The 2nd Lusophone Forum of Communications, under the theme "Challenges and Opportunities", held on 14 and 15 April 2011, in Sintra, was organized by ARCTEL-CPLP - Associação de Reguladores de Comunicações e Telecomunicações da Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (Association of Communications and Telecommunications Regulators of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries. This event was attended by over 120 participants from various countries of the CPLP.
The forum began with a welcome address by the President of ARCTEL-CPLP, Ronaldo Sardenberg, and a speech delivered by the Vice-Chairman of ANACOM, Alberto Souto de Miranda, both stressing the importance of joining for discussions: regulators, operators, industry and other entities; to reflect and propose solutions for the future and for the development of Communications within the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries.
The opening session was followed by three discussion panels:
The I Panel focused on "Challenges of Regional Regulation" was attended by José Ferrari Careto, Director of ANACOM, who made a presentation on methodological framework in the context of the Challenges and Opportunities in Regulation. The Panel was chaired by Luís Nazaré on the following topics: "Mobile Banking – Banking at your fingertips" by Abubacar Chutumia, Mcel (Mozambique); CVT's role in the Development of the Information Society in Cape Verde" by Francisco Almeida, CV Telecom (Cape Verde); "Movicel's perspective in the context of the implementation of the new G/U network" by Carlos Brito, Movicel (Angola); "Expansion of Voice services in Brazil" by Paulo Mattos, Oi (Brazil); "Regulatory Challenges in Brazil" by António Valente, Sinditelebrasil (Brazil).
The II Panel focused on "Business Organization Sectors" was chaired by Maria Teresa Ribeiro and had the following keynote speakers: Francisco Gomez Alamillo, AHCIET, presented "A model of business organization sector"; António Robalo de Almeida, ETNO, presented "Carrying out together the Digital Agenda"; and Paulo Moniz, ACIST, made a presentation on actions undertaken and future developments. Also present was the CPLP Business Confederation attended by Dr. Francisco Mantero.
The III Panel focused on "Development Partnerships" was chaired by Helder Oliveira and counted with the following speakers: Briosa e Gala of the European Commission spoke about the developments in the relations between Europe and Africa, emphasising the Lisbon Summit from which support mechanisms have been built for the cooperation development in Science and Technology within the Euro-African cooperation in Research; Manuel Correia, Chairman of IPAD, drew attention to some existing misconceptions of the Cooperation, stressing the differences between Bilateral and Multilateral Cooperation in the context of the European Official Development Assistance, which under the Millennium Goals have guided a strong change of paradigms; Gustavo Peña, REGULATEL, made a presentation on the organization, its structure and developments. Lastly, Filipe Batista, Secretary of ARCTEL-CPLP in representation of ANACOM, stressed the importance of ICT in the eradication of existing inequalities in developing countries.
The first Technological Exhibition, held in parallel with the Forum, was organized by the Association of Regulators. The Centro Cultural Olga Cadaval hosted the exhibition which was attended by over 20 companies in the sector. This exhibition, aimed at showing the best business opportunities and innovations of each company, was attended by Manufacturers and Operators in the Communications and Telecommunications Sectors from various CPLP countries. In addition to companies, Institutions related to Cooperation and Development in countries covered by ARCTEL-CPLP also attended the exhibition.
