5G sentiment

A few years ago we found that more than 50 percent of major mobile carriers were pessimistic about the 5G business case. With the global rollout of the next-generation mobile technology now in full swing, it will be interesting to discover whether that has changed. Have carriers altered their monetization strategies? Are new use cases for 5G-powered Internet of Things capabilities inspiring more enthusiasm?

The rise of AI

Artificial intelligence continues to mature at an astonishing rate, with huge implications for virtually all industries. Our recent service alliance with OpenAI can help you separate the hype from real-world applications, to make rapid progress on the use cases that generate real value.

The metaverse

Immersive environments, and specifically the metaverse, are another area where it will be important to divide hype from hope. Many of our clients are intrigued by the metaverse’s potential, particularly as it moves out of the gaming sector and into family communications and business productivity applications. However, there are concerns that it could follow the path of 3-D TV, which failed to gain mainstream adoption despite a considerable marketing push.

Ultimately, people’s willingness to wear a headset to access the metaverse will be a major determining factor. Important questions to explore at MWC include how non-gaming companies plan to approach the metaverse, and how the fact that younger generations are more likely to engage with the technology can help businesses capitalize on the massive shift from in-person to immersive.

Digital twins

Finally, digital twins are an exciting step-change in network planning. The ability to create digital representations of physical systems means carriers can now link marketing efforts with network performance and impacts on customer experience. Investigating how best-in-class carriers are using this technology to shape their capital expenditures will be important.

Overall, MWC 2023 is shaping up to be an exciting event with plenty of opportunities to learn and connect. But with so much going on, it's important to have a clear roadmap of what topics you want to laser in on and explore. These three trends should be at the top of the list for anyone in the communications, media, and entertainment sector.