LONDON, June 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The GSMA today reported that more than 15,500* unique visitors from 81 countries attended the 2012 Mobile Asia Expo, held 20-22 June in Shanghai. The three-day conference and exhibition attracted executives from the industry's largest and most influential mobile operators, software companies, device makers, equipment providers and Internet companies, as well as government delegations, and, for the first time at a GSMA event, consumers. The conference programme drew more than 1,800 attendees, with more than 60 per cent of delegates holding C-level positions.

"The strong attendance to the first Mobile Asia Expo is indicative of the impact and importance of mobile in China and throughout Asia," stated John Hoffman, CEO, GSMA Ltd. "We are entering a new era where mobile truly is transforming how the world communicates, how business is conducted and how people live their lives. We are very proud of the contribution that the GSMA and the Mobile Asia Expo have in furthering this transformation."

China Dignitaries and Industry Leaders Gather at Mobile Asia Expo
Mobile Asia Expo opened on June 20th with a ceremony featuring Chinese dignitaries and industry executives including Mr. Zhang Xiaoqiang, Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, Mr. Wang Zhixue, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Mr. Liu Lihua, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Mr. Ai Baojun, Vice Mayor of Shanghai City, Mr. Xi Guohua, Chairman of China Mobile, Mr. Lu Yimin, President of China Unicom and Ms. Liu Zhengyi, Vice District Mayor of Pudong New Area.

Over the two-day conference, CEOs and senior executives from companies including Alcatel-Lucent, Bharti Airtel, China Mobile, China Unicom, Datang Telecom Group, HTC, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, Smart Communications and ZTE delivered keynotes exploring the trends and issues that are shaping the mobile industry today and into the future. Beyond the keynote programme, the conference included focused sessions on topics including applications, devices, embedded mobile, mobile advertising, mobile broadband, mobile health, mobile Internet, mobile money, mobile operator strategies, network evolution, NFC, retail in mobile and social media, among others.

Mobile Asia Expo also hosted several GSMA seminars and meetings, as well as partner meetings including the GTI Asia Conference and the China Unicom Partner Meeting.

Mobile Business and Lifestyle Exhibition
Approximately 200 exhibiting companies occupied over 8,000 square metres of exhibition and business meeting space at Mobile Asia Expo. Notable exhibitors included BMW, China Mobile, China Unicom, Cisco, Datang Telecom Group, Huawei, IBM, MasterCard, Mozilla, NEC, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, Orange, PayPal, SanDisk, Telecom Italia Sparkle, Tencent, Visa, Yahoo! and ZTE, among others. Other highlights of the exhibition included new consumer-focused features such as the Angry Birds Zone, the Augmented Life Zone, the Mobile Gaming Zone and the Mobile Fashion Zone, as well as the Innovation Lab, which hosted 25 company presentations over three days.

The Shanghai event also included App Planet, a focused event designed to bring together the many critical elements of the broad mobile application ecosystem together in one location. Companies including China Mobile, Nokia and Research in Motion each held application developer conferences in the programme. App Planet also featured the MNO Cloud Forum and the mPowered Brands Open Forum, as well as a presentation of the winners in the Smarter App Challenge developers' competition.

GSMA Hosts First Public Policy Forum
The GSMA held its first Public Policy Forum, bringing together delegations from 15 countries and international organisations to discuss the key enablers for mobile broadband growth and development. The one-day meeting included keynote speeches as well as panel discussions, where stakeholders debated and reflected on the key drivers to stimulate investment in mobile broadband in Asia Pacific, and how industry and governments can work together to achieve this. China Mobile was the Platinum Sponsor and Qualcomm was the Bronze Sponsor for the Public Policy Forum.

"We thank all who contributed to the success of our inaugural Mobile Asia Expo, including the government of China, the city of Shanghai, our Platinum Event Sponsor China Mobile and all of our exhibitors, sponsors, partners and attendees," continued Hoffman. "We look forward to coming back to Shanghai next year and building the Mobile Asia Expo brand."

Mobile Asia Expo 2013 will be held the week of June 24; specific timing and further details for the 2013 event will be made available over the coming months.

For news coverage and video highlights from Mobile Asia Expo, please visit Mobile World Live at http://www.mobileworldlive.com/mobile-asia-expo. Replays of the Mobile Asia Expo keynote presentations will also be made available on Mobile World Live over the coming weeks.

Note to editor:*This figure represents the number individual attendees at the event, including delegates, exhibitors, contractors and media; it does not represent the total number of entries to the event.

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, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies, and media and entertainment organisations. 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.

SOURCE GSMA