The Mobile starts in Barcelona and in the metaverse: the operators ask for "respect" and free way to merge

The Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona inaugurated this Monday its first post-pandemic edition through the figure of José María Álvarez-Pallete, who, in addition to presiding over Telefónica, has been in charge since January of the employers' association that organizes the largest event in world telecommunications.

The executive of the Spanish multinational, in his new role as representative of the GSMA association, went a step further in his usual claims and issued a warning to the Executive about the regulatory disadvantage of the operators compared to the technological giants coming from the US: " We respect all the actors in the new economy, but we also deserve respect. It is impossible to face the new times with the old rules.

, claimed in the first speech of the congress, which this year foresees data of between 40% and 50% of the figures that were reached before the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Thus, this Mobile accommodates between 40,000 and 60,000 professionals, approximately 1,500 companies and 6,700 temporary workers, all of this to generate an economic impact in Barcelona that is estimated at 240 million euros, compared to the almost 500 million euros collected in 2019. The 2020 event suffered the first major international cancellation of an event due to the coronavirus and the 2021 event had a minimum format, more remote than face-to-face.

This edition differs by the

(due to the quarantines to return to their nations and Huawei's fall from grace), the

(due to the invasion of Ukraine) and a limited expectation before the terminal news (manufacturers follow Apple's example and concentrate their launches on their own presentations).

For this reason, telecommunications operators have regained almost all the prominence, as Álvarez-Pallete pointed out when requesting regulatory support from the authorities: "

. The investment challenge is enormous and deserves special attention The burden of the investment necessary to manage this growing volume of traffic must fall fairly", he warned about future developments that will involve complex

-Telefónica has even created a replica of its stand under that formula-.

Faced with the new investments, necessary to achieve coverage such as that of 5G in mobile, these companies are confident that consolidation operations will finally prosper,

that may affect companies such as

in Spain (Telefónica is more closely watched by both the Government and by the European competition authorities).

Nick Read, CEO of the British group Vodafone, stressed for his part that "there is still much to be done to tackle the fragmentation of the market", a warning that was largely addressed to the Executive of Pedro Sánchez.

"In Spain and throughout Europe, this will reach the operators, the Government and the European Commission when it comes to finding the right solution," said Read.

Goal, one more rival

The permissiveness with the mergers will depend above all on the vice president of the European Commission Margrethe Vestager softening the intercontinental competition policy, a possibility that seems more likely given the strength of other markets such as Asia and the fears that dependence on powers is causing. external, such as Russia in the case of gas.

Nadia Calviño launched a message to reassure the operators, with increasingly obvious problems to maintain their income in an environment in which low cost is imposed and rivalry involves companies like Google or Facebook, now called Meta.

Thus, the economic vice president assured that the Government has requested in Brussels that a "level playing field" be protected for all these companies.

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