GSMA

The GSM Association (GSMA)^[a] is a global organisation unifying the mobile ecosystem to discover, develop and deliver innovation foundational to positive business environments and societal change. It's vision is to unlock the full power of connectivity so that people, industry, and society thrive. Representing mobile operators and organisations across the mobile ecosystem and adjacent industries, the GSMA delivers for its members across three broad pillars: Connectivity for Good, Industry Services and Solutions, and Outreach. This activity includes advancing policy, tackling today’s biggest societal challenges, underpinning the technology and interoperability that make mobile work, and providing the world’s largest platform to convene the mobile ecosystem at the MWC and M360 series of events.  

GSM Association

Abbreviation	GSMA
Formation	1995; 30 years ago (1995)
Type	Industry trade body
Purpose	Representing mobile network operators
Headquarters	London, England, UK
Membership	1200+ companies
Website	www.gsma.com

History

The original GSM MoU document: "A Pan-European 900MHz Digital Cellular Mobile Telecommunications Service" (dated 7 September 1987)

Logo variant with the dots at the top symbolizing clients in a network

The GSMA was formed in 1995 as the GSM MoU Association as a body to support and promote mobile operators using the GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) standard for cellular networks. It traces its history back to a memorandum of understanding signed in 1987 by 13 operators in 12 countries, which committed them to deploying GSM for mobile services.^[1]

Membership and governance

Full membership of the GSMA is open to licensed mobile operators using a GSM family technology. Over 1,000 such operators worldwide are full GSMA members. Associate membership of the GSMA is open to non-operator companies active in the mobile ecosystem. These include handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and Internet companies, as well as organisations in industry sectors such as financial services, healthcare, media, transport and utilities. There are over 400 GSMA member companies in this category.^[2]

The GSMA board has 26 representatives from the world's largest operator groups and selected smaller operators, and is elected bi-annually. Gopal Vittal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti Airtel Group , became GSMA Chairman in March 2025., ^[3]

The present Director General of the GSMA, Vivek Badrinath, took office in April 2025.^[4][5]

Programmes and advocacy

The GSMA manages industry programmes in collaboration with its members with the aim of achieving scale and interoperability for new mobile technologies. It has three active programmes: 'Future Networks' (promoting standards such as Rich Communication Services and Voice over LTE); 'Identity'; and the 'Internet of Things'.^{[citation needed]}

It also runs industry working groups covering areas such as roaming and interconnection, fraud and security, and intellectual property, as well as various other specialist committees and groups.^{[6][need quotation to verify]}

The GSMA represents the mobile industry to governments and institutions where it advocates policy and regulatory positions on behalf of its members. Its stated goals in this area is to ensure that mobile telecoms "policy and regulatory frameworks are fair, flexible and future-proof"; that radio spectrum is made available for mobile services "in a timely and fair manner"; and to promote the use of mobile services in emerging markets.^[7]

The GSMA is supporting the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.^[8]

Events

Exhibition floor at GSMA MWC Barcelona 2019

The GSMA's Mobile World Congress Barcelona (MWC Barcelona) is the largest annual exhibition and conference dedicated to the mobile industry, attracting more than 109,000 visitors in 2025.^[2] The event was first held in 1987.

Since 2006, the event has been hosted in Barcelona and is currently located at the Fira Gran Via venue. In 2019 the event was recognised, for the fourth time, as the Guinness World Record holder for the world's largest carbon-neutral tradeshow.^[9]

In addition to MWC Barcelona, the GSMA organises MWC Doha,^[10] MWC Kigali,^[11] MWC Shanghai,^[12] MWC Las Vegas,^[13] 4YFN^[14] and the M360 series of regional events.^[15]

TAC/IMEI database

The GSMA is the global administrator of Type Allocation Code (TAC), which is used to create the International Mobile Equipment Identity number that can uniquely identify wireless devices.

It allocates official IMEI number ranges to all manufacturers of 3GPP compliant devices and records these ranges and device model information in a database. It offers a device look up and identification service based on this database that allows authorised third-party organisations to identify the manufacturer and model of a mobile device using the IMEI.

Notes

1. GSM is originally an abbreviation for Global System for Mobile Communications, named Groupe Spécial Mobile before that.