Readying for the Challenges of 3G and Beyond

The 29th GSM Asia Pacific Conference of the GSM Association was inaugurated in Colombo this morning by Dr. Hamadoun Touré, Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and Mr. Lalith Weeratunge, Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka and Chairman of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL). Mr. Priyantha Kariyapperuma, Director General TRCSL, participated as the Guest Of Honour. Dialog Telekom is 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 will focus 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 country.

Ms. 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 is 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 will focus 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 services.