Macau to host Asia’s most influential mobile executives
An unprecedented gathering of leading operator CEOs* will debate the future of the mobile industry at the GSMA’s Mobile Asia Congress at the new Venetian Macau Resort on November 12-15. The chief executives of China Mobile, the world’s largest operator, NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s largest operator, MTS, Russia’s largest operator, the Chairman and Group Managing Director of Bharti Airtel, India’s largest operator, and the CEO of Mobilink, Pakistan’s largest operator, the Chairman of Smart, the Philippines’ largest operator, Grameenphone, Bangladesh’s largest operator, and Telstra, Australia’s largest operator, will be among the keynote speakers.
They will be joined by many other industry leaders and visionaries, including the President of China Unicom, the CEOs of Softbank of Japan, Orascom Telecom, VimpelCom of Russia and the CEOs of equipment vendors Ericsson and ZTE and content companies Warner Music and EMI Music International.
Preceded by a board meeting of the GSMA, which represents more than 700 mobile operators from around the world, the Congress provides a unique opportunity for the leaders of Asia’s mobile operators to discuss the most strategic issues facing the mobile industry today. Among the themes for the keynote sessions: The shape of the mobile industry in three years time; the respective roles of operators, equipment vendors, Internet companies and content suppliers; future revenue models; reinventing cost structures; the potential of mobile broadband, low ARPU growth and the forms of entertainment that will work best on mobile.
“With mobile broadband services proliferating, handset technology evolving rapidly and the Internet fast going wireless, this industry is reaching a major inflexion point as many operators, vendors and entertainment companies review their strategies, their business models and their partnerships,” said Craig Ehrlich, Chairman of the GSMA. “A catalyst for the leaders of Asia’s mobile ecosystem to engage in face-to-face discussions, the Mobile Asia Congress will play a major role in shaping the strategic agenda of this industry, while setting trends in the world’s fastest-growing mobile markets.” Asia-Pacific is adding 20 million new mobile connections every month – more than four times the growth rate of any other region.
The Congress will also explore Asia’s role as a pioneer of new services, the imminent rollout of mobile broadband in China and India and how mobile technology will showcase the Olympics in Beijing next year. On the first evening of the event, there will be the presentation of the GSMA’s Asia Mobile Awards, recognizing the best commercial mobile products and services targeted at Asian consumers.
The most innovative ideas in the Asia-Pacific region will also be highlighted in Macau through the Mobile Innovation Awards, the culmination of the two-day Mobile Innovation Summit. A key part of the GSMA’s new Mobile Innovation Programme, the Summit will bring together the inventors of the region’s most innovative products, services and technologies with operators, the investor community, and vendors.
Ministers and Heads of Regulatory Authorities from approximately 20 countries in the Asia Pacific Region are also set to gather in Macau to attend the GSMA’s Government Symposium. At the Symposium, sponsored by Telenor, they will discuss the most pressing regulatory issues in the region with senior representatives from international institutions and CEOs from the mobile industry.
Notes to Editors
*Confirmed speakers include:
- Wang Jianzhou, CEO, China Mobile
- Sunil Mittal, Chairman and Group Managing Director, Bharti Airtel
- Masao Nakamura, CEO, NTT DoCoMo
- Shang Bing, President, China Unicom
- Masayoshi Son, Chairman & CEO, Softbank
- Sol Trujillo, CEO, Telstra
- Alexander Izosimov, CEO, VimpelCom
- Naguib Sawiris, Chairman & CEO, Orascom Telecom
- Manuel Pangilinan, Chairman, PLDT and Smart Communications
- Arve Johansen, CEO, Telenor Asia
- Zouhair Khaliq, CEO, Mobilink
- Erik Aas, CEO, Grameenphone
- Sigve Brekke, CEO, DTAC
- Dr. Yeon-Hak KIM, CSO, KTF
- Leonid Melamed, President and CEO, MTS OJSC
- Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, CEO, Dialog Telekom
- Carl-Henric Svanberg, CEO, Ericsson
- Yin Yimin, CEO, ZTE
- Jean-François Cecillon, CEO, EMI Music International
- Edgar Bronfman, CEO, Warner Music
- Todd Miller, Executive Vice President & Managing Director, Asia, Sony TV
- Marco Boerries, Head of Connected Life, Yahoo!
- Deep Nishar, Director of Mobile Products, Google
- Neeraj Roy, CEO, Hungama
- Jeremy Pink, President & MD Asia Pacific, CNBC
Bona fide journalists are invited to apply to register to attend the Congress via http://www.mobileasiacongress.com
About the GSMA:
The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade association representing more than 700 GSM mobile phone operators across 218 countries and territories of the world. In addition, more than 200 manufacturers and suppliers support the Association’s initiatives as key partners.
The primary goals of the GSMA are to ensure mobile phones and wireless services work globally and are easily accessible, enhancing their value to individual customers and national economies, while creating new business opportunities for operators and their suppliers. The Association’s members serve more than two billion customers – 82% of the world’s mobile phone users.
For more information:
For GSMA:
Mark Smith or David Pringle
Email: [email protected]
For Upstream Asia:
Dorothy Fung or Shirley Lau
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]