The 2013 Mobile World Congress ends with more than 72,000 visitors, an 8% increase on last year

Barcelona (ACN).- The world’s main event of the mobile technology industry, which takes place in Barcelona every year, ended on Thursday the 28^th of February after four days and broke all records. 72,000 visitors attended the 2013 GSMA Mobile World Congress, which is 8% more than in 2012. “We are very happy with the record results for the 2013 MWC in our first year in Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via venue”, stated John Hoffman, CEO of GSMA, which organises the congress. This edition was the 8^th time the event has been organised in Barcelona and the Mobile World Congress (MWC) moved to a new venue in Fira de Barcelona, which has a much larger capacity. The 1,700 participating companies occupied 94,000 square metres of exhibition space. Over the four days, senior executives of the world’s main companies in this industry gathered in the Catalan capital. It had an impact of more than €320 million for the local economy. Now, Barcelona faces the challenge of implementing its Mobile World Capital project, in order to become the world’s meeting point of this industry beyond the congress. The permanent centre to showcase developments and solutions (the MWCentre), the festival to link mobile technology, society and culture (the MWFestival) and, especially, the platform to act as the industry’s lighthouse at world level (the MWHub) will put mobile technology at the forefront of Barcelona’s life, while waiting for next February and the next congress. The 2014 Mobile World Congress will take place in Barcelona between the 24^th and 27^th of February, at the Gran Via venue, like this year. In addition, Agustí Cordón, Fira de Barcelona’s Director General, unveiled the fact that they are studying the possibility of organising some parallel activities in Fira de Barcelona’s Montjuic venue, “because of the sector’s growth”. Cordón was very satisfied with the 2013 MWC as well and highlighted how the new Gran Via venue was up to the challenge.

According to the company that organised the event, GSMA, the figures for the 2013 festival, which are an attendance record high, confirm the Mobile World Congress as the world’s main event of the cell-phone related industry. “From GSMA, we thank Barcelona, l’Hospitalet de Llobregat [the city immediately adjacent to Barcelona municipality where part of the Gran Via venue is located], the Catalan Government, Fira de Barcelona and all our local partners for supporting and contributing to such an incredible event. We are thrilled about coming back to the city next year and continuing with our success at Fira Gran Via”, Hoffman concluded.

Over more than four days, this year’s congress gathered cell-phone network operators, software companies, device providers, Internet companies and companies from other sectors such as automation, finances and health. Government delegations from all over the world were also present. 50% of those attending the mobile congress occupy managerial positions in their companies, including 4,300 CEOs.

“The mobile sector is one of the most vibrant and dynamic in the world, and the innovation that the sector is pushing for has clearly been visible at the MWC, whether in the exhibition or the conference programme, as well as in the App Planet and the mPowered Brands, and also the new initiatives such as the NFC Experience”, stated Hoffman.

More than 1,700 participating companies in 94,000 square metres of exhibition space

The number of companies that attended the congress has broken all records, with more than 1,700 corporations showing their products and services. 1,500 were initially expected. They occupied 94,000 square meters of exhibition space. Furthermore, there were more than 3,400 media and communication consultants from all over the world to inform the attendees about the congress and the novelties presented.

An economic impact of €320 million for Greater Barcelona

According to a preliminary economic analysis, the 2013 Mobile World Congress has had an impact of €320 million on the local economy. This represents €19 million more than in 2012. The increase is due to the larger number of participants and exhibiting companies.

GSMA highlighted in a press note some of the top executives who were one of the 300 speakers on the official programme. They were managers from companies such as American Heart Association, Apigee, AT&T, Bharti Airtel, China Mobile, CNN Digital, Deezer, Deutsche Telekom, Dropbox, Ericsson, General Motors, Foursquare, Jana, Jolla, Juniper Networks , KT Corp, Mozilla, Nielsen, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, Ooredoo, Qualcomm, Telefónica, Tele2, Tribal DDB Worldwide, Ubuntu, Viber and Vodafone.

The congress also focused on debating the new trends that are shaping the mobile industry nowadays and will in the near future. Beyond speeches, this year’s conferences also included sessions focusing on exploring topics such as big data, the mobile cloud, mWallets, NFC, small cells and smart cities, as well as the role of mobiles in adjacent industries such as advertising, automation, finances and retail.

Fira de Barcelona is very happy with the results of the 2013 Mobile World Congress

The Director General of Fira de Barcelona and Vice President of the Mobile World Capital Barcelona, Agustí Cordón, was very satisfied with this year’s congress. “Barcelona and Fira de Barcelona have again achieved the successful celebration of this event”, he stated. Furthermore, Cordón has highlighted that the Gran Via venue, which hosted the event for the first time, has been up to the challenge and provided an “incomparable response” to the exhibitor’s technical requirements. Cordón emphasised that the venue is ready to host “first class events at world level”. In addition, he unveiled that the exhibition is studying the possibility of organising some parallel activities in Fira de Barcelona’s Montjuic venue, “because of the sector’s growth”.