iSight - 3i at 3GSM World Conference 2007

Once again, it is time for the mobile communications industry to gather for the annual 3GSM World Congress and, I am pleased to say, 3i and its partners will as usual be in the thick of the action in Barcelona.

3i has been investing successfully in the wireless communications market for 20 years. Over the years 3i has attended the 3GSM Congress in support of a growing portfolio of companies that have made significant contributions to all aspects of the wireless world. We have also used it as an opportunity to learn about many companies in which we later invested.

Some of our Venture Capital investments – in companies such as Cambridge Silicon Radio, for instance –have helped to foster technologies and businesses that are now key pillars of the mobile world. But there are many other 3i portfolio companies that, while less well known than CSR, have neverthelessmade key contributions to the development of wireless network infrastructure, advanced handset features, wireless messaging software and a raft of other mobile applications.

However, it is not just new technologies that are driving the development of the world’s wireless communications markets. New and innovative business models are also making themselves felt – particularly in today’s explosively growing markets of the Far East and China.

In this special 3GSM issue of iSight, we are pleased to feature articles on two such emerging businesses. In Japan, iSight talked to Dr. Sachio Semmoto, founder of eAccess and a member of 3i’s visionary Venture Capital Advisory Board, whose latest venture, eMobile, is threatening to revolutionise Japan’s broadband mobile market place. In China, by contrast, we talked to Mr. Liu, founder of Digitone – a company that 3i believes has the potential to spark a major restructuring of China’s huge, but still highly
fragmented mobile retail sector.

Both these industry leaders, and many others, will be joining 3i in Barcelona.