The Mobile World Congress is one of the big gun events of the mobile calendar, and apparently there is a bit of a bidding battle going on for hosting the 2013 Mobile World Congress event between six competing cities.

According to a report by Balihar Khalsa of Mobile Today, GSMA has announced that Amsterdam, Barcelona, Cologne, Paris, Munich and Milan are all vying to host Mobile World Congress which will see the wining city host the mobile arena event for 5 years from 2013 to 2017.

John Hoffman, the CEO of GSMA has said…” The mobile industry continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace and the GSMA is also advancing its business to meet the changing requirements of constituents across the global communications industry. The Mobile World Congress has grown significantly since it was started in 1987, and we look forward to shaping the future of the event with one of these outstanding candidate cities.”

Apparently the GSMA will have a shortlist of potential cities by January next year and is expected to announce the winning city by the middle of 2011. Barcelona is the current host of Mobile Word Congress which is expected to see over 50,000 visitors in 2011.