(Yicai Global) April 26 -- This year's second Mobile World Congress will be held as scheduled in Shanghai at the end of June. The event was canceled last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The MWC Shanghai will be held between June 28 and 30, Yicai Global learned from officials yesterday. The exhibition will focus on fifth-generation technologies and products and set up a Digital Shanghai area for the first time to enhance the city's local industrial innovation and improve the influence of its scientific and technological achievements in the international market.

The Mobile World Conference is one of the most prestigious international exhibition platforms in the telecoms industry. It is usually held three times a year, in Barcelona in February, Shanghai in June, and Los Angeles in October.

The Digital Shanghai exhibition area was set up because Shanghai is one of the world's model cities and leaders in 5G technology application and digital transformation, Liu Hong, head of technology for the Global System for Mobile Communications Association China, said at a media briefing yesterday. The MWC is organized by the GSMA.

“With the Digital Shanghai area, we hope to promote sustainable technologies via sustainable development and help Shanghai become a safe, efficient, and smart new digital city,” Liu noted.

This year's MWC Shanghai will have three themes: 5G transformation, digital everything, and reality+, Liu said, adding that the world is looking forward to seeing China's latest progress in 5G technology application at the event.

“MWC Barcelona can be considered as the weathervane of the industry, while MWC Shanghai is more focused on the display of achievements,” Liu pointed out. “So operators and manufacturers use this platform to show their latest accomplishments to the world.”

Because of its rapid development in 5G applications, China has become one of the world's leading markets. The country's 5G connections likely exceeded 60 percent of the global total as of the end of last year, according to the Mobile Economy China 2023 annual report recently published by the GSMA.

China is expected to become the first market to reach one billion 5G connections by 2025 and 1.6 billion by 2030, the report added.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione