International events: Mobile World Congress in Spain

A Mobile World Congress, which opened on February, 15 in Spain, is dedicated to new information technologies in the modern world. The Minister of Communications and Mass Media of Russian Federation Igor Shchyogolev took part in the ministerial conference, which was held within the framework of the forum.

According to the Congress’s organizers, it was initiated as a "versatile laboratory of ideas, reflecting all aspects of the industry’s global development with participation of the government representation, mobile operators, developers and producers of mobile devices". Participants of plenary meetings and conferences in the “round table” format spotlight the role of mobile technologies in such a core sectors as a health care, finances, and mass communications.

The Queen Rania of Jordan, who heads the programs of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is going to address participants of the Congress in Barcelona. She is planning to discuss the industry’s contribution to campaigns, which support a broader access to knowledge and development of universal education.

The forum’s organizers announced that in late 2009 the number of the mobile communications users worldwide has totaled 4,6 billion people. In Russia, where the development pace of communication services remain high, despite the situation in the world economics, cellular network shows an especially positive dynamics. Thus, already now in the Russian Federation 100 people are reported to possess about 150 cellular phones with active SIM cards. According to Mr Shchyogolev, the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media pays special attention to work with regulatory issues in order to "abolish redundant and outdated standards, simplify procedures and facilitate business development in this sector".