Govt to position next India Mobile Congress as a global event

Industry body Cellular Operators Association of India said over 35,000 people attended Indian mobile Congress 2017

The government is planning to organise next India Mobile Congress with global theme to expand its horizon to attract global audience.

"We are working on next dates for the event which will be in sync with global calendar of events. We want to have it along with a global event. Deliberations will take place on it in this month. Probably, an event around innovation is one of the thing that we are looking at for global audience," Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan told PTI.

The three day telecom sector event, held on September 27 -29, saw attendance from senior ministers - Communications Minister Manoj Sinha, Oil and Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal.

Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh D Ambani and Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal shared stage at the event.

"There has been huge interest in scaling up this event... particularly for neighbouring countries and Africa. Enlarge the ecosystem. We still have many ecosystem player who could take part. Next year we expect their participation," Sundararajan said.

She said the industry was at forefront and the government supported.

"This event is actually a PPP (Public Private Partnership). Industry is on the forefront and government role is to support. That is how other global events are organised. From that point of view we want to establish IMC as a permanent global brand," Sundararajan said.

Industry body Cellular Operators Association of India said over 35,000 people attended the event.

"This has been a good beginning. There was participation from around 350 exhibitors, 500 start-ups, 13 countries, including Canada, the US, UK, Sweden, France, Finland, Israel, Japan, Bhutan participated in the event," COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews said.

Sundararajan said many delegates approached the government during the event, with interest in mobile manufacturing and have demanded tweaking of some of the regulation.

"While we have made a start in mobile assembly, we want to move up the value chain. Lot of the investors who met us have shown very significant interest in this area. There are certain tweaks they want in regulatory system. But, since these are initial discussion, it will not really be fair for me to share who is wanting what," she said.