The inaugural IPTV World Forum Latin America event, held in Rio de Janeiro in January 2007, exceeded all expectations and reflected how IPTV has really caught the imagination of the Latin American market. (www.iptv-latinamerica.com)

The conference and exhibition at the Intercontinental Hotel welcomed over 600 visitors and 18 technology exhibitors to Brazil’s most famous city, with more than 30 speakers discussing business models, market outlook and service deployment issues.

On the first day of the conference speakers including David Price, the Vice President of Business Development for Harmonic Inc, assessed the technical requirements and business considerations which telcos face when investing in video, and also covered such topics as what telcos can expect from IPTV and provided a market overview.

The second day of the conference opened with a keynote speech by Loyd Benson, the President of Pioneer Telephone Cooperative, on cost-effective and practical lessons in deploying IP video services.  The second day also covered what types of services and content carriers can offer, and what the region’s viewers want to watch.

Participant response to the first IPTV World Forum Latin America was highly positive, and Marcos Antonio Mandarano, the Product Manager for Broadcaster and Multimedia Services for Comsat International, commented that, “the IPTV World Forum debut in Latin America... confirmed all the expectations that were created around this event.  The quality of speakers, the themes of each presentation and the exhibition area provided an exclusive experience for all the participants.  It was a really good opportunity for an update of IPTV technology and to develop new contacts with the industry.  We also can’t forget to highlight Junction Group for the event.  They did a great job supporting everyone (speakers and delegates) with all their needs”.

Marcelo Abreu, the Network Director of Uruguay’s National Administration of Telecommunications (Antel), observed, “The IPTV World Forum was a unique opportunity to meet providers, systems integrators, operators, consultants, content providers and regulators.  As a participant, it was great value to share experiences with people from different places with similar market trends. All the actors of this business were at this conference”.

IPTV World Forum Latin America is part of the IPTV World Series (www.iptvworldseries.com), which is a collection of market leading IPTV conferences and exhibitions that focus on the key marketing, business and technology challenges facing IPTV service providers.

Junction Group, the producers of IPTV World Forum Latin America, specialise in creating high-quality networking events, conferences and exhibitions within the digital technology sector, and are rapidly becoming market leaders.

Planning is already underway for the next IPTV World Forum Latin America event, which will be held on the 29th and 30th of January 2008 in the Intercontinental Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.