSS showed its specialization in GIS and Remote Sensing Services at Arabcom. This Egypt based Arab company acts as a distributor for satellite images and implements projects. It applies state of the art investigative and engineering to techniques to implement cost-effective solution to a range of environmental problems. Products included its Erdas software for satellite image processing. Said ERSS executive Mervat el-Jessri, We had one main aim in coming to Arabcom - to meet customers from other Arab countries. We also are interested in the opportunities the Lebanese market provides, especially as remote sensing is developing so rapidly.' 
 
 

Data Management Lebanese Internet company was the official Internet Service Provider of Arabcom 98, and was much in demand from visitors who enquired about its Internet services such as fax to email, email to fax, Internet roaming and fax to fax over the Internet. Surfers could even go shopping on its on-line shopping mall www.madeinloubnan.com.  

Arabsat ,Aerospatiale is one of the world's main satellite makers. One of the main examples in Arabcom is Arabsat satellite - all built in our facilities. Interest to be here is mainly to renew the contact with Arabsat and also for direct contact with potential customers of Arabsat,' said Aerospatiale's Monfort Bruno. The contract is for the construction of a satellite to be delivered in two years. Arabsat is responsible for the operation of the Arab space segment serving the needs of public and private sectors in the field of space communications. Arabsat said it is planning to launch new digital services serving rural and remote areas using small size earth stations.  

MCI US communications giant showed for demonstration its Videoconferencing and Internet services. In Lebanon we are also offering customers a pre-paid calling card,' MCI executive Noel Safi said. Arabcom's advantage is that it lets Lebanese people find out what's going on in the fields of technology and communications and the Internet.' 

Many other companies and organisations had strong displays at the Beirut Hall. 

Andrew Corporation featured a selection of products for cellular, PCN, private microwave and rural telephony applications including its Newcellular base stations for GSM/PCN.  

TESAM presented Globalstar a global mobile satellite telecommunications system.TEASM is a joint venture between France Telecom and Alcatel to promote GlobalStar, and market it systems internationally.1998 Commercial Launch of the Globalstar Services. 

GPTC Lybia and Al Madar Lybia came especially to ARABCOM through several ways in order to interact with exhibitors and visitors. The Heart is still beating. 

IARU & RAL, International Amateur Radio Union alongside with the Lebanese Radio Amateur participated in a stand promoting their aims and goals.  

Caffe Net a newly established Internet coffee in the region promoted it services and welcomed all the surfers. 

ArrayComm of the US won notice for its IntelliWave WLL system providing high capacity base stations with wireline quality services at low cost.  

CAMUSAT of France demonstrated its activities in turn-key installation systems as well as its radiobroadcast and TV services vices. 

Computamix, specialists in computer communication solutions over IP systems, had LAN Switches, Routers, voice and video over IP servers among others, and displayed its Gandalf products. 

Consultronics outlined its telecom test simulation and monitoring equipment for local lop access technologies. 

DitaComm showed off its excellence in the planning, design, integration and implementation of telecoms systems in Lebanon. 

Hitek magazine Unique Pan Arab / Lebanese Telecom magazine, and The show organiser, exhibited it latest issue. Awareness to our people.  

Electro Industries, a leading Saudi manufacturer of telecoms products, showed its many products.  

The ITU and ETSI also had stands, giving information about their regulatory roles and the importance of standards in the world of telecommunications.  

Liban Cable exhibited the latest products in cables and newest Technologies in manufacturing cables .  

Startec Global Communications Corporation demonstrated its long distance services in more than 200 countries across the globe.  

Syrian Korean Company, a joint venture between the Syrian Telecoms Establishment and Korean giant Samsung, showed its expertise in the data communications and infrastructure field and the progress it is making in Syria.  

The Vega Investment Group , Pioneers in Telecom field, services on show included engineering studies design and operation of telecoms projects.