MWC Preview: Datebook

Monday, Feb. 16

10:30 a.m. Mobile Broadband for All: Showcasing the Economics of Deploying HSPA for Growth

This seminar will provide an overview of the economics of supply (economies of scale on networks and devices), the economics of demand (incremental cost of adding a new subscriber, targeting bottom of pyramid, backward compatibility and scalability) and the drivers for economic growth (entrepreneurship, critical decision-making made more productive and efficient).

2:30 p.m. Mobile Broadband Evolution Seminar: Do All Roads Lead to LTE?

This event, focused on wireless operators, equipment vendors and interested analysts and members of the media will focus on the features and benefits of mobile broadband evolution and the future of the evolution toward LTE, likely to be a continuing hot topic in 2009 as the dawn of LTE deployments approaches.

Tuesday, Feb. 17

9 a.m. Sustaining Growth in Challenging Times Keynote


The opening keynote will feature Rob Conway, CEO of the GSMA, Cesar Alierta, Chairman and CEO of  Telefonica, Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao, and Telenor CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas. It will be moderated by Alexander Isozimov, CEO of Vimpelcom and will focus on how the current economic recession is impacted the mobile industry, a topic likely to hang over the entire conference, and how to grow in the face of tough economic times.

11 a.m. Moving Towards An Open Mobile Ecosystem Keynote

This keynote, featuring Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Nokia CEO Olli Pekka Kallasvuo and AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega, will focus on the concept of "open" mobile ecosystems, a term that was thrown around this past September at the CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment conference but which still does not have precise definitions. Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal will try to get the chief executives to open up on how best to open up the mobile space. 

7:30 p.m. Global Mobile Awards Gala Dinner

This black-tie affair, a celebration of the winners of the Global Mobile Awards, is akin to the wireless world's Academy Awards. 

Wednesday, Feb. 18

9 a.m.
Mobile Broadband - Defining the Evolution Path Keynote

This session, with presentations from Dick Lynch, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Verizon Communications, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs and Simon Beresford-Wylie, CEO of Nokia Siemens Networks, will focus on the explosion in mobile data usage and what it means. How will customer behavior adapt to being always connected to increasingly faster data streams? What are the roles that value chain players play? This topic is especially hot considering how much data revenue feeds into carriers' overall revenue.

2 p.m. Embedded Mobile

A seminar on embedded wireless, a hot topic with both operators and vendors. While more complex than traditional voice offerings, the growth potential in the market segment is large. What are the latest insights into embedded wireless? Featuring: Dan Mårtensson, Telenor; Nick Munn, Mobile Data Association; Ken Figueredo, Venturateam; Gyu-sang Jang, KTF; Gert Pauwels, Mobistar/Orange Belgium; Mike Short, O2 / Telefonica; Mike Wright, Telstra; Don Jones, Qualcomm; Brian O'Connor, EU/Northern Ireland; Pankaj Kedia, Intel; Magnus Kristersson, Ericsson; Cindy Patterson, Jasper Wireless; Albert Wu, Huawei; Olivier Beaujard, Wavecomm; Rami Avidan, Wyless.

Thursday Feb. 19


9 a.m. Mobile Entertainment keynote

Mobile entertainment and advertising are constantly evolving. This session will explore both and features Wayne Brannon, Chevrolet Europe; Chris DeWolf, Myspace; Jeffrey Merrihue, MoFilm; Ralph Simon, Mobile Entertainment Forum--Americas/ The Mobilium Advisory Group; Olaf Swantee, Orange; and actor Kevin Spacey.