MWC 2016: Five standout trends which will transform our world

With visitor numbers predicted to top 100,000 by the end of the show, this year’s Mobile World Congress has been the biggest and busiest yet. A whole host of new gadgets, apps and initiatives have been launched and demoed alongside each other, creating a patchwork of slick designs and cutting-edge technology. Often pre-empting many of the year’s top trends, the effect is mildly dizzying and the buzz created never fails to excite. 

 

This leads nicely to the first of the top five trends at MWC 2016. Coming with a warning to ‘sit down the first time you try it,’ MWC’s virtual reality demos stole the show, proving to be a big hit with passing delegates. Walking down the halls, visitors could try out a range of hyper-realistic, digital world experiences, including riding a rollercoaster and skydiving. 

 

For those wondering what place these slightly sci-fi headsets have at an event traditionally about mobile handsets and telecom infrastructures – it is, of course, the mobile phone which many are saying will take virtual reality beyond the gaming world and to the masses. 

 

Even Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is backing the trend, promoting it as the “most social platform” at Samsung’s Mobile World Congress press conference on Sunday. 

 

But what does this trend hold in store for operators? At the Huawei booth, the ICT solutions provider proposed various network solutions and business models to help operators prepare their infrastructure to deal with this bandwidth-hungry craze. Among these was its 4.5G offering.

 

“For the first time in human history, people’s communication speed exceeds 1 Gbps,” said Qiu Heng, President, Wireless Network Marketing Operation, at Huawei. “4.5G’s peak rate is eight times faster and its average rate is 10 times faster than 4G, making the internet service very convenient and happy. Not only does the network become very fast, but also many applications become possible: cloud storage, 2K/4K mobile video everywhere and even virtual reality.”

 

Moving on from computer-generated experiences to an activity which has – until now – been very much manually controlled, the second biggest takeaway from this year’s MWC is connected cars. The number of cars on display was enough of a clue – Samsung, Nokia and AT&T all showed off various solutions – but the topic also dominated this year’s conference to a certain extent, with Ford Motor Company, Mercedes-Benz and even Formula One racing driver Lewis Hamilton all taking part. 

 

Ford, in particular, highlighted just how integrated the mobile and auto industry is becoming by announcing its new Kuga SUV during the conference. 

 

“Today, we take on one of the most strategic shifts in our history by expanding to an auto and mobility company,” said Mark Fields, Ford’s President and CEO. “This is driven by our changing world which is becoming more crowded and urbanised. Air quality is a significant issue and customers’ attitudes are changing.”

 

As a result of this, Fields went on, while Ford would remain committed to its core business of vehicles, it would also aggressively pursue emerging opportunities in the smart mobility market and become a transportation services company to “meet customer needs and become part of huge revenue stream.”

 

The connected car was also a phenomenon very much on Huawei’s mind and at its booth visitors were able to view a demonstration on how its Internet of Things (IoT) platform could realise cost savings through time usage analysis, fuel consumption analysis and mileage analysis. The solution also featured a number of security elements such as geo-fencing, real-time location and geo-fencing, while traffic indexing, driver behaviour indexing and logistics allowed operators to add value through data. 

 

While most people threw out their VCRs long ago – giving this trend a bit of a ‘Back to the Future’ feel about it – there was no getting away from the fact that video is hot again. But before the thought of grainy pictures and settling down to watch a film that has not been rewound leaves you feeling cold, be assured that the video being talked about at MWC 2016 bears no resemblance to yesteryear’s format.

 

In fact, it couldn’t be further away, with the video solutions being proposed featuring crisp, clear HD video available to watch anywhere, everywhere and across multiple devices. 

 

Again, Zuckerberg reinforced this vitality of video in the future, praising the format in his keynote on the first day of the show. 

 

And operators worried about their ever-burdened pipes should feel reassured that there was also plenty of technology on show designed to help them not only cope with the extra data but also make money from it. 

 

Huawei, for example, had a number of solutions, including its U-vMOS – which measures indicators from sample analysis of subjective video experiences, coupled with analysis from related technologies, to provide objective assessments on the overall video service experience. This provides a unified standard to measure the user experience which guides operators and the video industry chain in enhancing user satisfaction. 

 

It also presented its LTE offering which, the company says, features superior wireless pipes to make an optimal customer experience possible. Finally, it showcased a number of business models to strengthen network capabilities and improve user experience. 

 

4. Mobile Enterprise 

Away from the consumer sphere, a number of companies had taken the latest must-have items and applied them to the business space – earning enterprise more than a moment in the spotlight. 

 

It was another topic which also featured heavily at the conference, with representatives from DAQRI, ProGlove, Atheer Labs and Vuzix Corporation presenting in the session ‘Enterprise Wearables for Improved Productivity and Safety.’ Other GSMA seminars relating to this included ‘The Industrial Internet of Things’ and an ‘Enterprise Mobility CIO Roundtable.’

 

Various solutions were also being proposed to enable operators to use this growing trend to generate additional revenue streams. William Xu, Chief Strategy Marketing Officer for Huawei, and an Executive Director of the Board, explained why this area is growing so rapidly.

 

“We believe, no matter whether it is the carrier or an enterprise in different industries, they are looking for business solutions,” he said. “We can only generate such business solutions via joint efforts. The carrier networks are transforming towards ICT, with the Cloud data centre technologies and the convergence of IT and CT technologies. In such an ICT transformation, openness and collaboration are required to achieve the targets.”

 

While it is last on the list, 5G has to deserve a mention due to its once again prominent role in 2016’s conference. However, its position at the bottom of the list is no accident as while it has the potential to transform our lives, it still seems a long way off, with the industry agreeing that the first versions of 5G are unlikely to be ready before 2020. 

 

That being said, many of the technologies which will eventually be used for 5G are available today and were being showcased at MWC 2016. All of the solutions followed the widely accepted belief that in order for networks to become more agile and flexible, a transition to software-oriented infrastructures, rather than hardware-heavy ones was required. As is now usual, Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined Networking (SDN) had a big role to play in many of the offerings proposed.

 

Huawei’s own stopgap to 5G is 4.5G, which is built on three core principles: a data rate higher than one gigabit, an anytime, anywhere HD voice and video experience and NB-IoT.

 

Guo Ping, Deputy Chairman and Rotating CEO at Huawei, added: “We need to redefine our networks’ capabilities. Telcos need an SDN architecture, agile operations and big data capabilities. Carriers need to choose a strategic partner that has integration capabilities, as well as developing their own and building more open and innovative ecosystems.” 

 

Somewhat predictably, all of these trends have one thing at their core: Mobile. This year, the GSMA’s tag line for the event in Barcelona was ‘mobile is everything’ and this showcase of the next big things certainly reinforces this. It is not just a case of mobile companies pushing the agenda either – people only have to look at the car companies’ booths to see that mobile is drawing other industries into its sphere. The journey to a ubiquitously connected world has begun and MWC 2016 has provided just a small glimpse of what lies ahead. 

 

 

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