No mobile phones at the GSM congress in Cannes

The great paradox : no hope to communicate from one's mobile at the GSM congress in Cannes. One of the conclusions that have been retained by medias after this mega-congress which has gathered together some 22.000 participants at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes late February is : hurrah for the SMS ! Hurrah for these small messages that we send to our mobiles just like e-mails. In Cannes, participants were so numerous and so active on their mobile phones that the networks have often been overloaded. The professionals have one single solution to communicate : to use the Short Message Service.

This overloading problem has strengthened the ART survey (Autorité de regulation des télécommunications; telecommunication regulation authority) that shows that, in big urban areas or during high traffic moments, the network quality wasn't equal to the situation. This is an evidence that operators have to invest in infrastructures and especially in base stations. When will they strengthen base stations which serve Cannes and which are rapidly overloaded during great events such as the film festival, the MIP, the Milia or Tax Free ?