Alex Trelinski
THE world’s biggest wireless technology showcase began on Monday in Barcelona, with King Felipe opening the World Mobile Congress 2025 and later shaking hands with an AI robot.
The four-day event promotes international collaboration in mobile wireless communications.
Barcelona has been the home of the WMC since 2006 and is attended by tens of thousands of professionals working for mobile network operators, manufacturers, technology providers and other companies around the world.
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Crowds packed the exhibition halls at the Fira de Barcelona from the opening, hunting out the latest devices and innovations from manufacturers or set to participate in debates about the future of the industry.
Telecom bosses appealed for easier regulation and greater freedom to merge their businesses in Europe as they seek fatter margins and the scale to sustain infrastructure investment.
Head of Telefonica, Marc Murtra, said: “It is time for large European telcos to be allowed to consolidate and grow.”
Many exhibitors at the MWC hail from China, whose products will be hit by an additional 10% import tariff on top of the 10% already imposed by US President Donald Trump since he took office in January.
China is home to major tech companies such as Huawei, but it also assembles smartphones and other products sold by foreign firms such as Apple and produces key components.
Renate Nikolay, the European Commission’s deputy director-general for communications networks, said that the ‘challenging geopolitical context’ means ‘it’s crucial for Europe to ensure our tech sovereignty and our strategic autonomy in critical sectors’.
New products on display this year include smartphones with added AI capacity and even-better integrated cameras.
