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Wrap-up: MWC Shanghai 2019

June 26 – 28, 2019 in Shanghai, China

MWC Shanghai 2019 is considered Asia’s biggest and best event for next-generation technology – 5G, IoT, AI, and big data. And this year was no different than the past.

Held from June 26-28, more than 75,000 unique visitors from over 100 countries and territories attended the congress.

The three-day event attracted players from the largest and most influential organisations from across the mobile ecosystem, as well as companies from a wide range of vertical industry sectors, including Telenor Connexion.

At this year’s congress, Seth Ryding, Head of Region APAC at Telenor Connexion participated in a number of important panel discussions with industry experts about the future of IoT.

Read on to learn more about Seth’s experiences of the event and the trends shaping IoT in Asia.

IoT boom in Asia set to make waves

Before MWC Shanghai 2019 had even commenced last week, many people were speculating what topics would dominate the headlines. Some people expected the same stories to be rehashed again and again by the media when covering the event.

Instead, most of the discussions and questions I had with attendees focused on the huge potential for IoT growth in Asia, what Telenor Connexion is doing to enable this and which trends we expect to dominate the IoT landscape in the near future.

Fueling growth with IoT

Analysts might still disagree about the exact estimates, but they all forecast that the overall trajectory of IoT adoption in the region is sky-rocketing upwards. Some expect Asia to reach 11 billion of the 25 billion projected IoT connections worldwide by 2025. I think we can all agree that these are huge numbers.

Why is this happening?

Backed by the government, China is one of the countries in Asia, and the world, at the forefront of the development and mass deployment of IoT based solutions. In the future, hopefully this will encourage other governments in Asia to show their commitment to IoT in a similar way.

At this year’s event, I participated in a seminar hosted by the GSMA with experts from governments, mobile operators and enterprises called the Future of Transportation. Together we shared our view on ongoing developments in IoT, 5G and big data and what services they will enable.

During the congress I spoke about what Telenor Connexion is doing to enable IoT growth in Asia and described the impact we’re seeing across verticals and on people’s lives.

It was fun to participate at Ericsson’s IoT Day where I shared our views on how actual M2M and IoT deployments have developed over the last decade and will develop in the future.

IoT hitting the headlines at MWC Shanghai 2019

The industry has almost reached a consensus that the global number of connected devices will top 20 billion by 2020, with over 8.5 billion of these in the Asian region. Trade opportunities within the region also seem to be booking: exports from North East Asia to South East Asia are increasing steadily.

Irfan Wahab Khan, Telenor Groups head of emerging Asia & CEO of Telenor Pakistan, gave a keynote speech that helped give some of these numbers’ context. It was inspirational to listen to him talk about how Telenor is creating value within healthcare, financial services and agriculture as well as the fact that ‘Intelligent Connectivity is about creating moments.’

I’m proud that the innovative work we’re doing with IoT at Telenor Connexion and Telenor Group is contributing to Asia’s transformation and playing a key role in improving the way people live and work in over 180 other countries throughout the world.

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