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Giants may spurn telecom show

Motorola Inc, Nokia Oyj, Samsung Electronics Co and several international telecom giants decide to pull out of this year's Taipei Telecom Show, saying that based on their experience the annul show is not helpful in promoting brand awareness or in boosting sales.

"Last year we spent nearly NT$6 million on the show ? the cost is high while the effect is limited," said Charles Hung (洪宏民), a marketing manager of South Korea-based Samsung in Taipei.

The lack of confidence has led to the annual event losing its popularity.

Over 100 exhibitors are expected to set up 386 booths in this year's show, a 25 percent slide from last year's 137 exhibitors and 512 booths, according to the China External Trade Development Council (CETRA), host of the event.

The 2003 Taipei International Telecommunications and Networking Show is slated to kick off at the Taipei World Trade Center between Aug. 23 and 26.

Unclear show positioning and low visitor numbers are exhibitors' major concerns.

"This is a consumer show, but the host doesn't allow us to sell products in it," said Frances Yi (衣惠霞), an executive at Motorola Electronics Taiwan Ltd.

Taiwanese visitors regard consumer shows as a good time to hunt for bargains, and therefore CETRA's policy may turn consumers' off the show, she explained.

Not attending the annual telecom show doesn't mean telecom players are not interested in the local telecom market. On the contrary, they plan to have a similar event by themselves.

A group of foreign handset makers including Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Korea-based LG Electronics Co and Taiwanese telecom companies DBTel Inc (大霸電子) and TransAsia Telecommunications Inc (泛亞電信) plan to have a small-scale telecom show to compete with the CETRA event.

"Differing from traditional telecom shows offering everything, our event is designated to feature color-screen handsets and multimedia content," said Paulina Wu (吳靜媛), a marketing executive at TransAsia, host of the event.

People will be able to see and try the latest handsets and make purchases at the show, she added.

The event will run at Taipei's Breeze Center (微風廣場) piazza between August 21 and 24. Admission is free.

Not to be outdone, CETRA is trying to draw people in with discounts.

"We've decided to cut the admission charge from NT$200 to NT$100 per person," said Wang Jui-chang (王瑞章), a senior official at CETRA.

Over the last three years CETRA has charged a NT$200 admission fee for the annual telecom show.

"In addition, we also plan to issue nearly 3 million free tickets to Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) users," he added.

State-run Chunghwa, a sponsor of the telecom show, is one of the nation's major mobile phone operators with 7.67 million users.

The key focus of the show is high-speed mobile Internet services or third-generation (3G) mobile services enabling users to download video on their handsets.

Other new products include new flat-screen TV displays and the world's smallest clamshell phones, Wang said.
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