10 November 2009 - The International Engineering Consortium (IEC) of Chicago - the commitment and the vision behind the rise of the Broadband World Forum from niche gathering to flagship "must attend" event on the world telecoms calendar - today announced that the show and the Broadband InfoVision Awards have been acquired by Informa Telecoms and Media.

Stakeholders such as conference delegates, sponsors and exhibitors gathering to plan next year's event in Paris were the first to hear the news - from IEC President John Janowiak and Informa Events Director Giles Cummings.

"We have served the Global Broadband Community well over the past ten years and are pleased that our legacy will continue under Informa's quality leadership," he said.

"The feedback we have received on the transfer of ownership has already been very positive and we look forward to our continued role as a sponsor of this vital industry initiative."

Mr Janowiak also thanked his staff for their tireless work over the years in making the Broadband World Forum such a successful event - backed by the tremendous support of the entire industry. Mr Cummings added that Informa were taking the reins of a "fantastic" event and said the process would be very much one of evolution, not revolution.

Ian Hemming, CEO of Informa, said: "I am delighted to bring this high quality event into the Informa Telecoms & Media stable of events. The Broadband World Forum fits very well within our existing portfolio of annual must attend events for the telecoms industry. We are looking forward very much to continuing the great job the IEC has done.

"We strongly believe that the Broadband World Forum has great potential to add further value to the development of global broadband roll out and we will work hard to deliver a programme that enables all players to advance their businesses in this exciting sector."

Informa Telecoms & Media produces 120 events each year around the world and owns the Com World events series, the IPTV World Forum event series, the LTE event series and the Broadband Global Summit, held annually in Dubai.

The IEC serves as a catalyst in bringing leading academics and global business leaders together through quality continuing education, research and publishing and eLearning programs.