OREANDA-NEWS. 200 executives and employees of telecom industry players met to discuss the issues of evolution in telecommunications at TeleEvo 2007, TM Forum Eastern Europe Regional Summit sponsored by Ernst & Young, the company's press service informed.

For the second year, TeleEvo 2007 is helping regional operators stay fully informed of new developments in the telecoms world and be prepared to use new operational standards and management tools.

"The discussions at the Summit provided valuable strategic and operational insights to help regional players understand how global trends affect telecom businesses. Speakers outlined the basis of the competitive edge for 21st century providers, which includes availability of unified flexible network and IT infrastructure; clear customer segmentation – the ability to identify, gain, and retain targeted customer niches; and development of new business segments to enhance the existing business model, also based on strategic partnerships," said Vadim Balashov, Leader of Ernst & Young’s CIS Telecoms Practice.

"Eastern Europe is a vibrant, growing communications landscape filled with innovative service providers and increased competition," said Martin Creaner, TM Forum President. "We are excited to bring the Forum’s message of improved operational efficiency and increased productivity through standardization to the market."

The participants in TeleEvo 2007 included high-profile operators and organizations such as Amdocs, AT&T, Axiom, Breath, British Telecom, Connectiva, cVidya, Ernst & Young, EuskalTel, France Telecom, HP, i-conX solutions, IPDR.org, Kazakhtelecom, MegaFon, MTS, Patni Telecoms Consulting, PeterService, Probity Consulting, Scorecard Systems, Sicres Moldova, Sky Link, Superfon, Telefonica, Telcordia, TeliaSonera, TM Forum, TTI Telecom, Uralsvyazinform, VolgaTelecom, and VimpelCom.

Over 40 well-known experts and industry professionals spoke at the summit and the conference sessions, including Martin Creaner, TM Forum President; Cynthia Gordon, Vice President for Marketing, MTS; Jon Collins, Vice President, Strategy, Telcordia Technologies; Mikael Ahman, Senior Advisor for IT development in Broadband Services, TeliaSonera; Tim Short, Director for IT & Network Strategy and Performance, France Telecom, Orange S.A.; and many others.

"Through the presentations and discussions at the summit and conference, TeleEvo 2007 outlined the impact of global transformation trends on the current strategies of regional operators. Questions covered such strategic dilemmas as network operator or service provider; a new business model on your own or employing a partner’s expertise and resources; customer ownership in the content value chain; which industry segment is the best for quality of customer services; and whether we should adopt, overlay, or compete with X-factor (advertising-led) business models," said Ilya Kuznetsov, Telecom Advisory Director at Ernst & Young. "Delegates were especially keen to understand NGN evolution scenarios: how mature business models and commercial principles are underlying NGN investment decisions; how to provide cost effectiveness and strong returns on the 3G investments in the face of ever-rising client demand, unprecedented growth of IP technologies, and competition among NGN standards; and what the key operators’ requirements are for long-term evolution in light of current understanding of customers’ experience and their expectations in terms of price and quality."

With approximately 600 members in 65 countries, TM Forum is the world’s leading trade association focused on management of telecom, media, information services. The TM Forum provides leadership, strategic guidance, and practical solutions to improve the way that services are created, delivered, assured, and charged. Members include service providers, network operators, software suppliers, equipment suppliers, and systems integrators.