-- With More Than 85,000 Visitors, Attendance Up By 18 Per Cent Over Mobile World Congress 2013

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The GSMA today reported that more than 85,000* visitors from 201 countries attended the 2014 Mobile World Congress, setting another new record for the mobile industry's premier event. In addition to the more than 80,000 attendees at Mobile World Congress at Fira Gran Via, more than 5,000 people participated in a range of partner programmes at Fira Montjuic.

"By any measure, the 2014 Mobile World Congress was a stunning success and we thank our attendees, exhibitors, sponsors and partners for their continued support," said John Hoffman, CEO, GSMA Ltd. "Beyond the number of attendees and participating companies, the continued expansion of the event to address key adjacent industry sectors demonstrates just how pervasive mobile is in our everyday lives and how integrated it is becoming in everything that we do. It's gratifying to be part of such a dynamic, exciting industry."

Mobile World Congress set additional records, with more than 1,800 exhibiting companies showcasing cutting-edge products and services across 98,000 net square metres of exhibition and hospitality space. More than 3,800 international media and industry analysts attended the event to report on the many significant industry announcements made at the Congress. Preliminary independent economic analysis indicates that the 2014 Mobile World Congress will have contributed more than €356 million and 7,220 part-time jobs to the local economy.

The four-day conference and exhibition attracted executives from the world's largest and most influential mobile operators, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies and companies from industry sectors such as automotive, finance and healthcare, as well as government delegations from across the globe. Over 50 per cent of this year's Mobile World Congress attendees hold C-level positions, including more than 4,500 CEOs and 18 per cent of attendees for the 2014 show were women.

Leading CEOs Take the Stage at Mobile World Congress
The Mobile World Congress conference programme featured Mobile World Live keynotes from Mark Zuckerberg, Founder, and CEO, Facebook and Virginia Rometty, Chairman, President and CEO, IBM. CEOs and senior executives from companies including Alcatel-Lucent, América Móvil, Bitcoin Foundation, Cisco, Citigroup, Connecthings, EMC Corporation, Etisalat Group, Ford Motor Company, Isis, Jasper Wireless, Kakao Corp., KDDI, Lookout, Millicom, NTT DOCOMO, Raspberry Pi Foundation, Shazam Entertainment, Shhmooze, SingTel, SK Planet, Tele2 Group, Viacom International Media Networks and WhatsApp also participated in the keynote programme.

Record Attendance to GSMA Ministerial Programme
The GSMA's Ministerial Programme again saw record attendance, with government delegations from 160 countries and intergovernmental organisations meeting in Barcelona, including 74 Ministers. The Ministerial Programme brings together governments, regulators and industry leaders to discuss the specific regulatory issues shaping the development of mobile around the world. Ooredoo and Tata Consultancy Services were the Official Sponsors for the 2014 GSMA Ministerial Programme.

Connected Living Coming of Age
The Connected City, one of the most popular attractions at Mobile World Congress, attracted 17,000 visitors over four days. The Connected City, presented with operator partners AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, KT and Vodafone, showcased mobile connected solutions for a range of services, such as education, health, retail, transport, smart cities and others. Among the many highlights from the Connected City was a team of connected basketball players from PABA (Pays d'Aix Basket Asptt) wearing the latest Cityzen Sciences' smart sensing sportswear coupled with mobile broadband to monitor and optimise team performance as well as data management, as well as Oral-B's interactive electric toothbrush with Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, which was introduced at Mobile World Congress.

NFC Experience at Mobile World Congress
The 2014 event featured an expanded NFC Experience, offering a range of services for attendees with NFC-enabled devices, such as venue access with the NFC Badge, catering and networking, access to event information and other downloadable material, as well as demonstrations of the latest NFC products and services, among others. Ten thousand attendees utilised the NFC Badge and nearly 51,000 NFC transactions were made across Fira Gran Via.  Building on the success of the NFC Badge in 2013, customers of Bouygues Telecom, Bharti Airtel, Dialog, Etisalat, KT Corp., Orange, Tata and Telstra were able to further streamline their entry to Mobile World Congress by participating in a trial using their mobile operator credentials to confirm their identity.

Mobile World Congress Back at Montjuic
This year, the Mobile World Congress included a number of partner-led events at Fira Montjuic, drawing more than 5,000 attendees. Montjuic hosted mPowered Industries, with keynotes from companies such as the BBC, Marriott International, Procter & Gamble and Walmart, and vertical industry conference from ECHAlliance, EyeforTravel, Mobile Media Summit and NAB Show; the WIPJam and GSMA DEVCON and HACKATHON; and 4 Years From Now (4YFN), a mobile entrepreneurship and innovation event created by Mobile World Capital.

Mobile World Congress: A Carbon Neutral Event
The 2014 Mobile World Congress will be the world's largest tradeshow certified to have a zero carbon footprint. The GSMA is in the process of certifying Mobile World Congress as carbon neutral through the internationally recognised PAS 2060 standard. To achieve carbon neutrality, the GSMA undertook activities to reduce the carbon footprint of Mobile World Congress and has purchased carbon credits to offset any remaining emissions, funding projects including a hydropower project in China, a wind energy project in India and a geothermal energy project in Kenya.

Mobile World Congress 2015
The 2015 Mobile World Congress will be held 2-5 March 2015 at Fira Gran Via.

"It has been another fantastic week here in the Mobile World Capital Barcelona. On behalf of the GSMA, we thank the city of Barcelona, the city of Hospitalet, the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Fira de Barcelona and all of our Barcelona partners, for their continued strong support. I would also like to extend our deepest gratitude to so many others that make our event such a success, including the police forces, the operators of transport services including bus, taxi, Metro and train and the hotels and restaurants throughout Barcelona. We look forward to returning next year and building on our success together," concluded Hoffman. 

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 encompasses programmes and activities that 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, visit www.mobileworldcapital.com.  

For more information on the 2014 Mobile World Congress, please visit www.mobileworldcongress.com.

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 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.

SOURCE GSMA