What to Expect at Mobile World Congress Americas 2018

Kathryn Weldon – Research Director, Business Network and IT Services – Americas

Summary Bullets:

• MWCA will focus on the latest advancements towards 5G services from operators, infrastructure equipment providers, device OEMs, and other members of the supplier ecosystem.
• Other key areas of interest for enterprises will include demos and sessions on LPWANs, data analytics, AI, business transformation, and security of all types from UEM to multi-layer IoT security, to fraud prevention.

Anticipating the key themes at MWCA this year is not too difficult when we look at what things have and haven’t changed in the wireless industry over the past year. Clearly we are closer to actual 5G rollouts, so all vendors and operators that participate in the 5G value chain will be touting their wares, anticipating/touting possible use cases, and amping up the excitement for adjacent technologies that will be advanced by 5G such as AR/VR, enhanced video broadcasting and streaming, and advanced interactive gaming systems. On the pure B2B front, vendors will be discussing and demoing technologies that will benefit from low latency such as autonomous driving, robotics, and real-time video surveillance, while noting new business models, service tiers, and applications to be derived from 5G network slicing. 5G readiness, security, fixed vs. mobile broadband services, and regional and global insights will also be discussed, compared, analyzed, and otherwise dissected in panel discussions, presentations, and keynotes.