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29th
GSM Asia Pacific Conference Colombo : Readying for the Challenges
of 3G and Beyond
The 29th GSM Asia Pacific Conference of the GSM Association
concluded yesterday in Colombo on a highly successful note.
The three-day had its ceremonial inauguration on Monday jointly
by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Secretary
General Dr. Hamadoun Touré and Secretary to the President
of Sri Lanka and Chairman of the Telecommunications Regulatory
Commission (TRC) Lalith Weeratunge. TRC Director General Priyantha
Kariyapperuma, participated as the Guest Of Honour. Dialog
Telekom was the principal host of the three-day summit, which
was aptly titled ‘Beyond 21’ to coincide with the
21st Anniversary of GSM.The conference was attended by over
150 delegates from GSM networks representing 27 countries,
officials from GSMA and other partner organisations.
The conference focused on a host of key issues that would
shape the future of the mobile telecom industry.The ceremonial
opening of the conference was followed by an interactive industry
leaders’ panel discussion on challenging the status-quo
to deliver anytime, anywhere, anyplace mobile solutions.
Thereafter, latest technology developments in mobile broadband
solutions, regulations for tomorrow’s mobile market and
trends in the Asian roaming landscape took centre stage in
the Asia Pacific operator deliberations.Speaking at the conference,
Dr. Hamadoun Toure said “the experience of GSM has shown
that by following principles of mutual benefit, open standards
and a competitive market, mobile telephony has developed both
as a must-have essential communications tool and a vibrant
industry in its own right, churning billions of dollars in
revenue each year.
These are principles that ITU endorses in its everyday standardisation
work, where it is committed to developing open and accessible
standards drawing on the expertise of its diverse public and
private sector membership.”“ITU is pleased to be
working closely with GSMA and our partners to strengthen cooperation
and improve access to mobile phone services, and bridge the
digital divide in least developed and developing nations.
ITU is committed to connecting the world, and let us work
together to achieve that goal,” Dr. Touré said.Director
General TRCSL, Mr. Priyantha Kariyapperuma, said: “I’m
happy to be associated with the 29th GSMA Asia Pacific Conference
which coincides with the 21st Anniversary of the GSM Standard.
Sri Lanka’s mobile networks reached an important milestone
in its history at the end of 2006 becoming fully GSM, and
at present the country has a mobile tele-density of approximately
43 per cent. In Sri Lanka, the first country in South Asia
to adopt GSM technology, mobile telephony has changed lives,
connected the unconnected, empowered the marginalised and
delivered to one in two citizens the power of digital and
multimodal connectivity. The GSM revolution in Sri Lanka will
continue well into the future with the availability and adoption
of HSPA mobile broadband and 3rd Generation technology –
rapidly reaching the farthest parts of the countryMs. Anoja
J. Obeyesekere, Chair GSM Asia Pacific, said: “The foundation
of human culture and society has always been communication
and we represent an industry that forms that very foundation
– mobile communication. Over the last decade, the mobile
telecommunication industry has transformed from a niche business
to one of the largest and most important industries in the
world in terms of impact it creates on economy and people.
While it took telephone companies more than a century to install
one billion phone lines, GSM connected its first billion users
in just 12 years and the next billion in 30 months.
A true revolution, changing and saving lives of millions of
people along the way. As a beneficiary of GSM – a unique,
global and life changing connectivity standard, and the dividends
it delivers to citizens, communities and enterprises alike,
Sri Lanka is no doubt a proud host of the Asia Pacific region’s
GSMA deliberations.”She added that “as it comes
of age, the outlook of GSM remains a constant challenge. These
challenges are diverse in nature and in their order of priority
would be unique to our countries and respective regions.
However, our unanimous priority would be to connect the unconnected
in the region, and bring the economic, social, educational
and health benefits of mobile communication to the 60 per
cent of population in Asia Pacific who live within range of
mobile networks but remain unconnected.” Conference host
Dialog Telekom PLC’s Group CEO, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya,
said Dialog was singularly privileged to host the 29th GSM
AP Conference in the backdrop of the 21st Anniversary celebrations
of GSM. “21 years of GSM has no doubt seen the world
transform to a previously unimaginable extent with respect
to pluralisation of connectivity not only across multiple
continents, but also across social and demographic stratum
delivering empowerment through connectivity to those who benefit
from it most,” he said.The final day’s sessions
focused on GSMA initiatives that require mandatory compliance,
as well as futuristic initiatives such as Mobile Alliance
Against Child Sexual Abuse Content, efficient addressing of
all-IP world and Green Power for Mobile – alternative
energy initiatives for a healthier planet.World leaders in
mobile technology, Huawei Technologies and Ericsson pledged
support for the conference as Tier-1 and Tier-2 Sponsors respectively,
and presented the future of mobile telecommunications at a
technology session. Orange-France Telecom Group, Satyam Computer
Services Ltd, TATA Communications and Alcatel-Lucent also
participated at the conference as Tier-3 Sponsors. The
conference also featured a two-day state-of-the-art exhibition
by leading manufacturers and suppliers including Emirates
Data Clearing House, Advanced Roaming & Clearing House
and TeliaSonera Group who displayed their GSM products and
servicesGSMA is the global trade association representing
over 700 GSM mobile phone operators in 218 countries and territories
around the world. The primary goals of GSMA are to ensure
mobile phones and wireless services work globally and are
easily accessible, enhancing their value to individual customers
and national economies. The Association’s members serve
more than 3 billion customers – 85 per cent of the world’s
mobile phone usersGSM (Global System for Mobile communications)
is an evolving mobile communications standard that already
offers an extensive and feature-rich ‘family’ of
voice and multimedia services.
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