Telecom industry faces moment of truth

The world's mobile telecom industry will gather in the Spanish city of Barcelona next week, hoping to find ways to outwit the downturn, powerful new rivals and software developers threatening to steal their thunder. Mobile World Congress, the phone industry's biggest annual gathering, comes on the heels of a season of miserable 2008 results reports dominated by lowered profit outlooks, deep job cuts and slashed capital spending. The mobile phone sector is grappling with formidable new rivals from the computer industry and web such as Google and Apple who have been faster to realize the potential of the convergence of phone and Internet features. This year, a host of PC makers will join the fray. Taiwanese notebook manufacturers Acer and netbook pioneer Asustek are poised to debut new smartphones, and speculation is rife that PC maker Dell is also looking to revamp itself as a phone maker.