MWC 2022 reconnects the mobile industry
The Mobile World Congress returns to Barcelona with the aspiration of once again becoming the meeting point for the mobile telephony sector, after two years without major on-site events. After last year’s atypical “summer” edition, MWC 2022 returns to its traditional dates, from Monday 28 February to Thursday 3 March.
A week in which the major players in the mobile telephony sector will once again meet at Fira de Barcelona: from the largest device manufacturers to the main operators such as Vodafone, Telefónica and Orange, not forgetting Google and Meta (Facebook). There will also be top-level speakers, from the CEOs of AT&T, Nokia and Qualcomm to the CEOs of Caixabank and Telefónica, who will be the stars of an exciting agenda of keynotes on the sector’s trends.
More than 60,000 attendees from 180 countries are expected to come to see the new products from more than 1,800 exhibitors, between the main congress and the parallel events. Would you like to see some of the launches and topics that will take centre stage at this edition?
From 5G to IoT, connectivity is everywhere
MWC Barcelona 2022 focuses on five thematic axes that aim to highlight the importance of connectivity in all aspects of our lives. The first of these is 5G technology, whose display is back on track and is expected to reach one billion users worldwide by the end of this year. Spain and Portugal are among the countries that are doing their homework in this area, as they already have 5G coverage in major cities and are extending it to metropolitan areas.
The second major connectivity front is the Internet of Things, which MWC 2022 has rebranded as the “Internet of Everything”, and which is expected to reach a whopping 40 billion connected devices this year. This will drive the development of the third theme on which this year’s mobile congress focuses, which is the cloud and the services that derive from it. Closely linked to these aspects are the advances in artificial intelligence, which promise to revolutionise the way we use devices, networks and applications. Finally, this edition of the MWC pays special attention to the growing phenomenon of Fintech and, as usual, it explores in depth some of the new technological horizons of the future, such as the metaverse and Industry 4.0.
A burst of new devices and ecosystems
Of course, mobile devices presented by leading manufacturers and by those who manage to make a name for themselves in the media thanks to the originality of their proposals will have a prominent role at MWC 2022. Among others, at this edition we will be able to see new models that will compete to offer the fastest battery charging in the world. We’ll see!
In contrast to the absence of major companies that will not be attending MWC 2022 in person, those who will be there and who have reserved their big announcements for the coming days are technology giants such as Facebook, Microsoft, Salesforce, Intel and IBM, as well as manufacturers such as Cisco, Fujitsu, Dell… There is sure to be plenty of news!
Alongside devices, the growing ecosystems that accompany them are becoming increasingly important. Google will once again be setting up the Android Garden to showcase the possibilities of its operating system, while Telefónica will be demonstrating a platform for autonomous surveillance drones using 5G technology. For its part, Vodafone wants to focus this year on technologies that will accelerate the energy transition. Sustainability is very much on the agenda at MWC, which is celebrating its seventh year of carbon neutrality.
4YFN and side events return
MWC would not be complete without the attractive side events that accompany it. Starting with 4YFN, a show dedicated to entrepreneurship in which this year more than 500 international startups and nearly 300 speakers are taking part. In addition to showcasing their ideas, the entrepreneurs attending this event have the chance to attract some of the numerous institutional investors and venture capital funds invited, which will bring more than 4,000 million euros in their chequebooks to invest in projects.
For the first time, Diversity4Tech, an event dedicated to diversity and inclusion in the technology sector, will be held. And for the second year, the GSMA Ministerial Programme is taking place, with more than 140 national delegations debating issues such as the digital divide, the fight against climate change and the regulation of the digital world.
Finally, there will also be the GLOMO (Global Mobile Awards), which recognise the best innovations in different areas of the technology sector. There is undoubtedly a lot to see and at Canela we will be following all the news from MWC 2022 closely to bring you a summary of this edition as soon as it closes its doors.!
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