From 2 to 5 March Barcelona gathered 105,000 attendees from 207 countries: connectivity becomes AI infrastructure.
Mobile World Congress 2026 celebrated twenty years at Fira Gran Via with nearly 105,000 attendees from 207 countries and more than 2,900 exhibitors.
The theme of the year
Networks are no longer the goal but the means: everything revolved around distributed artificial intelligence, devices processing data locally and European digital sovereignty.
Africa and emerging markets
One of the strongest signals came from Africa, increasingly present with operators, funds and startups. For anyone working on international expansion, it is a market that can no longer be postponed.
What we take away
Network speed and smartphone penetration determine where it makes sense to open a sales channel. When a region crosses a certain connectivity threshold, eCommerce explodes within two years: it happened in the Gulf, it is happening in West Africa.
Conclusions
MWC is where you understand where digital traffic will be in twenty-four months. We use it to decide which markets to open.
CEO & Co-Founder of BusinessLabs. I have attended major international trade shows since 2015 and share here experiences and insights for online sellers.
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