The GSMA today announced the first details of MWC19 Barcelona (formerly Mobile World Congress), including keynote speakers, prominent participating companies, programmes and events. MWC19 Barcelona will take place 25-28 February 2019, with events being staged at Fira Gran Via, FiraMontjuïc and La FargaL’Hospitalet. The GSMA expects that more than 107,000 professionals from over 200 countries and territories, representing a wide range of industry sectors, will attend MWC19 Barcelona.

Under the event theme of “Intelligent Connectivity”, MWC19 Barcelona will highlight the intersection of “hyper-connectivity”, enabled by 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT), and “intelligence”, delivered by artificial intelligence (AI) and big data. In addition to the core elements of intelligent connectivity, MWC19 will explore the key topics of Content, Digital Trust, Digital Wellness and The Future.

“Underpinned by 5G and AI, intelligent connectivity is a major technological force that will shape how the world communicates well into the future,” said Michael O’Hara, Chief Marketing Officer, GSMA. “Attendees will get to experience the impact of intelligent connectivity firsthand, across the conference and exhibition and the many programmes and events taking place at MWC19 Barcelona.”

The GSMA also announced that it has rebranded its flagship event series, moving from “Mobile World Congress” to “MWC”, a refresh that will be applied across all three global MWC events. The 2019 events will be referred to as MWC19 Barcelona, MWC19 Shanghai and MWC19 Los Angeles.

“This marks the first major brand update for our global event portfolio in over a decade,” commented O’Hara. “We are rapidly moving to a world where mobile will connect everyone and everything, but at the same time, we are expanding our reach beyond mobile. The new brand retains the familiar acronym, while placing less emphasis on ‘mobile’ to reflect the broadening scope of communications today.”

The GSMA revealed the first confirmed keynote speakers for MWC19 Barcelona, with executives representing a wide range of industries including mobile, e-commerce, financial services and media and entertainment. Executives scheduled to headline the four-day Barcelona conference programme include:

• James Forese, President, Citi
• Blythe Masters, CEO, Digital Asset Holdings
• Rich Williams, CEO, Groupon
• Mats Granryd, Director General, GSMA
• Cher Wang, Founder and CEO, HTC
• Anjali Sud, CEO, Vimeo
• Nick Read, Chief Executive Officer-Designate, Vodafone Group

– Oct. 1, 2018 @ 17:45 GMT |