3GSM World Congress, Cannes, France, 16th February 2005: The tenth GSM Association (GSMA) Awards winners were announced last night during a spectacular gala evening at the mobile industry’s leading annual event, the 3GSM World Congress 2005.

In an opening speech, GSM Association CEO and board member Rob Conway, emphasised the economic scale and diversity of the mobile communications industry today and the benefits it delivers to people, businesses and governments throughout the world: “The mobile industry today generates in the region of $US450 billion annually and countless jobs directly and indirectly,” he said.

“Mobile communications is an amazing engine for economic and social development which makes it so uniquely valuable. That engine powers growth not only in developed markets but also in emerging markets,” he added.

At the Awards evening, hosted by veteran CNBC broadcaster Ron Insana, the GSMA also held a special charity auction in aid of UNICEF, offering rare and unique items from the sports, arts and entertainment fields, as part of the world’s first international text message auction.

With a record number of entries, the 2005 Awards, sponsored by Intel, demonstrated the depth and breadth of the GSM industry – today serving more than 1.25 billion customers across 200 countries - with solutions and services for the individual, the enterprise, the corporate, the community and the environment.

Congratulating the winners, Conway said: “As we celebrate another year of industry achievement and growth, this year we have recognised progress in the areas of mobile messaging, entertainment & content, enterprise applications and for the first time, 3G devices.

“Also, each year in these awards, we honour those in the GSM world who are changing, enhancing and saving lives globally – with some breathtaking community services and initiatives.”

The full list of the 2005 GSM Association Award winners, selected by an independent panel of judges from throughout the technology sector, is as follows:

Applications, Content & Services – sponsored by Nokia

Best Enterprise Application
WINNER – Swisscom Mobile Ltd (Switzerland)
Mobile Unlimited 3GSM/GPRS/WLAN data service with 3-in-1 card HIGHLY COMMENDED – Visto Corporation (USA)
Visto Mobile 5.0 Wireless Email Platform

Best Mobile Messaging Service
WINNER – Globe Telecom, Inc (Philippines)
G-Cash M-Commerce Service

Best Mobile Entertainment Content or Service
WINNER – Somethin’ Else (UK)
Mobile Radio: hit40uk

Handsets, Devices and Network Solutions

Best Mobile Handset
WINNER – Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd (Republic of Korea)
SGH-D500 HIGHLY COMMENDED – Motorola (USA)
Razr V3

Best 3GSM Handset
WINNER – Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications (UK)
Sony Ericsson V800 / Vodafone 802SE HIGHLY COMMENDED – Sharp Telecoms of Europe Ltd (UK)
SH902 developed by Sharp Corporation

Best Billing or Customer Care Solution
WINNER – LHS (Germany)
Turkcell’s KampusCell service for prepaid customers

Best Network Infrastructure
WINNER – Vanu Inc (USA)
Vanu Software Radio Base Station

Marketing and Promotion – Sponsored by Microsoft

Best Marketing Campaign
WINNER – Telecom Development Company Afghanistan Ltd t/a Roshan (Afghanistan) – Roshan’s Light and Hope

Best Broadcast Commercial
WINNER – M1 (Singapore)
“1 Life. Live It” TV Commercial

Mobile in the Community – sponsored by Vodafone

Best Use of Mobile / Special Needs
WINNER – America Online, Inc (USA)
AOL Instant Messaging Relay Service

Best Use of Mobile / Emergency Situations
WINNER – Ericsson AB (Sweden)
Ericsson Response in Bam

Mobility in the Environment
WINNER – Safaricom (Kenya)
Save the Elephants HIGHLY COMMENDED – Fonebak (UK)
Phone reuse / recycling

The Chairman’s Award – Sponsored by Fortune magazine

WINNER for Country Leadership – Brazil
 

The Awards evening, at the Palais des Festivals, was the last to be held in Cannes as the 3GSM World Congress moves to Barcelona from 2006.

For full details of this year’s Awards, and to watch out for the launch of the 2006 event, visit www.gsmawards.com