MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS, BARCELONA – The biggest show in the industry kicked off today under partly cloudy skies, intermittent showers, and the usual traffic jam made worse due to street construction.
The Fierce Network team left before daybreak to get an early start and keep ahead of the news. Scroll down to see what we’ve got for you by the end of Day 1 in Barca.
Check out our written coverage from the day
MWC: I drove a car in Finland - remotely from Barcelona
A 5G standalone network allowed our fearless Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Coyne to drive a car in Espoo, Finland. She didn't crash, but it was tricky to drive.
MWC: Red Hat follows T-Mobile deal with a bunch more operators
Red Hat's recent deal with T-Mobile is indicative of other engagements Red Hat is striking with large and small operators around the globe.
MWC: Qualcomm unfurls Dragonwing brand for industrial tech
Qualcomm is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and at Mobile World Congress, it's showcasing its new Dragonwing brand for industrial and embedded IoT solutions.
MWC: Amazon Web Services brings cloud to the telco edge
AWS's new Outposts models are designed to bring the cloud on premises for AI and 5G core functions.
MWC: Nokia doubles down on AI-RAN – and courts special guest T-Mobile
Nokia is stepping up its AI-RAN efforts, using its usual pre-show press and analyst reception Sunday to review a litany of initiatives it’s driving in order to empower the RAN with AI.
MWC: Nokia CEO dances around answering the geopolitical question
We asked Nokia's CEO whether the company had been talking to the U.S. government about buying a stake in the Finnish vendor.
Quote of the day
BT Business CTO Colin Bannon said: “Slow is the new down,” referring to the speed at which the telco networks must move to keep up with AI, during the Monday afternoon Cloud Ambitions vs. Reality: Are Telcos Meeting the Challenge? panel moderated by Coyne.
Seen and heard
Interdigital uses AI for energy conservation
Interdigital is using AI for something other than chatbots. It’s using AI modeling to lower the power consumption of a pixel, which means you can stare at video on your mobile for a longer period of time, thereby preserving valuable battery power without having to dim your screen and strain your eyes – this could also come in handy for binge-watching “Severance” on cross-Atlantic flights.
We got a quick demo today and learned that saving pixel power using Interdigital PVR technology can increase video watch time by 22%. Don’t expect this innovation to be available for your flight home from Barca. The tech is still in early development and is working through the standardization channels, according to Lionel Oisel, VP head of video labs at Interdigital.
Oracle dreams of digitizing the planet
Oracle has an intriguing proposition for operators: Big Red promises to connect telcos to companies requiring networking connectivity to run Oracle's broad array of vertical industry cloud applications and back-office solutions for healthcare, hospitality, emergency services, financial services and more.
Matt Beal, Oracle senior VP, development, told Fierce: "Telco is one of those few commodity industries where the assets are infinite. The asset is data. The more we digitize the planet, the more data has to get from wherever it is — whatever sensor brings that data — to the cloud to be processed. Now the problem is how do you effectively manage that cost and revenue to make sure you've got a profitable business?"
WaveMaker wants to be the Shopify of MVNOs
WaveMaker provides a low-code development platform enabling the rapid creation of enterprise applications. It's looking to bring those assets to the telco sector, allowing celebrities, influencers and brands to quickly build MVNO storefronts to sell wireless plans, broadband and other products and services to consumers. Wannabe MVNOs don't need coding skills — WaveMaker provides a set of pre-built components, similar to how Shopify allows e-commerce companies to quickly build retail storefronts without coding skills.
Palo Alto locks down telco networks
As a telco partner, Palo Alto Networks is a triple threat (although maybe "threat" isn't the right word here). The company helps operators protect their 5G networks, unlock new revenue streams by offering security services to enterprise and consumer customers, and secure private 5G networks in critical infrastructure environments. On Monday, Palo Alto launched Prisma SASE 5G, a cloud-native zero-trust security solution to enable service providers to deliver security to enterprise customers for 5G connectivity, with support for Singtel and NTT Data, as well as partnerships with Anteriz, Nokia, Nvidia Telenor and more.
Magic in the air
On a lighter note, Samsung entertained attendees with dancing robotic dogs at its booth under the banner “OLED Magic Show.” One robotic dog danced to a zippy tune while the other showed off its acrobatic talents under the “Foldable Panel Tumbling Stand.” Probably standard fare for any MWC show, but it attracted a crowd big enough to snarl show floor traffic, so we consider that a win for the electronics behemoth.
Meanwhile, more than a few attendees were sidelined when the king of Spain visited the trade show floor.
To wit: Mitch Wagner, our chief analyst and executive editor, was on his way to meet with Palo Alto Networks and had a little difficulty finding them on the show floor. He messaged a PR contact to ask for a landmark, and she responded: "Toward the back … near where the king of Spain just was." Mitch has never been in the presence of royalty before and found the experience underwhelming, but meeting with Palo Alto Networks was excellent.
Random facts we learned
Only 61 of 326 5G networks in the world are 5G SA.
MWC oddity of the day
Prizes abound. Ray-Ban Meta sunglasses? Check. Fancy watch? Check. These two creepy digital frames. Hmmm. We’ll pass, thanks.
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