Industry Giants Unite to Deliver Mobile Broadband Future

GSMA partners with leading companies to deliver range of ready to run, easy to use Mobile Broadband devices

Sixteen of the world’s best known IT and mobile companies have recently united behind a GSMA-led initiative to create a new category of always-connected Mobile Broadband devices, delivering a compelling alternative to WiFi. This will give consumers the freedom to get online on the move, while enabling operators to address a US$50 billion opportunity in both mature and emerging markets (Pyramid Research*).

In the first phase of this unprecedented initiative, mobile operators, PC manufacturers and chipset providers are uniting to pre-install Mobile Broadband into a range of notebook PCs that will be ready to switch on and surf straight out of the box in 91 countries across the world.

To support this initiative, the GSMA has created the Mobile Broadband service mark, a new global identifier which will help consumers easily identify the array of ‘ready to run’ Mobile Broadband devices. The Mobile Broadband service mark is backed by a global media spend of more than US$1 billion in the next year – evidence that the industry is serious about this proposition.

Integrating Mobile Broadband into notebook PCs is the first step in a wider strategy to deliver wireless Internet access and management to a whole range of previously unconnected devices – from cameras and MP3 players to refrigerators, cars and set-top boxes. However, only devices that offer a truly un-tethered Mobile Broadband experience, such as those offered by the 16 companies announced in today’s program, will qualify to carry the new service mark.

Launch participants include 3 Group, Asus, Dell, ECS, Ericsson, Gemalto, Lenovo, Microsoft, Orange, Qualcomm, Telefónica Europe, Telecom Italia, TeliaSonera, T-Mobile, Toshiba and Vodafone – some of the world’s largest technology brands and operators serving more than 760 million connections (Wireless Intelligence).

Today, more than 55 million people subscribe to Mobile Broadband services in 91 countries – a number expected to grow by four million per month by the end of 2008, according to Wireless Intelligence.

The Mobile Broadband mark promises a superior customer experience based on the latest technology available to deliver the highest standard of fully mobile connectivity. Products work out of the box and are fully integrated for maximum simplicity and supported by leading PC manufacturers such as Lenovo and Toshiba.

GSM Association (GSMA)