At the world’s largest mobile exhibition ‘MWC26‘, which opens in Barcelona, Spain on the 2nd of next month (local time), the implementation of an ‘intelligent era’ that focuses on creating practical results beyond combining artificial intelligence (AI) and communication is expected to emerge as a hot topic.
In the huge trend of AI transformation, the competition for technology to go beyond speed and take the lead in the intelligence competition using AI is hot. In particular, as the communications competition stage expands beyond the ground and into space, competition for leadership is expected to become a point to watch.
MWC26 celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and will be held with the participation of over 2,900 companies from 205 countries. The Global Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) has set ‘The IQ Era’ as this year’s theme. It sheds light on what kind of results will be created for industry and society by combining human insight and technological prediction in the AI era.
To this end, six themes were presented, including △intelligent infrastructure △connected AI △enterprise AI △AI Nexus △technology for everyone △game changer. If last year delivered the message of creating a new market using AI under the slogan ‘Convergence, Connection, Creation’, this year’s focus will be on presenting technology to create practical results with the goal of an intelligent society.
Most of the core issues for each theme, such as AI-based network design/slicing, agentic AI, and sovereign AI stack, penetrate AI and reaffirm its value as a global strategic asset.
The keynote speech will be given by SpaceX President Gwynn Shotwell, Starlink Engineering Vice President Michael Nichols, and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Tim Peake. As attempts to expand the communication area beyond the ground and in outer space are in full swing, we plan to highlight the space communication network industry as a ‘game changer’. Rakuten Chairman Hiroshi Mikitani and LG U+ CEO Hong Beom-sik will also participate in the session.
In addition, representatives of global companies such as AT&T CEO John Stankey, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, and Nokia CEO Justin Hothard will serve as keynote speakers and give presentations on topics such as the intelligent future and space internet.
At the exhibition hall, major global companies will showcase future technologies, focusing on next-generation networks and AI technologies. In Korea, telecommunication companies such as SK Telecom, KT, and LG U+ decorate the main exhibition hall and show off their technological competitiveness.
SK Telecom will showcase its ‘Full Stack AI’ competitiveness encompassing AI infrastructure-model-service, with CEO Jae-heon Jeong scheduled to make his official debut at a press conference at this event.
KT is also preparing to share and demonstrate next-generation network strategies with AI agent technology as its core. LG U+ is expected to collaborate with global partners such as Google to share AI-based network efficiency results and introduce AI call agent ‘Ixio’.
Reporter Jeong Yong-cheol jungyc@etnews.com
