MWC Los Angeles 2019 Highlights
Thousands of tech leaders gathered at MWC Los Angeles to explore and shape the future of connectivity and telecom. This year’s theme was “Intelligent Connectivity” which, according to the GSMA, is a combination of 5G, IoT, AI and Big Data.
What was different than MWC Barcelona?
In comparison to MWC Barcelona, the event in Los Angeles was much more B2B focused. We saw less consumer-facing gadgets and more enterprise and government facing technology.
While MWC Barcelona had a very high percentage of attendees from carriers, LA’s MWC had a large percentage of attendees from different enterprises. In Los Angeles, attendees from different industries explored how they can harness technologies such as 5G, AI and IoT to better compete and win in their own markets. For example, Verizon and Corning showcased the benefits of 5G-enabled smart factories.
As we explained in our Evolution of Telecom video, smartphone connectivity is not the focus of the telecom industry anymore, because its profits will eventually erode. New technology, mainly 5G, has positioned CSPs as the catalysts of the Smart World Revolution. They will enable different use cases that span across many industries and governments. To support solutions for the new range of applications, CSPs must create an ecosystem of partnerships with enterprises and governments.
What is similar to MWC Barcelona?
The major similarity were the buzzwords found across the events: 5G, AI and IoT.
AI is already a big part of our consumer and business lives. Products like Alexa, Google Home and others have found their way into our everyday lives. AI-recommendation engines such as Netflix, Spotify and Amazon have changed our personal lives. AI is also changing our business lives. Communication and service providers have started to apply AI to optimize processes, such as call centers. And now, thanks to Panorama, they can also apply AI to data analytics. Panorama recently launched The Magnet, the first AI-powered insight recommendation engine. The Magnet recommends the right insight to the right user, at the right time and in the right context.
Aside from using AI as a recommendation engine for data analytics, Panorama uses AI to automate the entire predictive analytics process and modernized telecom analytics with deep predictive learning. Users can analyze huge amounts of data, look for anomalies and trends, and stay ahead of their competition with predictive and prescriptive insights that reduce churn and pinpoint the next best offer for a customer.
The Internet of Things is growing at an exponential rate. While the most common use of IoT is personal, mainly in wearable devices, the future will include IoT in nearly every industry and aspect of our lives. IoT will power Smart Cities, optimize medical care, and much more. By 2025 there will be approximately 25 billion connected devices. It was one of the most discussed topics at MWC Barcelona and Los Angeles. IoT is the technology that will enable the Smart World—the 4th Industrial Revolution. During MWC Los Angeles, Asha Keddy- Corporate VP and General Manager of Intel Corporation talked about the link between buzzwords such as AI, IoT and 5G. She said “The use cases for all of these technologies are similar… The promise of 5G is the thing that enables a fully enabled connected mobile intelligent society. What they all have in common is data and networks.”
Indeed, data is the common denominator for the key technologies that will enable “Intelligent Connectivity” and the Smart World. As the owners of the network, connectivity and subscribers, telecoms harness the massive amounts of data generated. But they have a challenge, as they are not fully prepared to deal with so much data and actually make sense of it. Panorama helps CSPs make sense of their data by analyzing IoT data and correlating it with business data to drive higher ARPU, LTV and retention.
Other highlights from MWC Los Angeles 2019
Like in Barcelona, 4FYN provided an excellent opportunity for startups to connect with investors and partners. Another highlight was the Women4Tech program, which is an initiative intended to close the gender gap in the telecom and communication industry. And just was there was a gender inclusive program, there was a youth initiative called YOMO, which aims to inspire students to pursue careers in science and technology that will perform a key role in today’s increasingly connected world.
Overall, we can say that MWC Los Angeles was an accurate reflection of the major trends in the telecom world. Stay tuned for our yearly Telecom trends webinar, which will discuss the major trends for 2020 in telecom.