GSMA Announces New Details For Mobile World Congress 2013

-- New Keynote Speakers, Exhibitors, Sponsors and Partners at Mobile World Congress

LONDON, Oct. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The GSMA today provided new details and event updates for the 2013 GSMA Mobile World Congress, which will be held 25-28 February 2013 at Fira Gran Via in Barcelona. The GSMA announced that the CEOs of NTT DOCOMO and Vodafone will be delivering keynote addresses in the Mobile World Congress conference programme and the GSMA also outlined additional new exhibiting companies, sponsors, partners and event elements for the show.

"Mobile World Congress 2013 is shaping up to be the largest and most exciting edition ever," said Michael O'Hara, Chief Marketing Officer, GSMA. "The breadth of exhibition, educational programmes, meetings, events and networking opportunities coming up in February is unsurpassed, underscoring again why Mobile World Congress is the industry's "must-attend" event. We continue to add to this outstanding agenda and we look forward to welcoming more than 70,000 attendees from across the ever-expanding mobile ecosystem to Barcelona."

New Keynote Speakers for Mobile World Congress
CEOs from the mobile industry's leading companies will be delivering keynote presentations in the Mobile World Congress conference programme. Newly confirmed keynote speakers for Mobile World Congress 2013 include Kaoru Kato, President and CEO, NTT DOCOMO and Vittorio Colao, Chief Executive, Vodafone Group.

These executives join previously announced keynote speakers including:

• Rene Obermann, CEO, Deutsche Telekom
• Franco Bernabe, Chairman, GSMA and Chairman and CEO, Telecom Italia Group
• Suk-Chae Lee, CEO, KT Corp.
• Gary Kovacs, CEO, Mozilla
• Susan Whiting, Vice Chair, Nielsen
• Stephen Elop, President and CEO, Nokia
• Lars Nyberg, President and CEO, TeliaSonera

In addition to insightful keynote sessions, the 2013 conference will also include focused track sessions exploring a range of topics such as applications, business strategy, cloud computing, connected living, developing markets, devices, mobile consumer marketing, mobile health, mobile money, next-generation technologies, NFC, OSS/BSS and social media, among other subjects. For more information, visit http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/conference/.

Experience the Latest Technologies, Products and Services
The GSMA today announced that several new companies have confirmed their presence on the Mobile World Congress exhibition floor, including Acer, Brightstar, Ericsson and MasterCard, joining previously announced exhibitors Airwatch, Alcatel-Lucent, Amdocs, Bharti Airtel, Cisco, Deutsche Telekom, eBay, Ford, Fujitsu, Gemalto, HTC, Huawei, IBM, Intel, LG, Motorola Mobility, NEC, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, Oracle, Orange, Qualcomm, Samsung, SAP, Sharp, SK Telecom, Sony Mobile, Telefonica, Tellabs, Visa, Vodafone and ZTE, among others.

Across 80,000 square metres of exhibition and hospitality space, attendees can visit pavilions focusing on various elements of the mobile ecosystem, such as Embedded Mobile Devices, Green Technology, Mobile Cloud, Mobile Health, and NFC and Mobile Money. The exhibition will also include country pavilions with companies from Austria, Belgium, Canada, Catalonia, China, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Lithuania, Norway, Romania, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/exhibition/.

mPowered Brands Programme at Mobile World Congress 2013
Mobile World Congress will again host the mPowered Brands Programme, which is designed to develop marketers' and enterprise leaders' mobile knowledge and to fast-track their use of mobile for marketing and consumer engagement. The mobile marketing and advertising programme comprises three elements: the mPowered Brands Zone, mPowered Brands Theatres and mPowered Brands Mobile Ambassadors. The GSMA announced that Nielsen has signed on as an mPowered Brands Supporting Sponsor and will be leading an mPowered Brands Theatre session. The GSMA also announced that, due to high demand, it is expanding the mPowered Brands Zone on the exhibition floor; current exhibiting companies include Adfonic, AOL/AdTech, mAdvertise, Millennial Media, Telmap and Velti, among others.

