2018 Mobile World Congress Shanghai Opens Doors Today

he Shanghai edition of the world’s largest mobile industry exhibition, GSMA Mobile World Congress, opens doors today at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC). The three-day event is expected to attract more than 60,000 attendees and 550 participating companies.

Mobile World Congress (MWC) by GSM Association (GSMA) began to take place annually since 1978.

The GSMA is an organization of nearly 800 operators and more than 300 companies, representing the interests of mobile operators worldwide. In addition to the MWC, the GMSA also hosts Mobile World Congress Shanghai, Mobile World Congress Americas, as well as Mobile 360 Series of conferences.

The flagship MWC event has been held in the “GMSA Mobile World Capital” of Barcelona, Spain since 2011. MWC 2018 in Spain at the end of February hosted more than 100,000 visitors from 205 countries and regions.

Mobile World Congress Shanghai started as “Mobile Asia Expo” since 2012 to meet fast growing needs of the Chinese and Asian mobile markets and was rebranded to its current name in 2014.

Mobile World Congress Americas was inaugurated only last year to bring the popular event to the North American continent.

Themed of “Discover a Better Future”, more poetically appealing in Chinese, the 2018 MWC Shanghai has seven summits including the 5G Summit, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Summit, the Future Vehicle Summit, and the Internet of Things (IoT) Summit. It also has eight subtopics, such as Applied AI, Tech in Society, the Digital Consumer, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The annual event also has four keynotes in the areas of AI, automotive, devices, and IoT.

Keynote speakers for today include notable Chinese mobile leaders such as the president of China Telecom Liu Aili, the chairman of China Mobile Shang Bing, rotating chairman at Huawei Eric Xu, as well as heads of international representatives such as the CEO of AT&T Business Thaddeus Arroyo, president and CEO of Ericsson Börje Ekholm, and president & CEO of Viacom David Lynn.

The winners of the 2018 Asia Mobile Awards will also be unveiled during the MWC Shanghai programmes today and tomorrow.