This year near about 152 telecoms experts and high-level officials from South Asian countries attended the conference at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel. This two-day event chiefly covered the mobile industry's overall growth story, its regulatory policies, technological evolution, migration to 3G system, WiMAX, mobile internet, mobile content development, dynamic marketing strategies and data services in rural areas.

Manzurul Alam, chairman, BTRC (Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission), emphasised the best quality services for subscribers. The BTRC chairman said the regulatory body wouldn't award licence to new mobile phone operators, adding that existing operators should adopt more innovative approaches in a bid to acquire competitive advantage from stiff competition.

Mehboob Chowdhury, chairman, South Asian GSM Operators Forum, raised price issues regarding international roaming. He also underscored the need for operators' collective effort to come up with a flexible solution.

In his multimedia presentation, Khalid Khan, head of Nokia Siemens Networks-Bangladesh, stated the necessity for new innovation to handle subscribers' growing demands as well as increasing efficiency. He also said Nokia Siemens Networks would play a substantial role in deploying new age technologies to connect the entire world by the year 2015.

Min Prasad Aryal, assistant manager engineering, Nepal Telecommunications Authority, spoke to StarTech about the overall telecommunications scenario in Nepal. "We have only two operators in Nepal and within a short span of time we expect to launch WiMAX service", Prasad said. Unlike Bangladesh, Nepal is not directly connected to international submarine cable network; instead, it is connected to ultra high-speed internet through India.

Several Bangladeshi mobile phone operators--GrameenPhone, Aktel and Banglalink--gave comprehensive overview about the cellular telecommunications scenario in Bangladesh. Stein Naevdal, chief marketing officer of GrameenPhone, talked about the overall growth story and said the carrier will continue its mission to extend the subscriber base.

Kamshul Kasim, acting managing director, Aktel, spoke about the competitive mobile landscape in Bangladesh whereas Shihab Ahmad, Banglalink's head of marketing analysis and planning, gave his speech on consumer segmentation and successful marketing.

During the conference several telecoms companies showcased detail information on their products and services at respective outlets. Syscom, an India-based SIM card manufacturer, told StarTech that it serves all the top regional mobile operators, including Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel), Hutchison Essar Limited (Hutch), Idea Cellular Limited (Idea), Reliance Telecom Limited, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Dishnet Wireless Limited (Aircel), GrameenPhone Limited and Hutch Sri Lanka. Syscom is a member of the global SIM and smart card group, Sagem Orga, a part of the SAFRAN high-tech group. The group generates annual sales of more than 11 billion euros and has 61,000 employees in over 30 countries.

Sicap, a telecoms solutions provider, exhibited different packages, namely prepaid roaming, USSD menu browser, pay4me and others. Prepaid roaming allows operators to generate more revenue from the subscribers. Sicap's USSD menu browser (UMB) provides interactive sessions over USSD. It is simple and convenient for the first-time users. Customers can easily access a wide range of value-added and customer-care services under one easy-to-remember number. Pay4me is an interesting solution which enables subscribers, who have already run out of their credit, to make phone calls. The person called to will pay on behalf of the caller.

Eserv Global offered some software solutions that give freedom to operators from vendor lock-in. Some solutions from Eserv Global are Mobility Suite, INMax, M@ilis Suite, Message Max, Charging MAX and Top UP Suite.

Sitronics came up with some cutting edge solutions for the subscribers. Among them NGN Solutions, Billing Solution, Complex Network Solution and Flexible Call Centre Solution are remarkable.

Mobile South Asia 2007 brought telecoms experts on the same platform to share their expertise. Opportunities that are created through this conference need to be utilised within a short span of time and if it is possible, our country will step into a new era of telecommunications.