Mobile Broadband Initiative Sets Charter

A new Mobile Broadband Initiative backed by the GSM Association has been formed by 16 leading IT and mobile companies with the goal of creating a new category of always-connected Mobile Broadband devices, delivering a compelling alternative to WiFi.


In the first phase of this unprecedented initiative, mobile operators, PC manufacturers and chipset providers are uniting to pre-install Mobile Broadband into a range of notebook PCs that will be ready to switch on and surf straight out of the box in 91 countries across the world.


Launch participants include 3 Group, Asus, Dell, ECS, Ericsson, Gemalto, Lenovo, Microsoft, Orange, Qualcomm, Telefonica Europe, Telecom Italia, TeliaSonera, T-Mobile, Toshiba and Vodafone -- some of the world's largest technology brands and operators.


To support this initiative, the GSMA has created the Mobile Broadband service mark, a new global identifier which will help consumers easily identify the array of 'ready to run' Mobile Broadband devices.


The Mobile Broadband mark promises a superior customer experience based on the latest technology available to deliver the highest standard of fully mobile connectivity. Products work out of the box and are fully integrated for maximum simplicity and supported by leading PC manufacturers such as Lenovo and Toshiba.http://www.gsmworld.com