LG Starts Confirming Some Smartphone Releases for Next Month:

LG has confirmed that it will be showing off a new smartphone at the Mobile World Congress next month, to be known as the G Pro 2 -- almost certainly a successor to LG Optimus G Pro which was released nearly a year ago.

In a short post on its social blog, LG said that the G Pro 2 will in its family of top smartphones, and it is looking at sales in excess of a million units.

The company noted that its predecessor, the G Pro passed the million units sales mark within four months of launch.

Other than confirming the existence of the smartphone, the company did not elaborate on the device.

Samsung May Launch Galaxy S5 Smartphone in March:

Widespread reports that Samsung's expected Galaxy smartphone update will be shown off around the middle of March at an event in London.

That contradicts expectations that it would be shown off at the Mobile World Congress event, where it could have been drowned out slightly by the sheer flood of announcements that companies curiously all save up to flood the airwaves with at the same time.

The specifications are still being leaked all over the place, and the strongest rumour is that the presumed Galaxy S5 will come in two versions, with either a metal or a plastic chassis.

In that sense, not too dissimilar to what Apple did last year, although in this situation, Samsung is apparently pushing the more expensive model rather than using the cheaper one to expand its customer reach. The company already has cheaper phones to appeal to those consumers.

It's also reported that the phone will come with an AMOLED display of 2,560×1,440 resolution and probably 5.25-inches in size. The camera is expected to be a 16-megapixel model.

GSMA Announces Passing of Former CEO Rob Conway:

Rob Conway, the long serving former head of the GSM Association has passed away the organisation announced.

In a statement, they confirmed that he died on Thursday after losing a battle with an aggressive form of cancer.

The GSMA will be honouring Rob for his contributions to the development of the mobile industry at Mobile World Congress in February.

Conway served as the head of the GSMA for twelve years, and later stepped down to head the international affairs at Russia's Vimpelcom in September 2011. He only recently resigned from that post.

First Tizen Based Smartphones to Be Shown Off Next February:

Tizen, one of the alternative smartphone operating systems that has been under development for a while should see its first commercial phones shown off  next February.

Invites have been sent out to a press event on the 23rd February, the day before the Mobile World Congress opens in Barcelona for a preview of the new phones.

Tizen is backed by companies such as Samsung and Intel as an alternative to the dominant Android OS. There had been expectation that the first Tizen based smartphones would go on sale late this year, but that appears to have been pushed back until next year at the earliest.

Tizen is based on Linux and formed by the merger of the Linux and Limo Foundations.

Somali telecom industry under global radar

The Somali Minister of Information, Posts, Telecommunication and Transport, HE Abdullahi E Hersi (Elmog) attended the Mobile World Congress summit in Barcelona on the 25 to 27th of Feb 2013. At this conference, he met many global telecom and ICT Industry leaders, including many Ministers and heads of International Organizations such as the ITU (International Telecommunication Union), ATU (African Telecommunication Union) and GSMA.

The Minister, HE Abdullahi E Hersi  accompanied by his advisor Mr. Mohamed Ibrahim had an informative discussion with the ITU Sec General and members of his staff where they spoke at length about the recent developments of the Somali telecommunication sector. They talked about how this it would greatly impact the rebuilding of Somalia and also of the legal implications it may have in this sector with regards to inter-connectivity, the Somali gateway, access to the Fibre networks, a national number plan, spectrum usage and provision of universal service for the whole Somali community in Somalia and not just major cities.

This was a follow-up meeting from the December WCIT 2012 event in Dubai where Somali has signed in the International Regulatory Treaty, which means as a signatory; the Somali government has both rights and obligations under the rules that govern international telecommunication. A subsequent meeting is scheduled next month in Geneva where the ITU and representatives from the Somali government will finalize and start implementing the action plans discussed in Dubai. The Somali Telecom Industry is now under the radar of the global telecom industry, as well as international laws and regulations that govern this industry.

Somalia has made huge strides in recent months with the start of its national newspaper, plans to begin Postal Services and now the newest milestone with the developments in the telecommunication sector. For the Somali people, this is welcoming news because it now gives them unprecedented access to a transparent system that governs the telecommunication sector; for the telecom operators, they are now bound and protected by the international rules and regulations.