Mobile World Congress officially opened in Barcelona as both an in-person and virtual event with the theme of "Connected Impact".
Kicking off MWC Barcelona 2021 with a keynote address, Mats Granryd, Director General of GSMA, said: "We are excited to be back to business, back in Barcelona and back together. This year's theme, Connected Impact, puts front and centre the power of mobile technology to affect meaningful change. With arguably our strongest speaker line-up yet, innovative product launches, and the release of the GSMA Intelligence Global Mobile Economy Report 2021, we're celebrating the resilience and progress the industry has made despite a year of extraordinary challenges."
Highlights of the week are expected to include a keynote from Elon Musk and a performance by Jon Bon Jovi live from TelcoDR's booth.
Some notable items from the GSMA's newly published Global Mobile Economy Report 2021:
- By the end of 2025, 5G will account for just over a fifth of total mobile connections, and more than two in five people around the world will live within reach of a 5G network.
- In 2021, 5G networks have been launched for the first time in Indonesia, Kenya, and just this month, Tajikistan.
- Although 4G has significant headroom for growth; Globally, 4G is expected to peak at just under 60% by 2023 as 5G begins to gain traction in new markets. In leading 5G markets such as China, South Korea, and the US, 4G has peaked and, in some cases, begun to decline.
