Nominees for the third MobileWorld Ghana Telecom Awards (GTA) have been released, with Vodafone topping the list with 13 nominations. Last year, Vodafone topped them all by sweeping an unprecedented six awards, including the prestigious Telecom Brand of the Year and CEO of the Year. But it was MTN who walked away with the Telecoms Operator of the Year, which was a laurel the market leader also won the previous year. This year, “Jonny just come”, Glo made a fairly strong maiden entry with seven nominations, and the rest, MTN, Airtel, and Tigo got 10 nominations each. Expresso, did not make the cut for this year’s laurels. Each of the nominees for the various categories completed very detailed entry documents, which are still undergoing rigorous scrutiny by the organisers to determine winners. Through the year under review, telecoms services have generally not been the best, but some of the telcos particularly performed poorly as per the National Communication Authority’s (NCA) Quality of Service reports and subsequent sanctions. But the industry no doubt continue to make immense contribution to national development employing over 6,000 people directly, and 1.5 million indirectly; accounting for about 10% of government tax revenue, and 2% per cent of GDP, while recording the lowest inflation of 0.4% against an average of 11% across other sectors. This year, the awards ceremony, organised by UK-based MobileWorld Magazine, is slated for May 31, 2013 at the plush Movenpick Ambassador Hotel, where the winners will be announced. Group Publisher of MobileWorld Magazine, Akin Naphtal said the awards ceremony is a befitting platform where all industry stakeholders come together and celebrate their achievement, in contributing to Ghana’s development. “The unique awards ceremony also provides a great networking opportunity to reinforce relationships with partners, entertain clients and reward the excellent operators and personalities,” he said. This year’s ceremony would be hosted by Kafui Dey, of “Who wants to be Rich” fame, and entertainment will come from a top comedian. The nominations are as follows: Telecom Vendor of the Year Ericsson Huawei Nokia Siemens Alcatel Lucent Smartphone of the of Year BlackBerry Bold 9930 Nokia Lumia 920 Samsung S III Tecno N3 Telecom Wholesale Provider of the Year MainOne Cable Vodafone Wholesale Glo One Mobile Innovative Product of the Year Glo Biiiiig 5 Airtel 5x Obolobo Tigo Unlimited Internet Access Vodafone 1 Ghana Tower Company of the Year ATC Ghana Eaton Towers Helios Towers Ihs Best Mobile Money Service of the Year Airtel Money MTN Mobile Money Tigo Cash Telecom Brand of the Year Airtel MTN Tigo Vodafone Glo Infrastructure Company of the Year MainOne Cable ATC Ghana Vodafone Wholesale Eaton Towers Best ISP of the Year Busy Internet Zipnet TeleData ICT Vodafone Best Use of Social Media Vodafone Tigo Samsung Ghana MTN Ghana CSR Initiative of the Year Airtel MTN Foundation Tigo Foundation Vodafone Foundation Best Bank in ICT Innovation GTBank Zenith Bank Fidelity Bank UT Bank ICT Support Company of the Year Microsoft Google IBM CWG Ghana Software Company of the Year BSystems Ghana theSOFTtribe Limited Rancard Solutions Ltd DreamOval Enterprise Network and Internet Solution Provider ZIPNet Business Superlock Technologies Limited (STL) KNET COMSYS Best Mobile Broadband Service of the Year MTN Vodafone Airtel Tigo Glo Distributor of the Year i2 Itsalat Telefonika Mobile Zone Midcom Best Customer Care Airtel MTN Tigo Vodafone Glo Marketing Campaign of the Year Airtel MTN Tigo Vodafone Glo Best Business Service of the Year MTN Business Vodafone Business Solutions Airtel Enterprise Solutions ZIPNet Business Operator of the Year Airtel MTN Tigo Vodafone Glo CEO of the Year Phillip Sowal, CEO, Airtel Michael Ikpoki -CEO, MTN Kyle Whitehill, CEO, Vodafone Adil El Youssefi, CEO, Tigo PUBLISHER'S CHOICE Special Recognition to the Telecom Industry ICT Personality of the Year Female Technologist of the Year MobileWorld Lifetime Achievement Award