LIVE FROM HUAWEI GLOBAL MBB FORUM 2021, DUBAI: GSMA director general Mats Granryd (pictured) continued to press home the growing importance of mobile connectivity during the Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, hailing the industry as the steadying hand for society.

In a presentation, Granryd highlighted the strong backing for MWC21 Barcelona, which was one of the first in-person events conducted as the world emerges from the pandemic.

Grandryd noted the event attracted “scores of government ministers and head of telco regulators”, who prioritised the opportunity and travelled to Barcelona, to “share experience and best practice and to plot a digital path to economic recovery”.

“It is fair to say the importance of resilient mobile connectivity to all segments of the economy has never been clearer.”

Highlighting how powerful a platform mobile had become, Granryd reminded attendees the industry had 5.2 billion mobile subscribers and made a $4.4 trillion contribution to global GDP.

The GSMA head reiterated a rallying call around spectrum, insisting there was a need for more exclusive frequencies to be assigned to mobile operators at more reasonable prices.

This together with 5G connectivity for enterprise verticals, development of new technology techniques such as virtualised infrastructure, open interface standards and “mix and match” vendor solutions, were all priorities to ensure leadership in the next-generation.

Granryd expressed confidence the industry would continue to invest in infrastructure, innovate applications capable of driving economies and foster strong partnerships across the vendor market to ensure new technologies are brought to market.