Blogging from the ITU's Global Symposium for Regulators

I have arrived at the Global Symposium for Regulators 2009. It is a yearly conference organised by the ITU. I'll try to update you on what is going on here and what is being discussed. It is definitely a different conference. Let me give you some first impressions.

I don't have an opinion on Lebanon yet as I arrived at midnight and my hotel is a short walk from the conference hotel. The conference hotel is an oppulent affair called the Habtoor. They have a $25000 a night penthouse. So, a serious hotel, which was seriously out of my ITU daily allowance. Despite the opulence, there was no coffee for those arriving.

The swag bag was good: the usual memory stick, a book and a DVD on Lebanon and an umbrella. This last bit surprises me as the weather is supposed to be very good for the coming days.

The setup of the room is definitely different than what I am used to from the internet meetings like RIPE or last weeks Ecomm09 in Amsterdam. The seating is arranged with ITU- countries and other members in the front. AT&T is right up front. . I have to sit in the back as I am an observer. There are certain people who have VIP on their badge, which is probably very important for some reason or another. Translation is provided in 5 languages and of course the first speaker spoke Arabic so we do use it.

Interesting news was that yesterdays session of the GILF was opened by the minister of telecoms of Lebanon who wasn't a minister any more by the evening. There is a new minister now in Lebanon.