GSMA schedules Mobile World Congress; to be held between Jun 28-Jul 1 next year

The world's biggest four-day telecom assembly Mobile World Congress has been scheduled to start from June 28, 2021, global industry body GSM Association said on Wednesday.

The Mobile World Congress is held in the last week of February every year but this year, it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and after telecom companies one after the other started pulling out of the annual conference following the outbreak of coronavirus.

"MWC21 Shanghai will now take place from February 23-25, 2021, and MWC21 Barcelona will now take place between 28 June and July 1, 2021," GSMA said in a statement.

It added that moving MWC21 Barcelona, initially scheduled for the first week of March 2021, allows GSMA to contend with external circumstances related to COVID-19.

GSM Association has been organising the event annually since 2006 in Barcelona, Spain, where governments, ministers, policymakers, operators and industry leaders across the broader ecosystem discuss developments in the technology sector with telecom as a common thread.

The global telecom sector event also sees participation from top Indian industry leaders and top government officials and ministers.

Bharti Airtel chief Sunil Mittal, Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash were also expected to attend the global event early this year.

Around 1 lakh people from across the globe attend the event every year.