The GSMA announced a partnership with US wireless trade group CTIA that will see the two organisations create GSMA Mobile World Congress Americas, a new mobile industry event debuting in San Francisco next year.

In a joint statement, CTIA and GSMA said they will serve as equal partners of the joint event, with the inaugural show, scheduled to be held 12-14 September 2017, targeting 30,000 attendees and 1,000 exhibitors.

The GSMA will lead production and management of the show.

Mobile World Congress Americas adds to the GSMA’s portfolio of mobile industry events,  including its flagship, Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and Mobile World Congress Shanghai, which will be held next week.

CTIA is still scheduled to hold its annual Super Mobility event this year, between 7-9 September in Las Vegas, before it is evolved “into the new joint event in 2017 and beyond”.

The two organisations said the new event will continue to “serve CTIA Super Mobility attendees, exhibitors, and sponsors, while also attracting new audiences from the growing communications ecosystem”.

The statement continued that the new event, which includes a conference program and an exhibition showcasing the latest mobile technologies, among other activities, “will emphasise core mobile technologies, consumer and industrial applications in the Internet of Things and the intersection of mobile with entertainment, content and media”.

The first truly global wireless event in the US
Mats Granryd, director general at GSMA, drew on the organisation’s long relationship with CTIA, and said the organisation was “pleased to have this opportunity to broaden our partnership to deliver this new event”.

“The combination of GSMA’s world class event organisation and management capabilities and CTIA’s excellent member relations and US public policy and regulatory expertise position us to build an even stronger event for the Americas region in Mobile World Congress Americas,” he said.

Meredith Atwell Baker, CTIA’s president and CEO, echoed Granryd’s comments, as she heralded “the first truly global wireless event in the US and the Americas”.

“Each fall, this unique collaboration will bring the world’s attention to mobile innovation and opportunities to 5G to the Internet of Things and beyond.”

She also said CTIA looks forward to developing “policy focused educational sessions”, adding that the event is ideal to highlight the US mobile industry and “the impact it has for billions of people around the world”.

“We are very excited to be partnering with CTIA to create our first large scale event in the US,” added John Hoffman, CEO, GSMA Ltd.