MWC 2022, the world's largest mobile exhibition, will be held in Barcelona, Spain, from February 28th to March 3rd.
It has been two years since the event was held due to the outbreak of COVID-19. The organizer, the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA), predicts that more than 1,500 companies from about 150 countries will attend.Since there was a large number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 and the spread of Omicron at CES 2022 held in the U.S. in January, it seemed unclear whether the event would be held offline, but the organizers announced the event toproceed as planned.
GSMA CEO John Hoffman said, "Mobile technology is leading change. In order to continue the journey of change, we will continue to collaborate and conduct businesses to bring practical change to the industry, he said.
However, South Korea's leading mobile communication companies (SK Telecom, KT, and LG U+) have not been able to fully determine participation. This is because the number of new confirmed cases of Omicron is increasing rapidly around the world.In addition, the number of CES 2022 participants from local companies who were infected by COVID-19 rose to 119 affecting the decision.
On the other hand, Hye-sook Lim, Minister of Science and ICT, expressed her intention to attend the MWC 2022. On March 1st (local time), she will participate in the session panel under the theme of "What Comes After Mobile?" Telstra's CEO Andy Pen, Qualcomm President Alex Rogers, and global mobile carrier Millicom's Executive Vice President Karim Antonio Lesina were listed as participants in the same session. The session will be held both online and offline.
Major overseas companies such as Huawei, Nokia, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Ericsson are expected to participate.
Meanwhile, the MWC, which has been held in Barcelona, Spain since 1987, has become one of the world's top three ICT events along with CES and IFA.