The GSMA Mobile World Congress, the biggest annual telecom event of the globe, kicked off in Barcelona, Spain yesterday with a call for bringing the service and the telecommunication sector under a same platform for the sake of their mutual interest.
“The collaboration of the service and the communication sectors will be the key for the overall advancement in the coming days, which the industry people should put their effort for,” said aid GSMA Chairman Jon Fredrik Baksaas while inaugurating the GSMA Mobile Congress 2014.
“Billions of people are now availing the internet facilities across the world and the number is increasing exponentially.
At this point, we need to join hands together to create an atmosphere congenial for harmonising the service and the communication sectors,” said Baksas, who is also the Presidnet of Telenor, parent company of the Bangladesh’s leading mobile operator Grameenphone.
“Collaboration is required between the mobile operators, handsets providers, system providers and different service providers in the entire eco-system that will drive us for reaching our common goal.”
“80,000 participants are attending in the GSMA’14, which proves that the industry has the hunger for further advancement,’’ he added.
Earlier, mobile congress organisers informed that a world-class thought-leadership conference featuring visionary keynotes and panel discussions will also take place during the event.
Addressing the opening ceremony, the GSMA Director General Anne Bouverot said, “The mobile companies, vendors and other businesses across the globe are attending the event, which will help them in networking in the coming days.”
CEO of Etisalat Ahmad Abdul Karim Julfar, said, “Voice service of our network is currently holding the fifth position while internet, entertainments dominate the other areas.’’
“But, voice is dying day by day,’’ said Abdul Karim sharing a data which showed that an user with a Smartphone uses data of 25 minutes roughly every day against the voice uses of only 12 minutes.
Daniel Hajj, chief executive officer of America Movil, a leading mobile operator in South America, has opined that it is a must to have a proper eco-system to deliver proper services to the customers.
Panelists of the session said, facebook can offer free services but it would be harmful for them if facebook and Whatsapp jointly offered such a free service.
Recently facebook authority has bought whatsapp at a cost of US$19bn.
Both Mark Zuckerburg, the founder and CEO of Facebook and WhatsApp boss are participating the event.
Telecommunication and ICT minister Abdul Latif Siddique is leading a seven-member delegation from Bangladesh to the annual gala event.
Among others, the delegation includes Post and Telecommunication division secretary Md Abubakar Siddique, ICT division secretary Md Nazrul Islam Khan and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose.
Nazrul Islam Khan and Sunil Kanti Bose will participate at two different sessions as panelists.
