Global change at MWC Barcelona

At MWC Barcelona we’re proud to be the leading event where government ministers, non-profits, MNOs and business leaders from around the world come together to build new partnerships and make lasting change.

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The numbers that count from 2026

  • 188

    delegations

  • 45

    intergovernmental organisations

  • 54

    ministers

  • 118

    heads of regulatory authorities

Deals, MOUs and agreements signed at MWC26

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Connecting the unconnected

  • The GSMA Mobile Economy Report

    Despite 96% of the global population living within mobile broadband coverage, over three billion people remain unconnected. The usage gap — driven by cost, digital literacy and device access — is almost 10 times larger than the coverage gap.

    • 3 billion+ people remain unconnected globally  
    • 96% of the world lives within mobile broadband coverage  
    • Usage gap is almost 10× larger than the coverage gap  
    Read the full report

  • Connectivity saves lives

    Gwynne Shotwell made the human case for universal connectivity, emphasising that for the people who remain offline, getting connected opens access to banking, healthcare, education and emergency services.

    Watch the full keynote

Digital safety

MWCB26 Highlights Global Change Escalating Global Scam Epidemic

The escalating global scam epidemic

Protecting the world from the global scam epidemic was named by Vivek Badrinath as one of the three mountains the industry must climb. The GSMA’s Mobile Economy 2026 report projects the global cost of cybercrime will rise from $9.22 trillion in 2024 to $15.63 trillion by 2029, with more than 90% of operators rating the threat environment as high or very high.

View report

MWCB26 Highlights Global Change Alex Sinclair

United Against Scams at SEC CON

With $2.7 billion lost through impersonation fraud in the US alone in 2024, SEC CON’s experts debated whether humans are the weakest link in scam vulnerability, how a non-blame culture might encourage increased reporting, and whether enough responsibility falls on vendors. 

Inclusion and diversity in the industry

MWCB26 Highlights Global Change GSMA Voice Report

Do we walk the talk?

Wednesday opened with an unflinching session on inclusion and workplace culture. Discussing The GSMA Voice Report, panellists called for leaders to build a business case for making culture the top organisational focus.

Learn more about the report

MWCB26 Highlights Global Change EQUALS Tech Awards

EQUALS in Tech Awards

The EQUALS in Tech Awards celebrate organisations advancing gender equality in tech. Travelling to MWC from Palestine, Nadiah Sabaneh of FINOMENA took home the Leadership in Tech award — a goal 20 years in the making.

MWCB26 Highlights Global Change Open Telco AI

The GSMA launches Open Telco AI

Fewer than 20 of the world’s 7,000 languages have high-resource AI models trained on them, meaning billions are locked out of AI’s benefits. Enter ‘Open Telco AI’ - a global industry initiative designed to accelerate telco-grade AI through open collaboration across operators, vendors, AI developers and academic institutions.

Find out more