MWC 2026: AI but with more realism than hype

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MWC 2026: AI but with more realism than hype quantity

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Description

Format: PDF file

Pages: 48

Author: Marina Koytcheva

Publication date: March 2026 

Under the weight of increasing geopolitical tensions and travel disruptions in the Middle East, the opening Monday morning of Mobile World Congress 2026 felt subdued, with thinner queues into the Fira Barcelona than in previous years. However, the pace picked up throughout the day and figures from the GSMA show that with 105,000 attendees, the show was only slightly smaller than last year. The spread into adjacent industries continued, as 58% of attendees came from outside the core mobile ecosystem. The GSMA remains committed to narrowing the gender gap in telecoms, with 35% of speakers being female compared to 27% of overall attendees.

It was no surprise that AI dominated discussions, keynote presentations and exhibition booths at MWC 2026. Keeping up with rapid AI technology developments, making the most of it to transform internal operations and ensuring the mobile industry does not miss out on value creation with AI, as it did with the rise of mobile apps, have been top of the agenda for the telecom industry all year. These priorities were reflected at the conference.

However, there was less hype on the show floor than in previous years. There was little talk of 6G and the discussions on AI were rooted in real, tangible deployments of AI agents and lucid dialogue on their current limitations. These and other takeaways from the event are discussed in more detail in the full report below.

Our insight covers the following key points:

• • Overarching themes at MWC 2026
    • • Key takeaways by topic

• • Telco transformation
    • • Scaling AI adoption
    • • Where is trust supporting scaled telco AI adoption?

• • Consumer services
    • • Key themes: AI assistants, AI glasses and smart home
    • • Other notable themes and announcements
    • • Notable absence

• • Enterprise platforms
    • • Key themes: Sovereign AI, NaaS and APIs
    • • Other topics

• • Network innovation
    • • Key themes: Agentic AI, RAN and autonomous networks
    • • Key announcements
    • • Notable absence
    • • Key takeaways

• • Satellite
    • • Key theme: Competition intensifies in D2D services
    • • Key announcements
    • • Notable absence
    • • Key takeaways

• • Quantum technology
    • • Key theme: Quantum has arrived at MWC
    • • Key announcement: QKD stepping closer to scalability
    • • What impressed us: Pushing to unleash the impact of quantum computing

• • Edge computing
    • • Key themes: Computer vision, physical AI and the ‘new grid’

• • Private networks
    • • Key theme: Private 5G in the background, where it belongs
    • • Key announcements: None, really
    • • Notable absence: Slicing

• • Cybersecurity
    • • Telcos must protect customers from cybercrime
    • • AI also needs cybersecurity
    • • Notable absence

• • Sustainability
    • • Key theme: Sustainability reframed as an efficiency challenge in the AI era
    • • Key announcements
    • • Notable absence
    • • Key takeaways

• • Bonus section: The weird and wonderful

Technologies and industry terms referenced include: AI, AI assistants, AI glasses, AI security, as a service, autonomous networks, computer vision, customer, Cybersecurity, Digital infrastructure, Direct-to-device (D2D) satellite, edge AI, edge computing, Energy efficiency in AI infrastructure, enterprise, Innovation, network APIs, Network slicing, Network-as-a-Service (NaaS), Physical AI, Private 5G, quantum computing, Quantum key distribution (QKD), Quantum technology, Radio access network (RAN), Satellite connectivity, Smart Home, Sovereign AI, Strategy, Sustainability in telecoms, telco transformation, transformation