GSMA

The GSM Association (GSMA) is a group that supports and speaks up for the mobile phone industry. It has more than 750 mobile companies as full members and about 400 more companies that help the mobile world as associate members.

Even though it is a non-profit trade association, the GSMA makes a lot of money—about $668 million each year. Most of this money comes from its big events, especially the Mobile World Congress (MWC). The MWC event in Barcelona helped the local economy by bringing in over €561 million in one year.

The money the GSMA makes is used to help its main goals. These goals include talking to governments about rules for mobile phones, creating ways for different mobile technologies to work together, and bringing people together at big events around the world.

History

The GSMA began in 1995 as the GSM MoU Association. It was created to help and support mobile companies that used the GSM standard for cell phone networks. Its history goes back to 1987 when 13 companies in 12 countries agreed to use GSM for mobile services.

Membership and governance

The GSMA has two types of members. Full members are mobile operators that use a certain kind of technology, and there are about 750 of them around the world. Associate members are companies that work with mobile technology but are not operators, like phone makers, software companies, and others. There are about 400 of these members.

The GSMA is led by a board with 25 representatives from big and smaller operator groups, chosen every two years. In January 2022, José María Álvarez-Pallete López, CEO of the Telefónica Group, became the chairman. Mats Granryd has been the Director General since January 2016.

Programmes and advocacy

The GSMA helps mobile companies work together on new technologies. It focuses on three main areas: "Future Networks," which supports better communication services; "Identity"; and the "Internet of Things."

The GSMA also has groups that deal with topics like travel between countries for mobile services, safety, and property rights. It speaks for the mobile industry to governments, aiming to make rules that are fair and help mobile services grow, especially in places that are just starting to use them. The GSMA also supports the United Nations' goals for a better world.

Events

The GSMA holds a big yearly event called MWC Barcelona, which used to be called the Mobile World Congress. In 2019, over 109,000 people came to this event. It started in 1987 and has been held in Barcelona since 2006 at the Fira Gran Via place. In 2019, it was honored again as the world's biggest event that tries to balance nature and business by the Guinness World Record.

Besides MWC Barcelona, the GSMA also organizes other events like MWC Kigali, MWC Shanghai, MWC Las Vegas, 4YFN MWC Doha, and the M360 series. But the most famous one is still the Barcelona event.

TAC/IMEI database

The GSMA is in charge of managing the Type Allocation Code, which helps create the International Mobile Equipment Identity number. This number is special because it can identify wireless devices.

The GSMA gives out official IMEI number ranges to companies that make devices that follow 3GPP rules. It keeps track of these ranges and information about the devices in a database. This database helps authorized groups find out who made a mobile device and what model it is by using the IMEI.