IANS

Touting the first 'Indian Mobile Congress (IMC)' 2017 as a success, the organisers on Thursday said many more industry players want to participate from next year and hoped that IMC will be established as a signature annual event for the growing mobile, Internet and technology ecosystem in India.

"This has been a good beginning. In terms of participation, we had over 350 exhibitors and approximately 500 start-ups at the event. We had presence from 13 countries, including Canada, the US, the UK, Finland, Sweden, Korea, Philippines, Germany, France, Japan, Israel and Bhutan and eight embassies which supported the Mobile Congress," Information Technology Secretary Aruna Sundararajan told reporters here.

"Apart from Google as title sponsor, we also had Facebook, Qualcomm, Nokia, Huawei, Accenture, Deloitte, Oppo, Sterlite, Jio, Airtel and Vodafone being the key participants in the event. We saw 1,200 delegates attending even on the first day and the total number of visitors was over 11,000 on the first say," she informed.

When asked if any significant investment announcement has been made during the two days, Rajan S. Matthews, Director General of the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI), said: "IMC was not intended to be a forum to make such announcements out of context. This event provides platform for various stakeholders, including the government, to interact and help make decisions."

"The government is working towards ease of doing business. Many of the programmes highlighted by the government like 'Make in India' and 'Digital India' have also received an impetus here," Matthews said, thanking Communications Minister Manoj Sinha and the government for extending their support to make this event a success.

"There were product launches and participants also exhibited their 5G offerings. Many more players want to participate next year so we hope that in the years to come, IMC will be established as the prominent platform for the mobile, Internet and technology ecosystem in India," Sundararajan added.

The three-day event that started on Wednesday is the first of its kind in India.

Led by the Department of Telecommunication as the nodal ministry, the India Mobile Congress has been organised by COAI.