Ajit Pai, Chairman of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Dr. Jim Yong Kim, President of World Bank, are among the confirmed keynote speakers for the upcoming Mobile World Congress 2018 to be held from 26th February to 1st March 2018 at Fira Gran Via in Barcelona, according to an official release from GSMA.
According to GSMA, there would be nearly a dozen keynote speakers for this Mobile World Congress conference programme, representing organisations spanning the broad mobile ecosystem, as well as government and the development community. The Mobile World Congress comprises several conferences, exhibitions and other events.
The conference sessions will highlight the importance of diversity and inclusion in the communications industry and more broadly in society. ‘Content and media’, ‘digital economy’, ‘the Fourth Industrial Revolution’, ‘mobile operator strategies’, ‘smart services’, and ‘sustainability’, are some of the topics that would be touched in the various conference sessions.
Moreover, the Mobile World Congress 2018 would the cornerstone of the Mobile World Capital, which will be hosted in Barcelona through 2023, which would have programmes and activities throughout year.
Some of the exhibitors, sponsors and partners for Mobile World Congress include: auto majors such as BMW Group (to showcase its BMW i brand in a driverless car), Byton, Mercedes-Benz, SEAT and Toyota; Telecom majors: Kazakh Telecom and Salesforce, AT&T, China Mobile, Cisco Systems, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Essential, HTC, Huawei, Intel, Lenovo, LG, Microsoft, NTT DOCOMO, Nokia Solutions and Networks, Orange, Qualcomm, SK Telecom, Telefónica, Verizon, Vivo, Vodafone, Xiaomi and ZTE. Being a World Mobile Congress, it is but natural that Facebook and Google will also be present in the event. The sponsors for the Mobile World Congress include: Oath, Android, Celtra, Citi, EY, HTC, Ogury and Visa.
In the GSMA Innovation City event, visitors will experience how mobile-connected products and services are creating a better future for citizens and businesses around the world, in diverse areas such as home, automotive, health, agriculture, utilities, industrial and more. The City will feature leading-edge demonstrations of technologies including 5G, artificial intelligence, drones, among many others.
Sunil Bharti Mittal (Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises – Airtel)) is the current Chairman of the GSMA (Groupe Spéciale Mobile Association), headquartered in London, UK. GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with more than 300 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as related industries. According to GSMA, the previous edition of Mobile World Congress (2017) had attracted more than 108,000 visitors.
According to GSMA, there are over 5 billion Unique Mobile subscribers in the world.