About GSM Association

Founded in 1987, the GSMA is the global trade association representing more than 690 GSM mobile phone operators across 214 territories and countries of the world. In addition, more than 180 manufacturers and suppliers support GSMA's initiatives as Associate Members.

The primary goals of the GSMA are to ensure mobile phones and wireless services work globally and are easily accessible, enhancing their value to individual customers and national economies, while creating new business opportunities for operators and their suppliers. The Association's members serve more than 2 billion customers - about 82% of the world's mobile phone users.

The GSMA plays a pivotal role in the development of the GSM platform and the global mobile industry. Much of the GSMA's work is focused on two areas: Emerging services and emerging markets. The GSMA helps its members develop and launch new services, ranging from mobile instant messaging to video sharing to mobile Internet access, which will work across networks and across national boundaries. At the same time, the GSMA is heavily engaged in the industry's push to extend basic voice and text services to more people in emerging markets.

GSM is an evolving wireless communications standard that already offers an extensive and feature-rich 'family' of voice and data services. The GSM family of technologies consists of today's GSM, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) and third generation GSM services (3GSM) based on W-CDMA and HSDPA access technologies. Together these technologies underpin the GSM platform.

The Mobile World Congress and its sister event, the Mobile Asia Congress, are now being produced and managed by GSM Conference Ltd. (GSMC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the GSM Association. GSMC has its own management team and now includes over 30 staff covering sales, marketing, finance, operational and delivery requirements, and is focused on the management and development of commercial initiatives that run in parallel with the GSMA's focus on mutual activities for its members.