TMA Show preview: Ringing the changes

When the TMA - now renamed the Communications Management Association (CMA) - was formed over 40 years ago, it addressed the needs of a bunch of anoraks who worked in telecoms and were happy to meet up in the pub to discuss the issues of the day.

Back then, there was BT and only one or two others. Now, as the movers and shakers in networks and telecoms move in the direction of Brighton for TMA 2000, we can see the result of firms' thirst for ever more services down copper wire and fibre, and through the air via satellite, wireless local area networks and mobile phones.

As a result, there are now more than 200 companies who can be classed as direct competitors to BT in the carrier arena, albeit with much smaller market shares.

Leaving the pub behind
The multi-billion pound industry that has developed in the UK calls for more than a few cosy chats down the pub. It needs an international stage for the major league players to strut their stuff and encourage further growth in the market, both in terms of revenue and technologies.

"At global, continental and national levels new mergers, acquisitions and alliances are transforming the converged communications industry in scope and size," said CMA chairman John Wright. "The pace at which transformation is accelerating is rapidly bringing the information society closer to reality. All organisations and businesses must face up to the challenges and opportunities presented, or go down."

More than 20,000 visitors are expected to attend TMA 2000 between 9 and 11 October, and the number of events, the 400-odd exhibitors and the strength of the conference speaker list should make sure attendees go away satisfied.

Visit the Comms Skills Fair
The continuing skills shortage will be a common theme throughout the event. This is why the Comms Skills Fair has made a return to offer a platform to help eager companies snap up the loose talent that will be walking around the show. A number of companies will be taking part in the Fair, and the CMA expects up to half the attendees to take an interest.

The TMA conference, which runs in parallel with the show and which expects to attract about 750 delegates, is again anticipated to be the stage for a number of key debates.

Kingfisher chairman Sir John Banham used the conference last year to outline his group's intention to tackle the problems of rolling out an ecommerce strategy. He told delegates that the group was looking at how it could get the right balance in the pitch for ecommerce by convincing shareholders it did not mean less business in the retail chain's shops.

Banham also expressed Kingfisher's trepidation in having to cope with "the new type of people" delivering ecommerce strategies to companies. He said that Kingfisher realised it had to change its own attitudes, rather than those of the candidates with the skills it desired to acquire.

Since its presentation at TMA 2000, Kingfisher has been heavily involved in rolling out an ecommerce strategy - with all the problems which that entails - and the practicalities of implementing ebusiness plans will continue to be a theme at the conference.

The Vallance element
Another highlight of last year's conference was the keynote speech delivered by BT chairman Sir Iain Vallance, who came out fighting and defended the telco's record on delivering broadband services.

He gave delegates a breakdown of how BT's customers pay for internet access, and pointed out that internet service providers (ISPs) were happy to take their share of the profits, but that consumers seemed to only complain about BT.

Vallance said that if BT was to slash costs, as customers demanded, it would probably get into trouble with the regulator over unfair competition, as well as with its shareholders.

A poll of delegates was not convinced by Vallance's arguments, but the issues raised have continued to reverberate around the telecoms market as ISPs continue to argue with BT over how to deliver unmetered broadband access to users.

Management debates
The main theme at this year's conference is Managing the Enterprise in the New Economy. The three-day event covers six inter-related topics: managing customers, channels to market, global business, mobile business, supply chains and the ebusiness revolution.

Speakers include Mike Harris, chief executive at online bank Egg, and Brian Davis, chief executive at Nationwide. Both are intending to use the conference to put across customers' viewpoints.

With the technical problems that Egg endured in setting up its operation from scratch, it will be interesting to know what Harris has learnt from his experience.

For the last two years, the CMA has used the conference to campaign for greater recognition of the staff who are leading their companies' ecommerce strategies by looking after the networking backbones on which these businesses run.

In particular, attendees will be interested to know whether this greater responsibility has been rewarded by higher salaries.

It's a wireless world
Not only are networking and telecoms staff addressing the challenges of ecommerce, they are now expected to find solutions to the problems of integrating mobile strategies into corporate backbones, with Wap and GPRS (general packet radio service) phones already here, and third-generation phones on the horizon.

Other hot issues at the event will be next year's unbundling of the local loop, which will see the ending of BT's monopoly of direct call provision to the home and most businesses.

From July 2001, services provided over ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) will see rival companies having direct access to BT's local phone exchanges. This will allow them to offer alternative, and probably cheaper, broadband services than BT.

With the introduction of ADSL, many small to medium sized enterprises will see a cheaper alternative to the existing higher bandwidth through expensive leased lines. The question is whether BT and others will modify their leased line prices accordingly in response to this broadband alternative.Universal access to broadband services will be another issue to surface at the conference. The CMA is concerned that the auction of spectrum licences by the UK government to deliver wireless access to the internet is a lost opportunity to deliver genuine universal access to broadband services.

ADSL relies on local exchanges being upgraded by either BT or one of its competitors to allow users to enjoy high-speed data services, but with wireless internet the location of the user should not be such a debilitating factor.

Appalled by the £22.5bn cost of licences to deliver 3G services paid by five operators through an open auction, the CMA preferred a contest based on quality of provision, rather than a big cheque book, when it came to wireless internet.

There are concerns that the cash paid by the five 3G mobile operators will be recouped from more well-off customers leaving a large chunk of the population unable to enjoy the promised data-rich services via mobile phones from 2002. Much the same is feared as a result of the broadband fixed wireless auction.

TMA 2000 takes place in Brighton from 9 to 11 October, and is staged in the adjoining venues of the Brighton Conference Centre and the Grand and Metropole Hotels. A free coach service is available from Brighton station to the nearby venues, and there is a free park-and-ride system in operation.