Spain, Feb. 16, 2009 (Xinhua News Agency) -- Industry leaders attending the Mobile World Congress here Monday called for governments to support the rollout of mobile broadband services to drive economic growth.

They said broadband, specifically mobile broadband, could act as an economic stimulus amid the current financial crisis, emphasizing that the wider use of mobile broadband services could stimulate growth and help the world recover from the economic crisis.

"For mobile broadband to be a mass-market service worldwide and powerful engine of economic growth, the mobile industry needs both a stable regulatory climate and access to the right spectrum on the right terms," Rob Conway, CEO and GSMA board member, said at a press conference.

"Wherever possible, governments need to allocate the same chunks of spectrum as other countries in their region, enabling equipment manufacturers to gain economies of scale by producing mobile broadband handsets, computers and other devices that will work in many different markets," he added.

"If the mobile industry can continue to grow and develop at the rate it has over the past 15 years, it could act as one of the few locomotives which can help pull our economies out of the current slump," said Alexander Izosimov, GSMA chairman and CEO of Russia's VimpelCom.