2011: The Year of Telecom

The first quarter of 2011 has been all about mobile. Between AT&T and T-Mobile’s major merger announcement and Verizon’s distribution of the iPhone, the U.S. phone market is being rapidly reshaped. Israel has been in the conversation as well, with Tel Aviv mobile content platform, Snaptu, being snatched up by Facebook, the first Israeli acquisition for the social network. (Read about it here)

All of the commercial attachés of Israel had their eyes on Barcelona to start the year, converging our trade officers from all around the world in Spain for the premiere international mobile conference, GSMA’s Mobile World Conference. In our region, we felt honored to have teams comprised of CIOs, business development executives and heads of venture tour the pavilion of 55 Israelis companies.  The exhibiting companies were able to foster personal connections with leaders of industry at Google, T-Mobile, Newscorp, CITI, and many other enterprises.

Our office continued the energy a month later at CTIA Wireless in Orlando.  This was the Economic Mission’s first exhibition at the event, collaborating with the U.S. Department of Commerce. Our office facilitated one-on-one meetings at the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association’s annual conference. To learn more about the Israeli companies that participated, visit www.israelmobileinnovation.com. 

Telecom is furthering international commerce and we want Israel to be at the forefront of innovation. Considering there are five mobile phones for every person in Israel, we are headed in the right direction.