MACAU, China, November 18 /PRNewswire/ --

- Samsung, KTF, SKT and Gameloft make it a spectacular night for South Korea

The GSMA, the global trade group for the mobile industry, tonight announced the winners of the Asia Mobile Awards 2008 in a glittering ceremony at the Mobile Asia Congress, in Macau SAR China.

It was a very special night for the South Korean mobile industry -- regarded globally as a hotbed of mobile innovation -- with the republic's two mobile operators KTF and SKT, manufacturer Samsung and the South Korean team of mobile games developer Gameloft, scooping a brace of coveted awards.

The awards night, hosted by actor and TV presenter Ken Chan, were announced at a gala evening at the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel in Macau, where Asia's mobile industry leaders are gathered this week for the industry's agenda-setting Mobile Asia Congress.

In these economically challenging times, it can sometimes be difficult to see the positive forces but clearly technological change is a major one, said GSMA Chairman Craig Ehrlich. Mobile communication continues to enhance the lives of people everywhere on a daily basis and make people and businesses more productive and efficient. These awards are all about recognising the leaders, pioneers and change drivers in our region that are making this happen.

Additional winners included Bharti Airtel of India, Huawei of China, Nokia Malaysia, Telstra Corporation of Australia and Total Access Communication of Thailand.

Judged by independent analysts, journalists and industry experts, the awards attracted entries from more than 100 companies that serve world leading Asian mobile market with a wealth of commercially available products, services, content and applications. The last year alone has seen more than 400 million new mobile connections added in the region, taking the total to more than 1.4 billion.

The winners of the Asia Mobile Awards 2008 are:

Best Mobile Game Gameloft, Republic of Korea for 'Asphalt4: Elite Racing HD' Best Mobile Music, TV or Video Service Bharti Airtel, India for 'On-Demand Service on Airtel Live' Best Mobile Advertising Service Telstra Corporation, Australia for Telstra Mobile Codes Best Mobile Enterprise Product or Service KTF, Republic of Korea for 'Show Care' Best Mobile Internet Service SKT, Republic of Korea for 'Gifticon' Best Mobile Money Service Total Access Communications, Thailand for 'ATMSIM' Best Mobile Broadband Handset/ Device Huawei, China for Huawei E180 HSPA Rotable USB Stick' Samsung Electronics, Republic of Korea for 'Samsung Innov8 (i8510)' The 'Green Mobile Award' Nokia, Malaysia for 'Integrated Nokia Kiosk'

About the GSMA

The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade group representing more than 750 GSM mobile operators across 218 countries and territories of the world. The Association's members represent more than 3 billion GSM and 3GSM connections -- over 86% of the world's mobile phone connections. In addition, more than 200 manufacturers and suppliers support the Association's initiatives.

The primary goals of the GSMA are to ensure mobile phones and wireless services work globally and are easily accessible, enhancing their value to individual customers and national economies, while creating new business opportunities for operators and their suppliers.

For more information, please visit: http://www.gsmworld.com

Mark Smith of GSM Association, press@gsm.org ; NOTE TO EDITORS: More information about the GSMA's Asia Mobile Award nominees can be found at: http://www.asiamobileawards.com. The Mobile Asia Congress Gala Party and awards were sponsored by China Mobile, Sony Ericsson and Ericsson.