Exhibitors and organizers were gamely showing off new artificial intelligence (AI)-focused tech at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) trade fair in Barcelona on Monday, although some were kept away by travel disruptions caused by the US-Israel-Iran war.
The annual gathering, expected to draw around 109,000 visitors, went ahead without many Israeli companies as flights were cancelled from the nation’s airports.
"Certainly, the travel restrictions are having an impact," said Lara Dewar, marketing chief at the GSMA telecoms industry association, which organizes the MWC.
Photo: Alejandro Garcia, EPA
Around 30 Israeli participants had been slated to exhibit in the Catalan city.
Some such as AI security firm DeepKeep were unable to attend, AFP journalists saw on signs posted at the absent companies’ stands.
Nine of the 25 businesses supposed to join the Israeli national pavilion were also kept away.
"Due to the current situation, our flights... were cancelled, and we were unable to reach Barcelona," Nofar Moradian-Shiber of the Israel Export Institute told AFP.
Spanish media reported that thousands of prospective MWC attendees had cancelled, as airports across the Middle East have shut down during the fighting.
The GSMA said that no Iranian exhibitors had been expected at this year’s event.
GSMA director-general Vivek Badrinath referred to the fighting directly in a Monday morning panel discussion, saying: "Our thoughts are with all those affected by the conflict."
Beyond the day’s dominant news story, players in the telecoms sector are looking ahead to a year with packed to-do lists, from network improvements to the growing capability of generative AI.
Governments — especially in Europe — are engaged in a push for technological sovereignty to insulate their tech infrastructure from geopolitical tensions, according to GSMA analysts.
In Europe, "we need larger companies that assume more risks, attract better talent and have deeper technological investments," Telefonica SA chairman and CEO Marc Murtra said.
Calls for more mega-mergers to be allowed in Europe have been an MWC staple for years.
Beyond political considerations, "the mobile industry is facing one of the most unprecedented challenges in its history," market intelligence firm International Data Corp (IDC) analyst Francisco Jeronimo said.
Device makers around the world are confronted with a surge in the price of memory chips, pumped by massive demand from tech giants building up AI computing capacity.
That could put the brakes on growth in global smartphone sales, which added 1.9 percent to reach 1.26 billion devices last year.
Over the short term, the memory price surge will likely trigger a "market contraction" in phones this year, IDC predicted.
Meanwhile, operators and space firms are together racing to offer so-called "direct-to-device" satellite connectivity, in which phones or other connected gadgets communicate directly via satellites overhead without the need for towers on the ground.
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