Lenihan Showcases Ireland's Mobile Technologies In Barcelona

The Irish pavilion at the Congress was organized by Enterprise Ireland and it hosted 16 Irish companies and supported five more companies who visited the show.

This event is the world's premier event for the mobile communications industry, providing a unique opportunity for promoting Irish enterprise as a source of world-class products, services and technologies and provides a forum for developing relationships with current and potential global customers and partners. It also clearly demonstrates the strong Irish government support for the sector.

The Minister said: "Ireland is recognized as a centre of excellence for the development of new and innovative telecoms technologies and the strong Irish presence at this Congress in Barcelona underlines Ireland's growing international reputation as a key source of innovative and groundbreaking solutions in mobile communications.

"It is a little known fact that it was an Irish company that developed the software to allow texting to become the common form of telephone communicating that it is today, an achievement of which we should be proud."

This year's participants at the Irish Pavilion are at the forefront of their industry sectors in areas such as revenue generation, billing mediation, operational support systems, personalisation, CRM and added value services.

The growth of new mobile communications companies from Ireland continues to be strong and Ireland now boasts over seventy mobile/wireless technology companies. These companies win substantial deals with tier-one global operators and are focused on increasing their reach through partnerships with leading operators, distributors and subsidiaries.

Telecommunications is one of Ireland's major high tech success stories in overseas markets.

The strengths of the Irish telecommunications sector include excellent core technology, a highly skilled workforce, strong managerial skills, an impressive multinational base and a good digital infrastructure into international markets.

The Irish-owned mobile telecoms sector has achieved dynamic growth in recent years, with treble-digit annual export increases.

Last year, the Irish-owned sector achieved international sales of €260 million, representing a doubling of export growth in five years.

The sector is made up of high value added, knowledge-intensive companies that are investing heavily in R&D.

Minister Lenihan, who is a former Senior Executive with a leading telecommunications company, said: "It is hoped that my presence at the event will enhance the capability of the Irish companies exhibiting at the show to promote their products and penetrate new markets with the world's leading players in the mobile communications business."