Technology
Last week, GSMA hosted Mobile World Congress 2021 in Barcelona. Because we are still in a pandemic, it was quite different from previous events. But what I want to know is what was the latest news and buzz coming out of MWC. And luckily, I know someone who attended the event in person - so let’s get the lowdown from him. Ferry Grikpink is a Senior Partner with McKinsey & Company, the founder of McKinsey's Center for Advanced Connectivity and McKinsey's Global Lead, Digital & Analytics, for Technology, Media & Telecommunications. Show Notes: 03:00 What were the key themes at MWC 07:00 The US (284) has nearly as many cities with 5G coverage as China (376), but it only has 10% of the number of 5G subscribers. What causes this variance? 14:00 The latest on OpenRAN, including the announcements from NTT/NEC, Google Cloud and more 17:00 Data Privacy - has the operator's failure to monetise mobile advertising created a new Value Proposition for them? 20:00 The coolest solutions at MWC, including multi-player AR gaming, creating mesh networks from chipsets and more. 23:00 Rapid Fire Q's - Biggest surprise at MWC - Biggest disappointment - Wish List - what wasn't discussed that should have been?