MWC Barcelona 2024

Mobile World Congress 2024 (MWC24) is one of the world's largest connectivity events, where technology, community and commerce converge. This edition took place from 26 to 29 February at Fira Gran Vía (Barcelona, Spain). As every year, you could discover the latest cutting-edge technology and explore where the industry is heading.
  
This meeting brings together under one roof the leading professionals from the world of innovation, telecommunications companies, technology companies and governments from around the globe. In this way, it was possible to connect the best qualified experts to reveal, in a varied agenda of presentations and sessions, the next steps for the future.
  
Telefónica Open Gateway once again took part in the Mobile World Congress, to present the latest developments in the global initiative and take a tour of the cutting-edge solutions we offer. Thus, we were present on several days of the event, with different talks and keynotes that allowed us to learn about the latest advances in the project.

The Agora was a space that forms part of the Telefónica stand at Mobile World Congress, located in Hall 3 - 3K31. It featured a number of open events, where leading professionals from the technology industry and other sectors came together to surprise attendees with talks, presentations, sessions, keynotes and live and video demos. What could you find this year?

Telefónica Open Gateway Talks:

• Monday 26/02 | 12:45h - 13:45h: "(Re)create the future of Intelligent Digital Services". Chema Alonso, Chief Digital Officer of Telefónica and CEO of Telefónica Innovación Digital, explored the latest Telefónica Open Gateway developments, demonstrated the power of our Telco APIs and unveiled the details of this new wave of disruptive innovation.
• Monday 26/02 | 15:30h - 16:15h: "First steps of Open Gateway in Telefónica", where the transformation of the initiative into a commercial reality in more and more countries around the world were discussed.
• Tuesday 27/02 | 16:45h - 17:30h: "Utiq, a successful collaboration among the European Telcos in the Advertising space". A joint talk with Utiq, to discover this collaboration is a step towards creating a trusted and responsible digital ecosystem by focusing on defending consumer privacy.
• Tuesday 27/02 | 18:00h - 18:30h: "Discover how Telefónica is becoming a Web3 and XR enabler". Yaiza Rubio, Chief Metaverse Officer at Telefónica, Daniel Hernández, VP Devices & Consumer IoT at Telefónica, together with Mark Raynes, Head of Solutions at Chainlink Labs, explained the steps taken by Telefónica in its Metaverse strategy and how Web3 and Open Gateway relate to each other.
• Wednesday 28/02 | 15:30h - 16:00h: "Wayra Unleashed: A Tale of Telco Transformation in the Open Gateway Galaxy". Irene Gómez, CEO Wayra & Open Innovation Director, explained how the initiative accelerates innovation, driving the growth of the best startups in any vertical.

Other presentations that took place in our Agora:

• Monday 26/02 | 14:30h – 15:00h: "Telefónica’s Network evolution: Softwarization and automation as a way to boost monetization and efficiency". 
• Tuesday 27/02 | 15:00h – 15:45h: "Mobile network sharing: A new development model for Latin America".
• Tueday 27/02 | 18:00h – 18:30h: “How Telefónica Is Becoming an Enabler of Web3 and XR”.
• Wednesday 28/02 | 12:00h – 12:45h: "Tactical 5G bubbles and network slicing in public networks: Robotics and augmented reality in critical situations". 
• Wednesday 28/02 | 14:00h – 14:30h: "Towards a New Generation of Edge and Cloud". 

Discover the full agenda of the Telefónica Agora here.

Also, those who wished to do so could connect from the Metaverse, via the streaming broadcasting in the Virtual Innovation Hub of Telefónica. Likewise, there was a Living App on Movistar Plus+, to follow the event's presentations live and view them on demand once they were over. You can still access them here or by logging into the Living App from your TV.

In addition to our presence in the Agora at the Telefónica stand, attendees were able to meet us at other Mobile World Congress 2024 keynotes, where we discussed the possibilities of Open Gateway as part of the GSMA's programme of talks:

• Monday 26/02 | 9:30h - 10:45h: Keynote "The Art of What's Possible", with the participation of José María Álvarez-Pallete, Executive Chairman of Telefónica and Chairman of the GSMA.
• Monday 26/02 | 14:00h - 15:00h: Panel "Boosting BLVOS: Mitigatin Drone Risks and Broadening Commercialization", within Smart Mobility Summit, with the participation of our expert Pedro A. de Alarcón.
• Tuesday 27/02 | 15:30h - 17:00h: Panel "AI for Impact Roundtable", with the presence of our Chief Responsible AI Officer, Richard Benjamins.
• Wednesday 28/02 | 09:00h - 10:30h: David del Val's participation in the panel "Monetisation with GSMA Open Gateway" at the 5G Futures Summit.
• Wednesday 28/02 | 11:45h - 12:30h: Panel "Powering Smart Cities with AI and IoT", with Richard Benjamins at the GSMA Ministerial Programme. 
• Wednesday 28/02 | 13:15h - 14:15h: Panel "Are We In A Data Race?", with the debate "Data management and Data ethical", where our expert Francisco Javier López Montalvo will participate.
• Wednesday 28/02 | 14:00h - 15:30h: Richard Benjamins' participation in the GSMA panel "AI for Impact Seminar".

We were also present at Open Gateway DevCon, a conference designed exclusively for developers, where experience creators were able to explore first-hand the benefits of opening up networks through Telco APIs.