AI, future of 5G and tech sector challenges dominate at GSMA MWC Shanghai

euronews (in English)

GSMA MWC Shanghai 2024 concluded with the show‘s largest ever international participation, welcoming nearly 40,000 attendees from a record 124 countries and territories for three days of innovation showcasing and collaboration.

Transcript

00:00John Hoffman, CEO of GSMA. What an absolute pleasure it is to have you on Euronews.

00:05Thank you so much for joining us here at MWC in Shanghai.

00:09We have a lot to talk about, but I know you are very short of time here.

00:13You're a very busy man.

00:14But first of all, I was looking at the numbers, the economic impact of MWC in Barcelona

00:21this year, and the figures are astronomical.

00:24Huge.

00:25I mean, are you expecting something similar here at MWC in Shanghai?

00:30Well, our event in Barcelona is much bigger.

00:32It's about five, six times as big.

00:33But in Barcelona, we just recently announced 502 million euros of economic impact to

00:40Barcelona, Catalonia and Spain.

00:42And since we've been in Barcelona since 2006, we've generated more than 6.9 billion euros

00:50of economic impact and created a lot of part-time jobs, good tech jobs that are coming

00:56in with the event.

00:57Now, here in Shanghai, we're not at the same scale yet, but we'll do another calculation,

01:03independent calculation here after the event.

01:05And I would expect that we'll be, you know, maybe close to 100 million euros of economic

01:11impact here from MWC Shanghai.

01:13That's incredible.

01:14And John, I don't know if you have these numbers at all or even roughly, but what's the

01:18attendance here this year at MWC Shanghai?

01:21So we're only in the morning of day two, a three-day event.

01:25But we're expecting similar to last year, probably around 40,000 people.

01:30So we had last year 8,000 companies participate from 115 countries and territories.

01:35And I would expect similar, if not bigger numbers, you know, for MWC 24.

01:40And you must be incredibly relieved now as well with restrictions having lifted here in

01:45China to see a return to, you know, return to normal.

01:48Exactly. So the pandemic, we were able to hold a couple of MWC Shanghais during the

01:54pandemic. Unfortunately, people from outside of China were not able to attend.

01:58Very Chinese focused.

02:00But last year was our first back in and international delegations attending.

02:05I was able to come. It's so great to bring the international community here, Shanghai,

02:11and have them attend MWC Shanghai.

02:13And there are so many incredible things just walking around the exhibition floor and

02:17seeing all the new tech innovations.

02:19But what are you most excited about, John?

02:21Well, you know, we're seeing a lot under our theme of future first.

02:25We're seeing a lot of innovation out there.

02:27We're seeing technology.

02:28Obviously, China is very advanced in 5G now.

02:335G advanced is taking hold.

02:34China Mobile is one of the global leaders in deployment.

02:37China Unicom, China Telecom are trialing the network.

02:40So we have a lot of roadmap technology issues.

02:44But we also have a lot of other topics, a lot around generative AI.

02:50It's a really, really, really big topic.

02:53And then we've got all of our verticals.

02:54So we've got health vertical.

02:56We've got transportation vertical.

02:57We've got pharmaceutical verticals.

02:59We've got the arts here.

03:01And it's really kind of everything under one roof.

03:06Mobility connectivity is at the core.

03:08But the vertical applications are really going to drive digital transformation.

03:13And that's what MWC Shanghai is all about.

03:16And all of that innovation that we're seeing here, John,

03:19what are the sort of challenges for exporting all of these incredible

03:23technology and this innovation we're seeing, say, to European markets, for example?

03:28The great thing about our MWC series here in Barcelona,

03:32Shanghai, United States and Kigali is we're able to showcase the best and the brightest.

03:37So we see local technology and services innovation.

03:42And then we see international showcasing their activities at the event.

03:47So it's both an inbound and an outbound technology transfer,

03:52kind of best practices.

03:53And, you know, we learn from each other and we challenge and continue

03:58to drive innovation through that challenge.

04:02Talking of innovation, John, as well, when you look into the future, that crystal ball,

04:07what are the trends and things that you're foreseeing based on your intel

04:11and your knowledge of what you're witnessing here today at MWC Shanghai?

04:15You know, we had a discussion yesterday at our digital leaders program,

04:19and we were talking about some of the challenges that are facing not only our ecosystem,

04:23but the global tech ecosystem as well as the global economy.

04:27And I think there was a vote of optimism for technology leading us in the right direction

04:34and then figuring out how to ethically use technology.

04:38You know, we have a lot of work to do.

04:40We've covered most of the world with GSM technology, 2, 3, 4, and 5G.

04:47We're working on, you know, 5.5G, and then obviously 6G will be coming.

04:53But we still have a lot of gaps.

04:55We have some coverage gaps, which we're going to close with non-terrestrial satellite.

05:00But then we have the usage gap, and the usage gap is a very large number,

05:05billions of people that live under the umbrella of digital coverage.

05:09But don't have access to it yet.

05:12It could be because of price, device capabilities, language.

05:16There are many, many factors, and especially gender issues.

05:20We find that women around the world still are not at the same level of ability

05:26to connect to the internet, the mobile internet.

05:28And so those are the kinds of challenges that the GSMA and our colleagues

05:33around the world are working very diligently to help solve.

05:37It won't happen overnight, but, you know, we find that adoption rates of 5G,

05:42we were able to have one billion users of 5G services in three years.

05:48Whereas past technologies took 10, 12, 15 years to reach a billion.

05:53So we're moving very, very rapidly, but we still have to pull along

05:57and help those that are underserved right now.

06:00And I guess that's my hope for the future.

06:03I mean, technology will continue to evolve,

06:05but it's how we are more inclusive and helping solve some of the world's problems

06:10through mobile technology and connectivity.

06:13And that's what gets me up every morning and wants me to come to work

06:18and do good things on behalf of the GSMA and all of our operator members around the world.

06:24John, that's brilliant.

06:25And thank you ever so much for your time and sharing your insights with us on Euronews.

06:29It's been an absolute pleasure.

06:31My honor.

06:32Thank you.

06:32And thanks for coming to MWC Shanghai.

06:34It's a pleasure.

06:35Thank you very much.

06:35Thank you.

06:36Thank you.

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