The much-anticipated Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona, Spain, has begun, with CEOs from more than 300 mobile companies around the world meeting behind closed doors to discuss issues that affect mobile business.
This meeting, the GSMA Leadership Summit, gives mobile operator CEOs the opportunity to share insights and learn from each other.
The annual Mobile World Congress conference, which takes place from 11 to 14 February, attracts over 55 000 representatives from mobile providers, 1 400 exhibitors, 250 speakers and 2 300 media representatives from around the world.
Leaders in the mobile marketing/advertising industry yesterday met to share strategies on how to stimulate mobile advertising and marketing growth, as well as to look at business models and market opportunities.
A number of companies also launched products and initiatives. These include the GSM Association, which outlined the Mobile Alliance Against Child Sexual Abuse Content, a global initiative that aims to obstruct users from accessing child porn through mobile devices. Nokia Siemens introduced a maintenance solution for operators.
The conference is put together and managed by the GSM Association, a trade association representing more than 690 GSM mobile phone operators across 214 territories and countries of the world.
Keynote speakers at the event include Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers, China Mobile chairman and CEO Wang Jianzhou, Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, and Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin.
MTN group chairman Phuthuma Nhleko was billed to deliver a keynote address at the conference this morning but cancelled at the last minute due to "another engagement". MTN spokesmen would not provide further details.
* Additional reporting by Christelle du Toit
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