Taking into account growing role of mobile technologies in life of society, one of leading telecommunication companies of Europe, Swedish-Finnish TeliaSonera organized and hosted conference “Mobile communications for social change” in Baku, Azerbaijan. The conference presented review of innovations and achievements in use of mobile communications in social and economic purpose, as well as mobile operators in assisting in social change through mobile technologies and communication.

Cecilia Edström, TeliaSonera Senior Vice President and Head of Group Communications, heads and representatives of all TeliaSonera companies in Eurasian region participated at the event. UCell, TeliaSonera’s subsidiary in Uzbekistan, also invited three journalists from Uzbekistan to the conference.

FE LLC Coscom, working in Uzbekistan under UCell brand, is part of TeliaSonera. UCell director-general Oguz Memuguven delivered a report on development of telecommunication infrastructure in Uzbekistan and social-corporative responsibility of the company. He said that number of UCell subscribers exceeded 7 million people and currently mobile communication of the company plays important role in life of people and change their economic well-being to positive side. The company’s services make life of people rich and lighter, and improved social communication. UCell also contributes to development of entrepreneurship in Uzbekistan.

The conference covered various aspects of mobile business and mobile society. Among considered issues were contribution of mobile communication to social sector, mobile government, mobile education and healthcare, mobile communication for business and entrepreneurship.

The conference participants noted that mobile operators present their population not only communication tool, but also new opportunities of mobile technologies. For example, mobile communication helped creation of new perspectives models of interaction of the state and the citizens, or so-called m-government or mobile-government. The mobile operators can became key factors in development both electronic and mobile government.

Besides, mobile technologies are also widely used in healthcare now. Such technologies allow users of mobile phones to be in touch with healthcare specialists and receive timely and skilled assistance.

Distance education attracts great attention now. Mobile education is also developing as part of distance education, which using mobile wireless devices in education and the spread of such devises is growing.

The conference united businesspersons, researchers, scientists and professional in this sector, which discussed innovation ideas and various issues of mobile communication use and its role in social development. Within the forum, participants exchanged opinions, tasks, new ideas and structures.

TeliaSonera is now in 20 markets with close to 460 million inhabitants. The number of subscriptions in 2009 reached over 147.6 million. As of February 2010, the market value of TeliaSonera made up about US$30 billion.

In the emerging markets of Eurasia, TeliaSonera has majority holdings in leading mobile operators in Kazakhstan (Kcell), Azerbaijan (Azercell), Georgia (Geocell), Moldova (Moldcell), Tajikistan (Tcell), Uzbekistan (Ucell), and Nepal (Ncell). TeliaSonera is also a minority owner of MegaFon in Russia and Turkcell in Turkey.