I’m posting this from the GSMA’s Mobile Asia Congress event in Macau, where I’m speaking on a panel session this Wednesday.

Similar to the MWC in Barcelona each year, the venue threatens to overshadow the conference.  We’re at the Venetian Hotel & Casino, on Macau’s Cotai Strip, and the sheer enormity of this structure is an experience to behold. There’s indoor canals (full size) and an indoor facsimile of St Mark’s Square, built around several levels of high-end shopping and, oh, there’s also a casino that’s larger than several football fields.

This morning’s keynotes were a mixture of concern for the industry with the current financial crisis – literally billions of dollars worth of telecoms debt falls due in 2009, which will bring operating challenges for many operators – while on the other hand, the sheer ubiquity of the mobile experience (like keys and a wallet/purse, nobody leaves home without a mobile) suggests that while not immune from a forecasted decrease in consumer spending, it is unlikely to be a utility people will readily forgo.

Of course, the rise in mobile broadband around the world is giving extra cause for optimism.  I heard anecdotes suggesting 20% growth in subscribers in 6 months as customers add a mobile USB modem to their existing handset service.  While these subscribers provide good ARPU, several speakers mentioned the challenges presented by the infrastructure – base stations and backhaul bandwidth – needed to service this demanding customer segment.  Its no great surprise that most of the OEM vendors here are touting mobile broadband solutions.

I will post more later in the week, but I have to give kudos to the GSMA and also local MNO CTM – each delegate pack contained a prepaid CTM SIM card.  Really handy, so cheap to do, and a wonderfully useful thing to have at such an event.  Well done!

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