Mobile Broadband users near 100 million

London, February 11th, 2009 – The GSMA today announced that the mobile world has celebrated its four billionth connection, according to Wireless Intelligence, the GSMA’s market intelligence unit. This milestone underscores the continued strong growth of the mobile industry and puts the global market on the path to reach a staggering six billion connections by 2013.

The growth is driven by two primary sources: the integration of mobile into previously unconnected devices and subscriber additions in emerging markets. At Mobile World Congress, the world’s leading mobile communications industry event, taking place from 16th – 19th February in Barcelona, the industry will be exploring ways of sustaining this growth.

“As we enter 2009, the world is in the midst of a broad economic slowdown, one that is impacting every facet of business, every link in the communications value chain. To address the significant challenges facing the global economy, the GSMA and its membership are focused on leveraging mobility to create new opportunities and to drive productivity and prosperity,” said Michael O’Hara, Chief Marketing Officer of the GSMA. “GSMA industry initiatives in the areas of Mobile Broadband, Mobile Lifestyle and Mobile Planet will help drive this innovation and growth despite the challenges of the global economic downturn.”

Mobile Broadband
The GSMA’s Mobile Broadband initiatives focus on the development of a ubiquitous Mobile Broadband infrastructure and the proliferation of Internet-connected mobile devices. With the world’s mobile connections now numbering four billion – nearly 100 million of which are Mobile Broadband - and with 1.1 billion fixed broadband lines reaching only one sixth of the world’s population, the opportunities are vast.

At Mobile World Congress on Wednesday 18th February C-level executives from China Unicom, Google, Nokia Siemens Networks, Qualcomm, Skype , Telstra and Verizon Communications will unite at the “Mobile Broadband” and “Mobile Internet” sessions to explore Mobile Broadband uptake, how consumers are adapting, and how Internet services become even more compelling when married with always available Mobile Broadband. In addition, at the Mobile Broadband Showcase (Hall 2 - 2C37) the GSMA will be highlighting a number of Mobile Broadband implementations, including an HSPA+ demonstration, connecting a notebook with a device at peak rates of up to 21 Mbps, and more than 50 HSPA devices including netbooks, smartphones, USB modems, datacards and wireless routers.

Mobile Lifestyle
The GSMA’s Mobile Lifestyle initiatives concentrate on the cross-industry creation of innovative services that combine web attributes with mobility to make services, such as banking or entertainment, far more compelling.

Chris DeWolfe, CEO and Co-founder of MySpace will be sharing his perspective on the role of the mobile industry in entertainment at the Mobile Backstage conference on Thursday 19th February at Mobile World Congress. The conference, which features both Kevin Spacey and will.i.am, will also tackle the technical challenges of delivering mobile services and commercial elements influencing mobile industry and entertainment partner collaboration.

Mobile Planet
The GSMA’s Mobile Planet initiatives leverage mobility to help improve the lives of individuals across the developing world in a socially responsible manner. With countries like India adding 10 million new mobile connections per month, and many users accessing the Internet, email and banking exclusively via mobile devices, the developing world is central to mobile industry growth.

As grid electricity is inaccessible to many emerging market areas, Mobile World Congress will be exploring the use of renewable energy. The GSMA’s Development Fund, that facilitates the delivery of mobile offerings to people living on less than $2 per day, will be presenting the Green Power Pavilion where leading green technology providers will meet with operators. The “Green Power for Mobile” seminar on Wednesday 18th February will explore the role of renewable energy in expanding off-grid network coverage and reducing OPEX.

“Mobile phones have evolved to become broadband-enabled multi-media devices that connect mass markets in mature and emerging markets alike. Mobile World Congress will showcase how the industry will continue to push the boundaries into the mobile future,” said O’Hara.

For more information on Mobile World Congress, please visit http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/