As part of the mPowered Brands Mobile Ambassador Programme, Shelly Palmer, the prolific author and American TV personality who speaks on a wide range of topics relating to the challenges of digital disruption, is bringing his Digital Leadership Series to Mobile World Congress. Shelly Palmer will conduct bespoke tours during the event for business leaders who seek to rapidly get up to speed on mobile industry trends and opportunities to build an actionable roadmap for their business. To learn more about the Shelly Palmer Digital Learning Series, please visit: http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/mpoweredbrands-ambassadors/.

For more information on mPowered Brands at Mobile World Congress, visit: http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/mpoweredbrands

App Planet: The Centre of the Apps Universe
Now in its fourth year at Mobile World Congress, App Planet will again connect the developer community with the broader mobile ecosystem. Across four days, mobile industry leaders and the application development community will participate in programmes focusing on the explosive growth in the mobile apps market. App Planet also features exhibition, product and service demonstrations, networking and workshops from some of the largest and most influential mobile industry companies. The GSMA today announced that Generalitat de Catalunya - Government of Catalonia is the Official App Planet Sponsor, and Inneractive and Wireless Industry Partnership (WIP) are App Planet Supporting Sponsors. For more information, visit http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/app-planet-overview/.

Forum Series to Explore LTE, Mobile Cloud and Mobile Security
Mobile World Congress 2013 features the Forum Series, a sponsored programme that brings together industry players to discuss and debate a range of topics in focused sessions. Currently scheduled Forums include the LTE Forum, the MNO Developer Cloud Forum and the Mobile Security Forum. The GSMA announced that Metaswitch Networks will be presenting in the MNO Developer Cloud Forum, joining other participating companies including AdaptiveMobile, who will be presenting in the Mobile Security Forum, and ZTE, who will be presenting in the LTE Forum and the MNO Developer Cloud Forum.  For more information, visit http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/forum-series/.

GTI to Hold Seventh LTE TDD/FDD International Summit
The Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI) with China Mobile will hold its seventh LTE TDD/FDD International Summit (GTI Summit) at Mobile World Congress. The Summit, scheduled for the morning of Tuesday, 26th February, will be focused on promoting the convergence of LTE TDD and FDD and accelerating TD-LTE deployment in global markets. At the 2013 Summit, leaders from mobile operators pioneering the adoption of TD-LTE will join executives from companies across the ecosystem, as well as other industry watchers, to discuss the state of the market and explore the key factors and requirements to drive broad-scale adoption and successful commercialisation of this technology. More than 500 executive-level delegates from operators, vendors, service providers and consulting companies are expected to attend the LTE FDD/TDD International Summit. For more information, visit www.mobileworldcongress.com/gti.

GSMA Ministerial Programme
The GSMA today announced that Upstream has signed on as a sponsor for the GSMA Ministerial Programme at Mobile World Congress, joining previously confirmed sponsors STC and ZTE. The Ministerial Programme is designed to bring together governments, regulators and industry leaders to discuss the specific regulatory issues shaping the development of mobile around the world. The 2013 Ministerial Programme features additional regional seminars and thematic workshops to facilitate in-depth policy discussions between public and private sectors, as well as an expanded series of Government Mobile Excellence awards. The Ministerial Programme will take place from 25-27 February 2013 and is expected to attract delegations from 140 countries and intergovernmental organisations. For more information, visit http://www.ministerialprogramme.com/.

For more information on Mobile World Congress 2013, including details on how to attend, exhibit or sponsor, please visit www.mobileworldcongress.com.

The Mobile World Congress is the cornerstone of the Mobile World Capital, which will be hosted in Barcelona from 2013 to 2018. The Mobile World Capital also includes the Mobile World Centre, the Mobile World Festival and the Mobile World Hub, programmes and activities that will span the entire year and will benefit not only the citizens of Barcelona, Catalonia and Spain, but also the worldwide mobile industry. For more information on the Mobile World Capital, please visit www.mobileworldcapital.com. 

About the GSMA
The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide. Spanning more than 220 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world's mobile operators with more than 230 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers and Internet companies, as well as organisations in industry sectors such as financial services, healthcare, media, transport and utilities. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as the Mobile World Congress and Mobile Asia Expo. 

For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com or Mobile World Live, the online portal for the mobile communications industry, at www.mobileworldlive.com