Despite receiving a no from GSM Association, or GSMA, telecom industry body Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) with support from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) will be showcasing an Indian version of Mobile World Congress (MWC) this September. With a budget of about ₹15 Crore, the event will be organized at Pragati Maidan, Delhi from September 27 to 29, 2017.
In talks with IANS, Rajan S. Mathews, Director General, COAI said,
We felt we needed a flagship event in India. In the West we have the Barcelona event (MWC), in the East there is the Shanghai Mobile World Congress — but there was nothing of that scale for South-East Asia. This event (India MWC) will serve that purpose.
It is being expected that the event will host about 8 to 10 countries including Sweden, Israel and U.K. The Association seeks to turn the event into an annual show and is modelled after Barcelona’s MWC. P. Ramakrishna who has been appointed as the CEO for the event further noted that it will strictly be a business-to-consumer and business-to-government event. However, public entry will be conceded on the third day at a nominal charge.
The preparation for the event has been going on for the past six months under the guidance of an advisory committee dedicated to the event. The committee is chaired by the Secretary of the Department of Telecom and Aruna Sundarajan (Secretary, MeitY) as the Vice-Chairperson. With 300 stalls onboard, the exhibition will occupy 2,000 Sq. meters of area.
Dropping further details about the event, Ramakrishna said,
We expect 8,000 delegates, including exhibitors, to participate in the event. The event will give a 360 degree view of the industry where people from the core industry, original equipment manufacturers and handset manufacturers, among others, will participate.
The event has received a nod from various associations which include National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), Internet and Mobile Association of India, Indian Cellular Association, and Internet Service Providers’ Association of India. The committee will also invite startups and AI-focused companies to participate in the event and is currently engaged in talks with FICCI for an approval.
The confirmation by COAI lines up with the previous speculations. We noted that the extravagant event is about to land in India in the month of September 2017. The IMC (or India Mobile Congress) initiative led by Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) with support from Department of Telecom and the Ministry of Electronics and IT.
This will emphasize the importance of organizing such a large-scale trade show to bridge the gap in the South-east Asian market and boosting our economy. Since there is the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and another edition in Shanghai. There is nothing in the middle for South East Asia. India is emerging as one of the global leaders in telecom and the same will be showcased through the Indian Mobile Congress.
