Mobile World Congress is coming up just around the corner and it promises yet another jam-packed lineup of speakers, demos, and big reveals.
On the show stage will be a number of notable names in wireless, including AT&T Entertainment Group CEO John Stankey, European Commission VP for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip, Huawei Rotating CEO Eric Xu, KT Corporation CEO Chang-Gyu Hwang, Liberty Global CEO Mikes Fries, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri, SoftBank CEo Masayoshi Son, and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.
Son and Hwang will kick things off during the first keynote Monday morning Feb. 27, with Stankey following with a talk on “The Digital Economy” around noon the same day. Hastings will anchor with a keynote session on content at the end of the day. Pai, Ansip, and Fries will address “Building the 5G Economy” on Tuesday morning, while Xu will be part of a discussion on “The Content Gold Rush” Tuesday afternoon. Suri will tackle “the Fourth Industrial Revolution” as part of a keynote panel on Wednesday morning.
Mobile World Congress of course will also be home to numerous demonstrations of the latest wireless technology, many of which will include 5G-related advances.
Sprint and Nokia have already announced plans to demonstrate the latter’s 4.9G technology, which can reportedly deliver up to eightfold gains in throughput and fivefold gains in downlink. More on that here. Cobham Wireless is also planning to demonstrate 5G testing tools, including what it called the “industry’s first” software-defined 5G user equipment simulator. Cobham said its tool is based on Verizon’s open 5G standard. Ericsson will also be on hand at the show to demonstrate its federated network slicing technology with Deutsche Telekom and SK Telecom.
The show is also expected to include a number of major launches, including new handsets from Huawei, Nokia via HMD Global, ZTE, Blackberry, and possibly Samsung. In ZTE’s case, the company on Thursday announced it is planning to unveil what it has dubbed a “gigabit” smartphone. ZTE indicated the device will include 1 Gbps download speeds, 360-degree panoramic video, and instant cloud storage, among other features. Blackberry has already confirmed it will unveil its new “Mercury” smartphone – which includes the company’s classic keyboard – during the event. On the Samsung side of things, the company said it won’t be revealing its new Galaxy S8 at the show, but it is expected to reveal the launch date for the device in addition to potential tablet launches.
All in all, MWC 2017 promises to be a new-packed event – and we’ll be on site to cover breaking news from the show. Stay tuned!