3GSM: 3G Services Create a Buzz

Barcelona,
the Catalonian capital was host to the largest GSM conference which witnessed a
record participation of  50,000
telecom professionals from across the world. Several announcements and product
and services launch by vendors and service providers took place during the
four-day event.  The highlight of
the event was the heightened enthusiasm of services providers, vendors, and
content players towards the wide range of 3G services including music, videos,
and live TV on mobile. Most of the operators and vendors felt that high-speed
transfers and instant messaging would be the key driver for the success of 3G
services.

Wang Jianzhou, chairman and CEO of China Mobile, said the total revenue
from mobile music in China was larger than the total revenue of the traditional
music industry. He informed that whereas 1 mn copies of a CD might sell in China
in six months, 15 mn copies of a single song were recently bought by mobile
phone users over the same period of time.

In all, 962 companies showcased their wares at the conference. Software
and content companies outnumbered the traditional telecom exhibitors with their
innovative products. There were high-profile keynote addresses by Microsoft CEO
Steve Ballmer, Motorola CEO Ed Zander, Nokia CEO Jorma Ollila, Ericsson
president and CEO, Carl-Henric Svanberg among others. 

For Ballmer, it was time to put aside desktop for a while and concentrate
on mobile phones and embedded devices and specifically recently launched Windows
Mobile version 5.0.  On the other
hand, Motorola's presence at the event was overwhelming.Â
In fact the entire city of Barcelona was plastered with Motorola
advertisements. Orange, Vodafone, and other wireless operators also displayed
their new products and services.

A large number of visitors from India including the Union Communications
minister Dayanidhi Maran were also present.Â
Sunil Mittal of Bharti also spoke at the event. He said, “Mobile phones
are a way to bridge the digital divide and a fantastic opportunity for India to
exploit its full potential as a knowledge-based society.” Mittal also pointed
out that around 500 mn people in India are under the age of 25 and the demand
for affordable digital communication is set to increase.Â

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Some companies from India who displayed their latest products and services
included Flextronics Sofware Systems, Bharti Telesoft, Jatayu Software, and ACL
Wireless.  Idea Cellular got the
distinction of becoming the first Indian company to win a GSM Award for 'Best
Billing or Customer Care Solution' in a stiff competition with other
International nominees like Orange Communications (SA), Bitfone (California),
MegaFon (Moscow) and T-Mobile (UK). The application named 'Bill Flash'
allows customer to dial a five digit string (eg *111# in Delhi) to get his
'unbilled amount and billing information' as a flash on his handset screen
within 30 seconds, even while roaming.
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The event also saw a consensus emerging amongst a large number of
operators on two important issue of spam and IM. The GSM Association and some of
the world's leading mobile phone operators will sign a code of practice
committing them to work together to minimize spam sentÂ
via text and picture messages.  Another
significant development was the coming together of 15 mobile phone operators
(including Bharti, Hutchison Essar, Idea, MTNL, Aircel) to roll out
interoperable instant messaging (IM) services that will build on the text
messaging.

Sudesh Prasad in Barcelona  

sudeshp@cybermedia.co.in