In February 2009, Barcelona once again played host to the world's leading mobile communication event, GSMA Mobile World Congress. The global economic downturn notwithstanding, the four-day summit, according to the organiser GSMC Limited, was attended by 47,000 visitors from 189 countries.

The event saw promotions, launches and deals by exhibitors and visitors comprising mobile operators, software companies, equipment providers, internet companies, media and entertainment organisations as well as government delegations. There were about 1,300 exhibitors at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009, occupying more than 57,000 square metres of exhibition space. These included leading names in telecom like AT&T, Nokia, British Telecom, Cable and Wireless, Motorola, China Mobile, China Unicom, Ericsson, Bharti Airtel, Microsoft, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Telenor, Verizon Communications, Reliance Communications and Vodafone.

Telecom is amongst the sectors that are doing comparatively well amidst the economic downturn. A lot of hope is pinned on the sector creating new opportunities that will drive future growth.

It was not surprising, therefore, that service and content providers as well as handset and equipment makers were out in force to showcase their products, applications and services at the show.

John Hoffman, chief executive officer (CEO), GSMC Limited, declared the event a success. "We are extremely pleased with the turnout. The strong level of attendance, particularly by the C-suite of the world's leading communications companies, demonstrates that the GSM Mobile World Congress continues to be the place where the industry comes to do business."

The talks, discussions, launches and displays at the event gave a broad idea of what to expect from the telecom industry over the year. Nearly 2,400 international print, web and broadcast journalists attended the event to analyse and report on the significant industry announcements made at the show.

While telecom is faring better than most industries, the mood at the GSM Mobile World Congress 2009 was sombre considering the overall economic outlook. Operators, though not as severely impacted by the financial meltdown as equipment manufacturers, deliberated on the ways and technologies to push demand.

According to analyst firm Ovum, most operators will move away from deploying new technology and will instead focus on postponing capex plans and reducing opex. Even an explosion in 3G services, according to Ovum, will not be able to compensate for the price reductions that many countries have seen over the past months. It would be equally difficult in the short term to fund the investments needed in 3G due to increased data usage.

Amongst the high points of the event was the launch of several smartphones and feature-rich devices, suggesting that 2009 could be the year of high-end touchscreen handsets. Next-generation routers, switches and base stations received a lot of attention. There was also emphasis on increasing the uptake of mobile broadband, green technologies, and content and software applications.

There were discussions on ensuring the success of the mobile as an advertising platform. A major development at the event was five leading members of the GSM Association (GSMA) –­ the Vodafone Group, Telefonica O2 Europe, T-Mobile International, FT Orange Group and 3 –­ forming a working group to help stimulate the mobile advertising industry. The group will conduct a feasibility study, initially working with each company's UK business, to explore the aggregation of information on a consistent and audited basis to deliver cross-operator metrics to the media and advertising agencies.

At a special ceremony at the event, Research In Motion (RIM) was honoured with the GSMA Chairman's Award, considered the association's most prestigious award. Instituted in 1995, it recognises outstanding contribution to the growth and development of mobile communications around the world.

tele.net takes a look at the major developments at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009...

Mobile broadband
Major technology developers and service providers united to promote mobile broadband, seeking to overcome the challenges before mobile internet in the current economic climate.

The GSMA's Leadership Summit, led by Rob Conway, CEO, GSMA; CarlHenric Svanberg, CEO, Ericsson; Franco Bernabè, CEO, Telecom Italia; and Jon Fredrik Baksaas, CEO, Telenor Group, stressed on the role of broadband, especially mobile broadband, as a stimulus to growth. It called for governments to lend their support by adopting policies that encourage investments in mobile services and networks. Wherever possible, a stable regulatory environment should be created and spectrum licensed on the right terms to encourage spending on network infrastructure and services, thereby stimulating economic growth.

It is also important that spectrum be allocated for mobile broadband services at the same band in different countries. Such harmonisation will allow devices to be used in many countries and enable manufacturers to achieve economies of scale and offer lower prices for end-users.

For example, deploying mobile broadband using 700 MHz spectrum instead of 2100 MHz spectrum, which is currently used by most 3G mobile networks, could bring down costs by up to 70 per cent. This would make it more viable to serve rural areas and other "white spots". Moreover, providing mobile broadband is far more cost effective than installing new fixed line broadband connections.

According to Professor Leonard Waverman, who represents the mobile industry, "The release of new spectrum for mobile broadband services in 2009 will ultimately add the equivalent of $211 billion to China's GDP, and could add the equivalent of $95 billion to India's GDP." The rollout of mobile broadband networks is expected to create thousands of jobs, encourage new businesses, improve productivity and boost consumer spending.

There were, of course, some questions regarding the technology to adopt for achieving maximum growth. There has been industry debate over LTE (the longterm evolution of 3G) and Wi-Max, the competing technologies for mobile broadband. While Wi-Max relies on wireless hotspots, LTE transmits data over cellular networks and is based on an all-IP 3Gbased standard. At the GSM Mobile World Congress 2009, a group of 16 mobile operators, device manufacturers and software developers including Dell, ECS, Ericsson, Gemalto, Lenovo, Microsoft, Orange, Qualcomm, Telefonica Europe, Telecom Italia, TeliaSonera, T-Mobile, Toshiba and Vodafone came out in support of LTE, jointly announcing plans to support cellular data connectivity for new devices.

Single charger for all handsets
At the event, a group of 17 mobile operators and manufacturers came together in an initiative to develop a universal charger for new mobile phones. Led by the GSMA, the move aims to ensure that the mobile industry adopts a common format for chargers (using a micro USB interface, similar to the one used to transfer data from external devices to a computer), and that energy-efficient chargers are adopted that lead to about 50 per cent reduction in stand-by energy consumption. This is also expected to flush up to 51,000 tonnes of duplicate chargers from the global markets.

