Over four days, 88,500 people from +200 countries descended on Barcelona to witness and be part of a technological crucible of networking, innovation, and commerce. MWC Barcelona 2023 featured over 1,000 speakers, more than 2,400 exhibitors, sponsors, and partners, and 10,000 networking meetings happening every day.

Arguably, the main discussion point of the event was the launch of GSMA’s Open Gateway. The collaboration between 21 mobile network operators has created an API framework that will enable developers to have universal access to operator networks. The move represents a significant step towards unlocking immersive technology and Web3 opportunities.

Despite not being one of the main themes at the conference, we were glad to see discussions about media streaming. Consumer demand for high-quality media streaming has put network operators and streaming services at odds over who should pay the bill for the sizable network traffic volumes streaming creates. Should network operators have to pay streaming services for providing attractive content, or should streaming services subsidise operators for the traffic generated by the content? It’s a problem that needs to be solved and will undoubtedly have consequences across horizontals and verticals.

Conversations about the metaverse were everywhere at the conference. However, there was still some speculation about what the metaverse will manifest as and how we can access it. We look forward to seeing how a metaverse to mobile concept develops.

Lastly, but possibly the most important topic encountered by attendees, was the ‘usage gap’. Nearly half the global population, 3.6 billion people, are unconnected and unable to leverage the benefits of digital services. Connecting people is at the core of what we do at Squire Technologies. So, we were delighted to see GSMA using the conference to bring attention to this significant global connectivity issue and dedicating an entire conference zone to it.

These were just some of the highlights. Much more happened than we can discuss here, and it is clear that the world’s biggest tech telecommunications event is back following the Covid-19 outbreak. We can’t wait for MWC Barcelona 2024.