Back in Barcelona, telecoms bosses stake claim to digital future
Send a link to a friend
[June 28, 2021] By
Clara-Laeila Laudette and Supantha Mukherjee
BARCELONA (Reuters) -Telecoms bosses
toasted the return of Barcelona's Mobile World Congress on Monday with
an agenda to put the industry at the centre of digital development and
inclusion in a global reboot following the coronavirus pandemic.
Having kept networks humming while people were locked down at home,
telecoms executives said the pandemic had shown how vital connectivity
was to those with access to the latest technology, and more so for those
the billions who lack it.
Cancelled last year at the last minute when COVID-19 first began to
spread across the globe, the annual event is being held in a hybrid
format with around 30,000 visitors, compared to the more than 100,000
that usually attend, with others online.
"We are back to business, back to Barcelona and back together," said
Mats Granryd, head of the GSMA industry association that hosts the
biggest telecoms get-together at the Catalan capital's sprawling Fira
trade fair grounds.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Jun/28/images/ads/current/LPL_small%201.gif)
With the acceleration of digitalisation during the coronavirus crisis,
cybersecurity and data governance are taking centre stage, the chiefs of
Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom and France's Orange said, adding that
building trust with consumers was key.
"For too long progress in technology meant only advancement at any cost
- but real progress comes when we move towards an equitable future, not
when we just make shiny new things," Stephane Richard, Orange CEO and
GSMA chairman said in a keynote address from the event's main stage.
Saddled with high debt and weak revenues, telcos are hoping to
capitalise on the social credit derived from their role connecting
societies and individuals during the pandemic to position themselves as
the 'good guys'.
"Data cannot be extricated without compensation - it's called digital
dignity," Telefonica CEO Jose-Maria Alvarez-Pallete said. "I have a
right to know what my data is worth."
The trio also called for an overhaul of regulation in the European
Union, saying fragmentation across the 27-nation bloc put them at a
disadvantage against rivals like Facebook's WhatsApp messaging service.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/062821PIX/2021-06-28T112830Z_1_LYNXNPEH5R0JU_RTROPTP_4_TELECOMS-MOBILEWORLD_small.JPG)
Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky Lab gives a speech during the
Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, June 28, 2021.
REUTERS/Albert Gea
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Jun/21/images/062121PIX/graue_preowned_062121.png)
"Connectivity today is needed. But, in 2030, connectivity will be a human
right," Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Hoettges said.
With visitors armed with negative COVID-19 tests, FFP2 face masks and a digital
contact tracing badge, the industry hopes the event will create a blueprint for
the future.
But several big names including Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung are staying away
this year.
"I promise next year that Deutsche Telekom and all of us will be back again in
Barcelona," said Hoettges, who joined by video link from the company's
headquarters in Bonn, Germany.
CYBERSECURITY
Richard said that a third of European businesses had reported cyber-attacks last
year, a potentially fatal occurrence for smaller firms lacking the software to
protect themselves.
"Cybersecurity is a constant race... no-one can be protected any longer behind a
closed digital wall," Richard said, a position echoed across the panel, who
suggested next-generation 5G mobile networks were both a solution and risk.
Most telcos are betting big on 5G, with partnerships announced at MWC spanning
the cloud, software-as-a-service and traditional mobile and broadband
operations.
"In China, 5G is on the fast track of development, with the deployment of nearly
850,000 5G base stations and 330 million 5G cell phone users," China Mobile
Chairman Yang Jie said via videolink. He predicted that China's digital economy
would represent half of its GDP by 2025.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Jun/28/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png)
(Reporting by Clara-Laeila Laudette and Supantha Mukherjee; Editing by Douglas
Busvine and Alexander Smith)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |