Probably the most influential woman in the mobile industry, Commissioner Reding has not won a great deal of friends among mobile operators. Whether you see her as a slick, populist politician interfering in a market that is best left to set its own levels, or as a consumer champion who has broken the back of cosy operator pricing cartels, there is no denying her impact.

Google tends to get what it wants, and what it wants from Andy Rubin is a smartphone platform that can rival the likes of Symbian and Apple. Rubin’s Android platform has offered an alternative to handset vendors concerned that, by sticking with Symbian, they will effectively be strengthening Nokia, their number one competitor.

The son of Carlos Slim, one of the three richest men in the world, Patrick Slim Domit inherited from his father the number one spot at the third largest mobile carrier group in the world, by subscriber numbers.

A medical doctor by training, Sultan A.Bahabri was drawn to the telecommunications field by the possibilities it offered for e-health initiatives. He founded Hits Telecom to bid for the second GSM licence in Saudi Arabia in 2003. While his bid was unsuccessful (as was a second attempt, losing to Zain in 2007), Hits went into business with licence winner Etisalat, providing customer care and distribution services.