GSMA CEO Rob Conway revealed the three winners of the GSMA’s embedded mobile module competition in his opening keynote address at the Mobile Asia Congress this morning. Belgian firm Option won the high-bandwidth application category for its GTM501 module, while the low-bandwidth category was shared between Germany’s Cinterion Wireless Modules for its 2G M2M Evolution module and China’s SIMCom Wireless Solutions for its 3G SIM5215. The competition – part of the GSMA’s Embedded Mobile initiative – aimed to identify best-in-class embedded modules for both 3G and 2G applications.

A panel of nine judges from mobile operators including AT&T, KT, Orange, SMART, Softbank, Telecom Italia, Telefónica O2, Telstra and Vodafone rated 17 entries on criteria such as time to market, ease of deployment, short and long-term market prospects, price competitiveness and each company’s strategic commitment to partnering with mobile operators and developing a strong ecosystem. According to the GSMA, the manufacturers that submitted modules for the final of the competition represented more than 50 percent of the M2M market based on module shipment volumes.

Option claims that the GTM501 is the world’s smallest 3G module (measuring just 25mm x 30mm x 2.3mm); it is targeted at both consumer devices such as ultra-mobile PCs and broadband machine-to-machine (M2M) applications. The company also announced on Monday that the GTM501 will be used in Plastic Logic’s new eReader device, which is scheduled for launch next year.

The three winning modules will be exhibited in the Embedded Mobile Zone at the GSMA’s Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona in February 2010. The second phase of the Embedded Mobile competition will showcase innovative service applications and solutions and the winners will be announced and exhibited at next year’s Mobile World Congress.

Meanwhile, embedded mobile was a topic touched on elsewhere at this morning’s keynote session. Bharti Airtel CEO Manoj Kohli said that India was poised to become a key market for M2M solutions. “Because our infrastructure is weak, M2M is a bigger opportunity in India than anywhere else,” he remarked. “India will lead M2M.” The GSMA’s Conway, meanwhile, called for cheaper chip prices and greater collaboration to drive the M2M market forward.