Welcome to the show

Phew. Bar one or two scrapes we managed to make it to World Congress, crumpled passport in hand, just as the Fira de Barcelona threw open its doors to the heaving masses.

As ever, attendee numbers are probably up – the queue to get a badge was massive anyway, photo below. Wondering around to get a feel of the place, the air is thick with talk of femtocells, WiMAX, and of course, gadgets.

The introduction of a new moniker for the show this year, changing to Mobile World Congress from GSM World Congress, allows the trade body to adopt a more neutral and inclusive approach to its work. With an eye on the evolution to LTE, the GSMA is aware that the technology for which it was founded will not be around for ever. Some members of the CDMA community, with which the GSMA has historically been at loggerheads, are likely to move towards LTE along with the GSM camp. US carrier Verizon Wireless, part owned by Vodafone, has already pledged allegiance to LTE.

Meanwhile, mBlox has been conducting SMS polls and has revealed that 40 per cent of MWC respondents want to ban booth babes. Naturally, another 40 per cent want to keep them and the remaining 20 per cent couldn’t care either way.

Check the news section of the site for more updates throughout the World Congress experience, and don’t forget you can drop us a line either on the blog or through our voicemail box on +44 151 266 6531.