After a two-year hiatus, Mobile World Congress 2022 took place once again in Barcelona, attracting more than 60 000 in-person delegates.
Kathy Gibson was there.
Mobile drives Africa’s booming digital economy
Africa’s digital economy, driven by mobile commerce, could be worth as much as $180-billion by 2025.
This is one of the conclusions from a new white paper, “Towards a Flourishing Digital Economy for all – a Spotlight on Africa”, commissioned by the UK’s Department for International Trade and conducted by GSMA’s Mobile World Live team of analysts and presented today on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress 2022.
Dr Mike Short, chief scientific adviser of the DIT UK, comments: “Our report triggers a much-needed discussion on how to advance the mobile commerce revolution in Africa, which will in the long-term lead to mutually beneficial digital trade between the continent and its trading partners, including the UK.”
Digital commerce is growing fast all over the world, removing physical barriers to trade and increasing choice for millions of people. It also frees up time to pursue other activities.
Life on the edge just became a lot more interesting
Edge computing is rapidly becoming one of the most significant topics in the IT world, with the potential to completely transform the way businesses and individuals engage with the world around them.
That’s according to Sanjay Uppal, senior vice-president and GM of VMware’s Service Provider and Edge business unit, who believes that in the months and years ahead the edge is going to be as big the metaverse, electronic vehicles (EVs) and cryptocurrencies.
“We talk about 5G in healthcare, public safety, retail, esports, learning, manufacturing and more – and it’s all happening on the edge,” he says.
The new era, where computing needs to happen in realtime at the place where activity is happening – the edge – can only happen if the workload can be freed, he adds.
GSMA calls for industry leaders, governments to enable mobile connectivity
What mobile industry leaders are imagining today will become reality in the future; just as dreams of self-driving vehicles and artificial intelligence (AI) a couple of decades ago are coming true today.
These developments will be enabled as we move from simple connectivity to meaningful connectivity, says Mats Granryd, director-general of the GSMA, opening Mobile World Congress 2022 in Barcelona today.
But, while the mobile industry can provide enabling technology, traditional businesses need to embrace the solutions, and governments need to create an enabling environment where technology can be enabled.
VMware puts people in the centre of its 6G vision
VMware is unveiling its vision for Automating Life, underpinned by the fusion of cloud, networking and AI technologies, and a belief system structured around equity, sustainability and trust.
To chart a successful course to 6G, the evolution of these underlying technologies must align with the evolutionary cycle of human behaviour, society, and technology as they influence each other to form an evolution continuum.
Why is Open RAN important?
While the IT industry has steadily shifted to open and interoperable systems, the telecommunications industry has kept its systems stubbornly closed – but the new era of rapid change and innovation means that openness is now an imperative.
Open RAN (radio access network) technology is emerging as the hot new topic in the telco space as a means to helping operators stay up to date with changing customer needs.
Telecoms is ‘the gateway to the future’
Despite the many benefits that technology has brought us, people still don’t really trust it.
That’s according to José María Álvarez-Pallete, chairman and CEO of Telefónica, and a board member of the GSMA, addressing delegates at Mobile World Congress today.
Telia delivers software-defined network slicing
Software-defined services are at the heart of new network slicing capabilities that Telia launched today with its customer Sandvik, a Swedish multinational engineering company.
Rainer Deutschmann, group chief operating officer at Telia, explains that the launch is the first time that a customer is using a modernised network to dynamically configure and then run the workload on either private cloud or hyperscaler infrastructure before populating it back to the application.
“VMware is one of the foundational fabrics, together with a Nokia standalone core,” he says.
The future of the telco is in software
Open software-defined technology is rapidly becoming the foundation on which telecommunications operators (telcos) are building modern networks that offer agile and flexible new services to customers.
Both traditional and new telcos are adopting VMware’s software solutions that allow them to offer new greenfield services.
Private 5G networks usher in new wave of connectivity
Private 5G networks offer enterprises new opportunities to transform themselves, digitalise and find new ways to serve their customers.
This is the message from Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business, who says private networks and private edge compute complement the networks that are commonly in use today.
“Private networks offer a big opportunity to dramatically transform absolutely everything about the business,” she says.
5G key to an immersive metaverse
As the physical and virtual worlds continue to merge, 5G is key to truly unleashing new consumer experiences.
The mobility industry in general, and 5G in particular, were set back during the Covid-19 pandemic as people stayed home.