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The world's biggest mobile communications conference and exhibition, the 3GSM World Congress 2007, took place at the Fira de Barcelona, Spain, for four days from Feb 12th to Feb 15th. 3GSM World Congress was a good opportunity for top executives from mobile operators, equipment vendors, IT companies and entertainment providers to meet and explore new horizons.

The world's premier mobile event had enjoyed a second successful year in Barcelona with increased number of experts. An estimated 55,000 visitors from across the globe gathered at the congress to do business and discuss the hottest trends in the mobile phone industry. This year the congress, organized by the GSM Association, hosted 1,300 exhibitors.

The congress featured CEO and board-level speakers at both the keynote and breakout sessions. Key industry leaders such as Arun Sarin, CEO, Vodafone; Patricia Russo, CEO, Alcatel-Lucent; Edgar J Bronfman Jr, CEO, Warner Music Group; and Sir Tim Berners-Lee addressed the delegates.

Mobile entertainment and content formed a major theme throughout the conference with an entire hall dedicated to multimedia content for mobile devices. In addition, the mobile entertainment summit session addressed hot industry topics such as mobile TV and mobile music delivery.

Exhibition Innovation
Innovation was the key word for many exhibitors. They wanted to use the platform to share their innovations with mobile industry. Ringback tone service and X-tones, an innovative feature from Bercut, had been introduced at the 3GSM World Congress 2007. X-tones allow the operator to improve the quality of content delivery and to extend the range of VAS offerings.

South Korean handset vendor LG Electronics pitched in with its low cost WCDMA handset with which the GSMA and its members will spearhead the 3G for all campaign. Twelve operators including Cingular, Globe, Hutchison, KTF, MTN, Orange, Smart, TIM, Telefonica, T-Mobile and Vodafone have committed to buying the LG handset KU250, which is expected to ship at a wholesale cost that undercuts typical entry level 3G phones by about 30%.

GSMA on its part took the initiative for worldwide payments at point of sale by mobile phones. The 'pay-buy-mobile' initiative will bring payment capability into the device. Users will benefit from the ability by purchasing items in a secure and convenient way from the comfort of their own mobile phones, putting an end to bulky wallets full of notes and coins for purchasing. Mobile phone based transactions are already becoming commonplace in South Korea, where there are already more than 12 mn mobile payment enabled handsets in circulation, with 80,000 terminal payment machines in shops, restaurants and cafes.

At the Innovation Forum Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, made a ringing call for openness, decentralization, and user control on the mobile Web in his speech to Wi-Fi Alliance, which announced that it has certified nearly 100 Wi-Fi phones since 2004, with more to come this year.