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GSMA's Mobile Asia Congress drew more than 7,500 visitors to Macau
last week, making it Asiaˇ¦s largest annual mobile communications event,
said the GSM Association today. With more than 200 journalists covering
the event, the Congress sparked media headlines throughout the world.
Keynotes
from the cream of the mobile industry's leadership included: Wang
Jianzhou, Chairman and CEO of China Mobile; Masao Nakamura, President
and CEO of NTT DoCoMo Inc.; Masayoshi Son, CEO of Softbank; Sol
Trujillo, CEO of Telstra; Naguib Sawiris, Chairman & CEO of
Orascom Telecom; Zouhair Khaliq, President & CEO of Mobilink;
Arve Johansen, Deputy CEO of Telenor; Sigve Brekke, CEO of DTAC;
Karim Khoja, CEO of Roshan; Dr. Yeon-Hak Kim, Chief Strategy Officer,
KTF; and Carl-Henric Svanberg, CEO of Ericsson in addition to senior
executives from the media and entertainment industries such as Edgar
Bronfman Jr., CEO of Warner Music Group.
"In
its first year in Macau, the Mobile Asia Congress has hosted speeches
and discussions that have ramifications for the entire global mobile
industry," said Craig Ehrlich, Chairman of the GSMA. "Like
its sister event in Barcelona, the Mobile Asia Congress has become
an agenda-setting forum for both the mobile ecosystem and related
industries, such as computing, entertainment and financial services."
The
opening keynote session saw Wang Jianzhou, Masao Nakamura and Manoj
Kohli of India's Bharti-Airtel agree that the overriding message
for the broader industry is that it needs to 'innovate'. Mr. Jianzhou
also highlighted the importance of the ongoing development and delivery
of new content designed specifically for the mobile phone.
"We
are delighted that the first Mobile Asia Congress has been such
a resounding success," said Rob Conway, CEO of the GSMA. "We
have received overwhelming support for the move to Macau, reflected
in the calibre and quality of senior decision makers present. As
a result the Congress has quickly become the regionˇ¦s key mobile
industry attraction, with the right formula and level of visitors
to make it the place for industry executives to meet, discuss key
trends and initiate business deals."
The
exhibition included showcase stands from some of the biggest operators
and vendors in the industry, including China Mobile, China Unicom,
KTF, Orange, Ericsson, Huawei, NEC, LG and ZTE.
The
Mobile Asia Congress will again be held in Macau from November 17-20,
2008.
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