ORLANDO, Fla.—As news of AT&T’s plans to acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion starting spreading on Sunday, it was clear to CTIA’s vice president and show director, Rob Mesirow, that this will be one heck of a week.

While AT&T’s planned acquisition of T-Mobile took a lot of folks by surprise, it’s also indicative of a lot of industry discussions leading up to International CTIA Wireless 2011. Demand for mobile data is huge and getting stronger, with billions more devices getting connected. “This is about next-generation broadband” – as in, the next decade, Mesirow says, which is what a lot of discussions here will be centered around.

CTIA Wireless 2011 attendees will have a chance to hear from the leaders of all four of the major carriers this week. Dan Hesse, the current CTIA chairman and CEO of Sprint, will give a keynote on Tuesday morning, followed by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. 

Then Jim Cramer of CNBC “Mad Money” fame will moderate a roundtable that includes Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets; Philipp Humm, CEO and president of T-Mobile USA; Dan Mead, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless, as well as Hesse.

Attendees can hear from LightSquared Chairman and CEO Sanjiv Ahuja during the morning keynote on Wednesday, and on Thursday, John Stanton, interim CEO at Clearwire and chairman of Trilogy International Partners, shares the stage with a panel moderated by CNBC anchor Michelle Caruso-Cabrera.