"MWC 2022" changed significantly with 5G, temperature difference between smartphone and network

From the "MWC Barcelona" website. MWC Barcelona in 2022 was also an offline-online hybrid, but the weight was clearly higher offline.

The MWC Barcelona 2022, the largest trade fair event in the mobile phone industry, was held for four days from February 28, 2022. While the main axis is returning from online to real, it seems that the exhibiting companies and their exhibition contents have changed considerably due to the influence of 5G. → See here for past episodes. [Image] Samsung Electronics announced at the event held at MWC Barcelona that it was the "Galaxy Book2 Pro" series of laptops instead of smartphones. Smartphone makers that lost momentum Mobile phones that are held every year in Barcelona, ​​Spain The largest trade fair event in the telephone industry, "MWC Barcelona". Due to the influence of the new coronavirus, it was canceled just before the event in 2020, and although it was held in the form of online and hybrid in 2021, it gave the impression that major companies did not exhibit and did not make a full-scale recovery. And in 2022, MWC Barcelona was held for four days from February 28, 2022 in a hybrid style of real and online. However, the number of companies exhibiting in real time is increasing this time, probably because the influence of the new coronavirus has settled down in Europe and the United States. On the other hand, the number of companies that hold online exhibitions and events is decreasing, and it seems that real events have become the mainstream, unlike the previous year. Due to the strict restrictions on overseas travel and immigration from Japan, I decided to participate online this time as well, but I can not say that there is much information available online, and the merit is thin unless I participate in real life. To be honest, it was. Since many Japanese companies forgot to exhibit or participate for the same reason as the author, it can be said that it was an event that saw the temperature difference between Japan and Europe for the new coronavirus. However, another thing I felt while following the trend of MWC Barcelona this time was that there was a considerable temperature difference between the device and the network. Especially with regard to devices and their flagship smartphones, it seems that the number of companies focusing on MWC Barcelona has decreased considerably. In fact, Samsung Electronics, the largest smartphone company, announced at the event held at this MWC Barcelona event, the "Galaxy Book 2" series of laptop computers, and Huawei Technologies also announced at the MWC Barcelona event. Most of them were PCs, and none of them had smartphones. In addition, even if you look at the booth map, you can see that the former major manufacturers of smartphones are losing momentum, such as Sony not exhibiting and the LG Electronics booth that withdrew from smartphones disappeared. On the other hand, Oppo and Xiaomi, Realme, which is also expanding into Japan with IoT devices, and Honor, who spun out from Huawei Technologies due to sanctions by the United States, etc. , Was an emerging smartphone maker in China. From the fact that these companies, which are strong in emerging countries where low prices are required and are still unfamiliar in Japan, are gaining momentum, it can be seen that the power map of smartphones has changed significantly. prize. While network smartphones, which are booming due to virtualization and openness, are lacking in excitement, companies related to network infrastructure are showing great excitement. The reason is that new waves such as virtualization and openness are rushing to mobile networks with 5G, and more and more companies are promoting it at MWC Barcelona as a business opportunity. You can also see the situation from Japanese companies that participated in MWC Barcelona. In fact, in line with this MWC Barcelona, ​​Fujitsu announced a new virtualized base station that complies with the open standard "O-RAN" for radio access networks (RAN) such as base stations and supports 5G stand-alone operation. I am. This is unique to "Dynamic Resource Allocation", which reduces power consumption by changing server operating resources to reduce surplus resources according to the usage status of base stations that change depending on the region and time of day, and communication volume prediction by AI. Fujitsu's unique technology, such as "auto cell replanning" that derives the optimum connection destination by the computer architecture of Fujitsu, achieves both high performance and reduction of power consumption. Compared to conventional products, the total CO2 emissions of the system can be reduced by 50% or more compared to conventional products. In addition, NEC will give a keynote speech online by Mr. Takayuki Morita, President and CEO of NEC. In his lecture, Mr. Morita emphasized that the company's base stations that support open standards are being adopted not only in Japan but also in Europe, etc., and on March 2, 2022, in Germany. It has announced that it will jointly deploy a small cell based on an open virtualized base station architecture with the carrier Telefonica Deutschland. And more announcements were made in line with MWC Barcelona, ​​Rakuten Symphony, which provides technologies such as virtualized networks overseas under Rakuten Mobile. Along with MWC Barcelona, ​​AT & T and Rakuten Symphony platform "Symworld" have agreed to collaborate to strengthen the solutions provided, and Cisco Systems, Inc. will accelerate the provision of open RAN and cloud-native virtualized mobile networks. Announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership towards. Furthermore, on March 4, it announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with MTN Group, which provides communication services in the Middle East and Africa, to conduct open RAN tests using Rakuten Symphony's platform in three countries including South Africa. It can be seen that they are actively working toward expanding the number of platforms that have introduced the platform. Rakuten Mobile announced a management renewal on February 25, 2022, just before MWC Barcelona, ​​and Tarek Amin, who is in charge of Rakuten Symphony's business, will be appointed as CEO. It is supposed to be. With this personnel affairs, Rakuten Mobile is trying to further focus on Rakuten Symphony's business by making the best use of its virtualization network technology, so it can be said that MWC Barcelona has become a good place to appeal. Looking at the temperature difference between smartphones and networks at MWC Barcelona this time, I honestly feel that smartphones are no longer the driving force behind mobile communications in the 5G era. In the future, as 5G becomes more widespread, the weight of enterprise businesses such as IoT and autonomous driving will increase, so MWC Barcelona, ​​which has been attracting attention for consumer devices for a long time, will once again be an event centered on networks and enterprise solutions. It seems that there is a high possibility of returning to. Masahiro Sano Born in Fukushima Prefecture, graduated from Tohoku Institute of Technology. After working on the development of digital content as an engineer, he turned into a writer specializing in mobile phones and mobile phones. He now writes in a wide range of fields related to mobile phones, from industry trends to culture.

Masahiro Sano