CTIA 2011 preshow (photos)

This year CTIA returns to Orlando, Fla. The show officially begins on Tuesday, March 22, and runs through Thursday, March 24.

Hosted at the Orange County Convention Center, CTIA 2011 features more than 1,000 exhibitors.

As usual, Samsung has some big signage out to promote its news at the show. The handset and tablet manufacturer has already hinted at a new tablet on its Facebook page. Sprint also announced that it will add the Samsung Nexus S with 4G support this spring for $199 with a two-year contract.

Though we'll see a number of new devices unveiled at CTIA, the biggest news of the week occurred over the weekend when AT&T announced that it had entered an agreement to buy T-Mobile USA for $39 billion. Executives from AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint (T-Mobile pulled out at the last minute) will be participating in a keynote roundtable on the first day of the show, which should make for some interesting discussion.

Though the show doesn't start for another day, there were a number of panels and information sessions held on Monday, including one on the spectrum crisis moderated by CNET's own Maggie Reardon.

The scene looks fairly calm now but on Tuesday, tens of thousands of attendees and more than 1,100 press and analysts will flood the CTIA show floor.

Exhibitors finish setting up their booths for CTIA 2011.

CTIA also gives cell phone accessory makers a chance to show off their latest products.

Next year, CTIA will head back to New Orleans and will take place in May. The last time CTIA was held in New Orleans was 2005.