Mobile World Congress 22 aims to 'look like a pre-pandemic event', say organisers

The in-person comeback of the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC22), which opened its doors in Barcelona on 28 February, while aiming to look more like its pre-pandemic self, is somewhat overshadowed by events in Ukraine. MWC22 organisers GSMA cancelled the Russian Pavilion at the event, and issued a statement saying it “strongly condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine”. “The GSMA follows all government sanctions and policies resulting from this situation. There will be no Russian Pavillion at MWC22. Security for the event is constantly reviewed and adjusted as information emerges,” the statement ran. “In light of this emerging situation and considering the tragic loss of life, MWC seems immaterial under the circumstances”. Reuters also reported that some individual Russian companies had been banned from the Congress. Organisers had hoped CW22 would be one of the largest in-person events to be held since the pandemic started and were expecting to attract about 50,000 attendees by the time the show closes on 3 March. If achieved, such a number would still be down on the 109,000 attendees registered in 2019 but well up on the 20,000 who were present at last year’s MWC. GSMA CEO John Hoffman said he was expecting to see, “an edition that will almost look like a pre-pandemic event”. There are 1,500 exhibitors confirmed, 1,000 speakers and organisers report an an 85% occupancy ratio across seven halls at Gran Via. A vaccine certificate is needed to enter MWC 2022, which GSMA has described it as  “a unifying event“ for the mobile ecosystem. This year’s key conference theme is ‘connectivity unleashed’. “We’re trying to emphasise that we’re moving away from just simple connectivity to meaningful connectivity,” said, director-general of the GSMA, Mats Granryd. He said that 5G meant it was now possible to unleash the full power of connectivity. Highlights of the show included Chinese smartphone maker Realme unveiling the world’s fastest smartphone charging technology, which the company claimed could charge a phone’s battery from zero to full in just a few minutes. Samsung announced on the eve of MWC 2022’s opening that it would bring out shiny new laptops with improved webcams, resolution, security and interoperability.