The increasingly powerful and influential GSM Association (GSMA) has announced that it is rebranding its 3GSM World Congress. The world's biggest. "must attend" mobile telecoms exhibition, showcase and conference, that will take place for the third year in succession in the Catalonian city of Barcelona in February next year after many years domicile in Cannes on the French Riviera, will henceforth be called the Mobile World Congress. So, out goes 3GSM and we'll all have to get used to calling it MWC.
And the GSMA is also re-branding its sister event in Asia. Set to take place in Macau in November, the 3GSM World Congress Asia will now be called the Mobile Asia Congress.
Rob Conway, the CEO of the Association says, “Both the GSMA and the Congresses are focused on helping operators use the potent platform provided by today’s highly-capable and extensive mobile networks to better serve the many needs and desires of this industry’s almost three billion customers. Attracting visitors from the information technology, entertainment and financial services industries, as well as the mobile industry, the Congresses provide forums for the cross-pollination of services, ideas and business models.’
The GSMA added that GSMC, its subsidiary that actually runs the Congresses, has appointed John Hoffman as CEO. Having served as a senior executive with mobile operators in both the US and
Europe and having earlier been the CEO of mobile technology suppliers fastmobile and Roamware, Mr. Hoffman has extensive experience of the many facets of the mobile industry, the GSMA says.
Bill Gadja, the GSMA’s Chief Marketing Officer, is taking on the newly created role of Chief Commercial Officer at the GSMA. Mr. Gadja has been instrumental in the GSMA’s much applauded work with the Sundance Institute and the Bollywood film industry. He will lead the development of media and entertainment programmes within the GSMA, as well as the expansion and delivery of the Association’s Mobile Innovation Programme.
Meanwhile, the Association, that is meeting this week in St. Petersburg in the Russian Federation, has also announced that the handset central to the GSMA’s “3G for All” programme, the LG-KU250, is now on sale across the globe, The 3G phone, from LG Electronics was selected by 12 leading operators to spearhead the GSMA’s campaign to make multimedia mobile services accessible to a much wider user base.
The LG-KU250 will be launched by international operators Hutchison 3G, under the model name LG-U250, as well as by T-Mobile and Orange in some of their markets and also by local operators. It is set to go on sale in Europe, Asia, Middle Asia and Africa from this month.
“We believe this highly-capable device will help open up a new market for 3G phones and drive further interest in mobile multimedia services across the world,” says Craig Ehrlich, Chairman of the GSMA, which is sponsoring the project. He adds, “By focusing 3G handset makers on a much broader base of potential customers, this programme will have a significant and lasting impact on this industry.”
Starting this month, the LG-KU250 will be available in Germany, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Sweden, Portugal, Italy, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Indone-
sia, Australia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia.
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