MWC25: “You can call me Al”
I’ve been to a few MWC’s now. I was even at that weird one in 2021 and not many of you can say that. I like to think I have a good sense of what’s happening in the telecoms industry, but something has happened in the last 12 months that really caught me off guard walking the halls of Barcelona’s Fira for MWC – who is this Al guy?
He was everywhere! Network evolution? Powered by Al. The future? Driven by Al. We’re in the Al Era where Al Ignites Innovation at the Al Edge inside the Al data centre. There was even an Al postcard on show. Talk about putting in a shift! Poor guy must be knackered.
By the end of it, I was starting to think the best way to get work was to tell everyone you can call me AI.
A man walks down the street. He says why am I short of attention…
Well, probably because Al has it all!
In all seriousness, this year set a new bar for lack of original messaging and it became pretty much impossible to decipher any unique positioning or messaging from companies at the show. It was no surprise that Artificial Intelligence was the big topic of the show – you didn’t need an advanced GPU to predict that – but it’s hard to see who is innovating and driving real value in the industry when every booth had AI just shoved into everything at all angles. (So maybe I should go by DeclAIn instead…. )
The result from most media and analysts I spoke to was divided attention and a feeling of flatness, which is a shame because I know there are some really interesting technologies emerging and some tangible benefits being realised through AI, they’re just getting drowned out. At a time of consolidation and limited growth, I hope by next year more businesses invest in proper messaging and PR to stand out from the crowd.
Even the second most prominent theme of the show still had to remind you of AI, just with a P in the middle. Network APIs were less prominent on the shiny stands but just as prominent in actual discussions on the booths – and in a lot of the news coming out of the show. Are telco APIs the key to revenue growth? That remains to be seen, let’s see where we are by this time next year.
Cattle in the marketplace
MWC was busy as usual. The GSMA reported 109,000 attendees this time. I’m not convinced it felt quite that full. I didn’t seem to have to duck and weave through crowds as much as some other years, but it was definitely busy.
It’s always interesting to see which companies have invested in a bigger stand or paid to move further forward from one of the back halls to one further forward. That’s usually a pretty good indication of which companies are doing well. Of course, Mobile World Congress isn’t really about Mobile anymore as much as the whole industry, and there continues to be a big presence from cloud giants and fixed network vendors.
There also seemed to be a lot more trainers on feet this year… Maybe that’s the biggest tell that we’re moving from telco towards techco…
A man walks down the street. He says, “why am I soft in the middle, now?
The best part of MWC has always been and will always be the networking – mixing with the dogs in the moonlight. Seeing familiar faces all in the same place at the same time and catching up over dinner and drinks makes the long days in the Fira worthwhile. Certainly by Wednesday morning, I was asking Why am I soft in the middle now? And at one point on Wednesday night, what if I die here?
It was great to spend Tuesday night with The Mobile Network on board the Southern Cross, and the traditional Wednesday media drinks with our friends at CCGroup were full of laughter. I might not touch a Padron pepper for a while, but it was good fun nevertheless.
You know I don’t find this stuff amusing anymore
Fair enough, probably enough Paul Simon references for one year.
If, however, you think your business got lost in the AI shuffle and want to discuss how a unique positioning platform can propel you towards MWC26 and beyond, then get in touch.
Joel Goodson
Senior Content Writer