The group has set an ambitious target to ensure that by 2012, the majority of new phones would incorporate a universal charging solution (UCS) and that most of the chargers shipped would meet the high efficiency targets set by the Open Mobile Terminal Platform, the industry body which will work on the technical requirements for UCS. The handset manufacturers that are part of the initiative include Nokia, LG, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. Operators such as AT&T, Orange, Telefonica, T-Mobile and Vodafone are also part of the pact.

"The mobile industry has a pivotal role to play in tackling environmental issues. This programme is an important step that could lead to huge savings in resources, not to mention convenience for consumers," said Conway.

Green emphasis
With operators and equipment makers focusing on energy savings and environment-friendly solutions, there was a great deal of interest in going green. GSMA announced that it would work with Dialog Telekom to deploy 10 solar and windpowered base stations in Sri Lanka as part of the former's "Green Power for Mobile" programme. The trials for the project involve deploying five off-grid and five ongrid base stations, of which two sites went live in February 2009. The remaining eight sites will go live by April.

The trials aim to use equipment from nine vendors under different conditions to demonstrate the options available and the commercial viability of rolling out mobile networks using renewable energy to run base stations. As part of the trials, on-grid base stations will be powered by renewable energy during downtime. The base stations, which use sophisticated technology for calculating an optimum mix between using solar and wind power, can save up to 109,000 litres of diesel per annum and cut carbon emissions by about 294 tonnes per annum. Till now, off-grid base stations were primarily powered by diesel fuel, which is both expensive and leads to carbon dioxide emissions. It is also difficult to transport fuel to remote locations.

"Being able to use practical, cost-effective and renewable sources of power is crucial for operators wanting to provide extensive mobile coverage, over vast rural areas, far beyond the reach of national electricity grids," said Michael O'Hara, chief marketing officer, GSMA.

The "Green Power for Mobile" programme, launched in 2008, is backed by 25 mobile operators. It has worked on developing the ideal combination of renewable energy sources to suit local conditions. The programme aims to help the mobile industry use renewable energy to power 118,000 new and existing off-grid base stations in developing countries by 2012. Currently, less than 2,000 base stations are powered by renewable sources globally.

Supported by the GSMA Development Fund, Digicel, the leading mobile operator in Vanuatu, has completed the second phase of its green power network implementation project. The operator uses wind and solar energy to power 25 base stations and carries more than 60 per cent of its network traffic on base stations powered by renewable energy sources.

New handsets
Over a dozen new handsets were introduced at the GSM Mobile World Congress 2009. With the hype surrounding touch-screens following the success of Apple's iPhone, device makers like LG, Samsung, Nokia, Huawei, HTC and even Acer launched high-end, 3G-enabled smartphones at the event.

After launching the popular Omnia in 2008, Samsung introduced the Valencia in 2009. The phone runs on the Windows Mobile platform and has the non-touch version of the TouchWiz interface. This includes a menu widget bar to the left of the screen, accessible through D-pad navigation. Samsung also announced that it plans to introduce as many as three devices based on the Android operating system by the end of 2009.

Acer, which is known for its netbooks, displayed eight smartphones at the event. The company announced that it was ready to bring 10 smartphones to the market in 2009. HTC showcased the Magic –­ a slim, tablet-shaped device with touchscreen controls that, like a few of the other highend phones launched at Barcelona, bears a resemblance to the iPhone.

Nokia put on show an 8 megapixel slider phone belonging to the N8X series. It also displayed advanced GPS-enabled phones like the 6720 Classic and the 6710 Navigator. The company offers preinstalled Skype on all Nseries handsets.

LG launched its latest KF510 slider phone and three other handsets featuring the touch technology. The company also announced the launch of one of the first phones on the WCDMA platform capable of worldwide roaming.

The company's solar-powered phone, which is yet to be named, grabbed a lot of attention at the event. With a solar panel built on its back cover, the device can recharge itself using natural light. A 10minute exposure to direct sunlight can power the device for a three-minute call. The company also displayed a solar panel equipped back cover which can be added as an accessory to other LG phones.

From the sidelines
China Mobile, the world's largest mobile operator in terms of subscriber base (457 million), reportedly expressed interest in making an acquisition in India. With close to 11 million subscriber additions a month, India, the fastest growing market in the world, holds a lot of promise for international players. "We are looking at India for expansion," stated Wang Jianzhou, chairman and CEO of China Mobile.

Norwegian operator Telenor hopes to get all regulatory clearances from Norway to complete the acquisition of 60 per cent stake in new Indian operator Unitech Wireless –­ the telecom arm of realty major Unitech –­ in the next six months. At the sidelines of the GSM World Mobile Congress 2009, Jon Fredrik Baksaas, CEO of Telenor, said: "Our government's approval is there for investment. However, for over 49 per cent stake acquisition, a separate application has been put in. I hope to get the approval in three to six months. Telenor has earmarked an investment of $2 billion for the first three years of operations in India. While the company is yet to get approval from India's Foreign Investment Promotion Board, it is bullish on the potential that the country offers."

In one of the meetings, Bharti Group chairman Sunil Mittal said, "Even at this time of slowdown, Bharti Airtel continues to move ahead. We have about 90 million subscribers now and have widened the gap with our nearest competitor from 10-12 million to over 25 million." According to the company, the fight in India's telecom space is no longer about market share but about revenue share.

Amidst all the bustle and excitement at Barcelona, there were clear signs that the economic slowdown has affected the telecom business, albeit to a lesser extent than other industries. For vendors, service providers, handset makers and content developers, it is time to get more efficient and aggressive.