Mobile World Congress, 2025, Seven Key Takeaways

The convergence of disruptive technologies—particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI), Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), fifth-generation wireless (5G), Internet of Things (IoT), and edge computing—drives growth, innovation, and transformational leadership. The Mobile World Congress (MWC) theme for 2025, "Converge. Connect. Create." underscored this focus.

The congress, held at Fira Barcelona from March 3-6, 2025, welcomed 109,000 participants, equal to the pre-pandemic level of 2019, and over 2,900 exhibitors.

In a statement reflecting on the event’s success, John Hoffman, CEO of GSMA, organizer of MWC, emphasized the event’s impact, stating: "MWC is where industries meet, and this year’s event showed just how fast technology is reshaping the world around us."

Although AI took center stage, IoT featured prominently in the booths and presentations of global Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), and IoT hardware vendors. IoT also had a significant presence in the event agendas of three summits: the 5G IoT Summit, the eSIM [embedded subscriber identity module] Summit, and the Satellite and NTN [non-terrestrial network] Summit.

In this insight, Frost & Sullivan analysts who attended the event present the top 7 takeaways, with perspectives, around these topics:
1. Artificial Intelligence
2. IoT Hyperscalers
3. Private 5G
4. Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC)
5. Satellites / Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs)
6. GenAI on IoT Platforms
7. SGP.32 eSIM IoT