MWC 2016: Show Report

The Mobile World Congress swells in attendees and innovations at par every year. With more than 100,100 attendees this year, the show had a wide display of all things mobile. Everything from the much anticipated 5G enabling technologies to virtual reality to new mobile handsets and extremely creative app ideas, from the innovative 3D printing to the absolutely paramount backend solutions and privacy protection solutions were exhibited. The event which all mobile and internet enthusiasts look forward to, spanned over a 5-day period (22nd Feb to 25th March) attracting people from over 204 countries was chronicled by 3,600 members of international press and media.

The show started off with educating the attendees of the various ways in which mobile-connected products are transforming our lives, both personal and professional. More than 2200 companies showcased various products that represented every aspect of our ecosystem. Along with the usually trending topics of Mobile Health, NFC, Apps, Green Technology, IoT, and Wearables, the remarkable allotrope of carbon popularly known as “graphene” also joined the lineup of trending topics at the event this year. Over 40 game-changing products, services, devices, apps and technologies were awarded with Glomos at the popular Global Mobile Awards event which is held annually.

Several key players of the industry launched products in the phones, tablets and wearables category. There was a lot of buzz as people flocked to see the Virtual Reality coming alive on VR consoles for gaming. This year 5G dominated the theme with several companies taking a shot in the 5G application development space

by focusing on one or more aspects of 5G KPIs as laid down by the ITU. CloudRAN was notably the most sought after 5G enabler with the architectural debates still divided on moving the baseband to the cloud. Some OEMs showcased mobile edge computing (MEC) to stay ahead in the 5G race to be able to meet the end to end latency needs. LTE Wi-Fi Aggregation (LWA & LWIP) was also a major topic of discussion at the MWC’16 along with LTE-U and LAA-LTE. There were several exhibitors who demonstrated virtualized EPC solution. A core network virtualization demo by a large OEM suggested slicing network to accommodate multiple services without having to use openNFV.

MWC’16 was also a trendsetter of sorts with vendors showcasing the use of Narrow Band to provide end-to-end IoT solutions for various industry segments. Connected Cars revolved around driverless cars and various kinds of infotainment form factors that car manufacturers can look forward to, thanks to the telematics working in the background.

The MWC’16 has set the bar higher for the entire telecom industry with its large scale and innovations showcased. As we inch closer to the 5G era, the frenzied pace at which work is going on to implement 5G is both encouraging and commendable.