Mobile World Congress: It’s Not Just for Mobile Anymore

Here we are, at the verge of what is the 30th Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona. It’s a show I tend to characterize as “the water cooler for telecom,” because everybody is there! Over its impressive and storied history, starting in London in 1987, MWC has consistently served up the “firsts” that ultimately become everyday realities, and indeed necessities — the first mobile phone call, for instance. The first text message, the first tablet, the first app store — even the first tweet — all happened at a Mobile World Congress.

And while we’ve been participating in Barcelona for many years now, this year is a kind of first for Cisco, too — in that it’s the first time we’re bringing our full complement of equipment and services, spanning mobile, fixed mobile, cable, satellite, and over-the-top (OTT). The fact of the matter is that all of our customers go to MWC. And as a result, it’s become our biggest show of the year.

Our strategy is to enable service providers to succeed by growing revenues and profits, through connectivity — connecting services to networks, networks to clouds, and clouds to each other. We’re tackling that under a theme of “transformation through innovation,” with actionable tactics to increase revenue, reduce operating expenditures, and enable agility.

Next week you will see many of the worlds top service providers partnering with Cisco to architect their future networks and transform their businesses. We will also be introducing world-class, innovative products and technologies.

Suffice it to say that we’ll be celebrating and making news left and right at this year’s 30th MWC. I very much hope to see you there.