The GSMA Jul 4 reported that nearly 67,500 unique visitors from 104 countries and territories attended the 2017 GSMA Mobile World Congress Shanghai, held from June 28 to July 1 in Shanghai. The four-day event attracted executives from the industry's largest and most influential mobile operators, device makers, equipment providers, software companies and internet companies, as well as technology-savvy consumers.
'We are extremely pleased with the results for the 2017 Mobile World Congress Shanghai,' said John Hoffman, CEO, GSMA Ltd. 'We introduced many new elements for this year's event, particularly in our 'Experience Halls' which were open for four days for the first time. The show truly showcased mobile as the 'Human Element' 'the technology is impacting nearly every aspect of daily life for billions of people around the world, including more than 2.7 billion mobile subscribers here in Asia, in areas as varied as healthcare, financial services, agriculture, transport, utilities and of course, entertainment.'
Covering seven halls at the Shanghai New International Exhibition Centre (SNIEC), the 2017 Mobile World Congress Shanghai hosted nearly 600 exhibitors. The exhibition was a truly international showcase, with more than half of exhibiting companies coming from outside of China. The conference programme attracted 3,725 attendees, with more than 55 percent of delegates holding senior-level positions, including more than 125 CEOs. Nearly 800 international media and industry analysts attended Mobile World Congress Shanghai to report on the many industry developments highlighted at the show.
New for 2017, the Smart City Expo Shanghai Pudong was incorporated as part of Mobile World Congress Shanghai, promoting the region's strengths in smart tourism, smart community and smart exhibition. Mobile World Congress Shanghai and the Shanghai Digital Information Festival officially opened on Wednesday, 28 June with a joint ceremony attended by government representatives from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Cyberspace Administration of China, Shanghai Municipal Government, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Education, Shanghai Communications Administration, Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau and Pudong Municipal Government.
Extended to three days, the Mobile World Congress Shanghai conference programme included keynotes from leaders of organisations including AsiaInfo Group, Bharti Enterprises, China Mobile, China Unicom, Chunghwa Telecom Mobile Business, Ctrl-Shift, GlobalFoundries, Huawei, Internet Society , KDDI, Qualcomm, Seeing Machines, Telstra, The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, The Next 3B, Trend Micro and Yingtan City (China). A series of focused summits addressed topics such as 5G, automotive, cyber security, Internet of Things (IoT), device innovation, mobile media and content and virtual reality/augmented reality, among others.
Alongside the conference, Mobile World Congress Shanghai also included many partner programmes, forums and seminars, providing attendees the opportunity to build knowledge, gain insights and share best practices. These educational programmes focused on subjects such as 5G and next-generation networks, devices, drones, identity, messaging as a platform, video and many others.