PARTNER CONTENT: The 12th annual Global Mobile Broadband (MBB) Forum, to be held for the first time in Dubai, UAE, builds on the success of last year’s hybrid format and brings together major operators, industry partners, governments, regulators and top media and analysts both in-person and virtually, providing valuable 5G insights from pioneers of the technology.

The event, held from 13 October to 14 October, will run under the theme 5Grows Together, underlining the need for cooperation, collaboration and partnerships across ecosystems to truly see the benefits of the next-generation technology, and will no doubt facilitate numerous debates, hard-hitting presentations and dialogue among operators, vertical players and other key stakeholders.

Last year’s event, which was held during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, was delivered onsite in Shanghai China and still managed to attract hundreds of in-person visitors, while globally tens of thousands of mobile executives tuned in online. MBBF 2020 ran under the theme 5G Scale-Out, and this year’s event in Dubai aims to build on and emulate last year’s success.

By being held in Dubai, hosted by Huawei and alongside industry partners GSMA and SAMENA Council, the event continues momentum following a golden decade for mobile globally, which began in 2010 with the first MBB Forum in Oslo, welcoming the 1st LTE 4G network.

Since then MBB Forum has travelled worldwide, from London, Tokyo, Zurich and now comes to the Middle East, adding a new chapter to a momentous mobile growth story.

Indeed, 5G continues to go from strength to strength, and MBB Forum 2021 expects to welcome more than 250 visitors on-site and again, tens of thousands online to hear all about the latest megatrends emerging from mobile, as well as witness new wireless products and solutions and see first-hand who is leading with 5G rollouts.

Reconnect, rebuild
This year’s forum will be like no other, as it offers an opportunity for mobile and adjacent vertical ecosystems to reconnect, rebuild and reimagine a fully connected and intelligent world, following the disruption caused by the global health crisis.

Indeed, a hard-hitting conference agenda will aim to do exactly that, with day one focusing on: new value for the mobile industry; enhancements to infrastructure to accelerate rollout; a look into 5G in the Middle East; improving 5G networks to accelerate 5G monetisation; digital and intelligent transformation; smart cities; fixed wireless 5G; and a look into the future, as Huawei opens up on its vision for the top 10 industry trends for the next decade.

Moving to day two, sessions will kick-off with the very topical issue of: greener networks for carbon neutrality; a look at how industry collaboration can promote 5G prosperity; flexible spectrum strategies, European 5G rollouts; AI automation for customer-defined 5G networks; the 5G state of play in South Africa and a look at the latest wireless products and solutions.

MBB Forum 2021 promises the strongest speaker line-up with keynotes this year including Huawei Rotating Chairman Ken Hu; Executive Director, President of Carrier BG, Huawei, Ryan Ding; CEO SAMENA Council Bocar A. Ba; GSMA Director General Mats Granryd; Zain CTO Group CTO Nawaf Al Gharabally; Du CEO Fahad Al Hassawi; Sunrise CTO Elmar Grasser; Safaricom CTO James Matal; Elisa VP of Network Services Sami Rajamaki; Vodafone Network Strategy and Engineering Director Nadia Benabdallah, among many others.

Wireless Industry Talks
Away from the main conference agenda, MBBF 21 will delve deeper into six key topics, with experts across the ecosystem looking at trending topics, business monetisation opportunities and technologies.

A Roundtable on the Sub 3GHz Evolution, an important band in 2G, 3G and 4G, will be one of the focuses, as the spectrum looks to maximise efficiency and deliver premium experience while ensuring the evolution to 5G. This will be complimented by a separate roundtable on 2.3GHz spectrum, being the core mid-band option of TDD, and one of the most widely used TDD bands in 4G.

From spectrum to network automation and intelligence, the 4th Industrial Autonomous Industry Forum will serve as a platform to learn about the latest progress in standardisation and industry development, including analysis from industry leaders, major operators, experts and a deep dive into Huawei’s wireless autonomous network solutions.

Next up, the wireless industry talks series delves into Microwave, with a roundtable that builds on similar sessions held at the MBB Forum in 2019 and 2020. This year, influential and knowledgeable experts will continue to discuss the trends for microwave development, new 5G KPIs, and microwave spectrum policies.

5G Fixed Wireless Access is also developing rapidly, becoming a mainstream 5G service, and at the 5G FWA Industry Forum operators will offer stories on deployment as well as learn about latest trends.

Rounding off, an invitation-only 5G Smart Healthcare Integrator Roundtable will focus on how to accelerate 5G network infrastructure for the segment, as well as expand applications of 5G, and develop new converged services.

Exhibition
Providing more hands-on experience, five exhibition areas will be set up across the Jafza One venue, providing conference goers a first-hand look at anything from 5G business success to wireless solutions support, focusing on customer requirements across various scenarios and best practices.

The biggest area, 5Gigaverse, provides an insight into innovative all scenario multi-antenna buildouts, looking at TDD, FDD, SingleRAN, DIS, microwave and sites, building on the 5G gigabit experience.

Exhibition area two, 5Go Smart, will showcase how intelligent wireless networks facilitate efficient O&M.

Green networks will also be a key feature in the exhibition, with the 5Green showcase looking at continuous network innovation and how they can build more efficient, environmentally friendly infrastructure.

The 5G Success exhibition area will provide an insight into 5G ecosystem maturity and a look at how applications are driving business success stories for global players.

Finally, the Middle East Operator Zone will put the focus on the region’s heavyweights and their own 5G success stories, featuring Etisalat, Du UAE, STC Saudi Arabia, Zain Saudi Arabia, Zain Kuwait and Zain STC.