- Muslim women break taboos navigating east London's waterways
- Nepal dam-building spree powers electric vehicle boom
- More than 60 dead from storm Helene as rescue, cleanup efforts grow
- Dozens missing, 9 dead in migrant boat wreck off Spanish Canaries
- Death toll from Hurricane John hits eight in Mexico
- Storm Helene's toll rises as rescue and cleanup efforts gain pace
- SpaceX launches mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding as cleanup begins
- SpaceX set to launch mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Boeing strike grinds on as latest talks fail to reach agreement
- Iran 'news' sites, hackers target Trump ahead of US election
- US ports brace for potential dockworkers strike
- Japan's speedy, spotless Shinkansen bullet trains turn 60
- US hurricane deaths rise to 44, fears of more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Global stocks mostly rise, cheering Beijing stimulus
- Europe en route for Moon with new simulator, says astronaut Pesquet
- Fireworks forecast if comet survives risky Sun flypast
- Argentina judge orders dictionary to delete pejorative definition of 'Jewish'
- Global stocks rise on rate hopes, Beijing stimulus
- S.African woman turns 118, among the oldest in the world
- UK clears $4 bn AI partnership between Amazon, Anthropic
- Barca fans barred from Champions League away game over racist banner
- Chinese stocks extend surge, Europe higher on Beijing stimulus
- Pope says Church must 'seek forgiveness' for child sexual abuse
- China caps week of 'bazooka' stimulus for ailing economy with rate cut
- Cuts, cash, credit: China bids to jumpstart flagging economy
- France's debt weighs heavier ahead of budget debate
- Iran treads carefully, backing Hezbollah while avoiding war
- Return to sender: waste stranded at sea stirs toxic dispute
- 'Broken' news industry faces uncertain future
- On remote Greek island, migratory birds offer climate clues
- Taken from mother by nuns, victim seeks answers as pope visits Belgium
- China cuts amount banks hold in reserve to boost lending
- Hong Kong, Shanghai extend surge as China optimism boosts markets
- Vietnam president reiterates support for Cuba during official visit
- Drought reduces Amazon River in Colombia by as much as 90%: report
- Stay or go? Pacific Islanders face climate's grim choice
- Florida bracing for 'unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene
- Poverty rises to over 52 percent in Milei's Argentina
- Chloe's see-through look may not be for Kamala Harris
- Champagne houses abuzz over English sparkling wine
- Macron, Trudeau pledge to work for 'decarbonized' economies
- Hurricanes, storms, typhoons... Is September wetter than usual?
- China stimulus, tech optimism boost stock markets
- 'Unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene races towards Florida
- Macron meets Trudeau in Canada as both face political setbacks
- South Korea surges in UN innovation index
- Chloe's see-through look may not be for Kamala
- Floods threaten Niger's historic 'gateway to the desert'
Telecom firms aim to shrug off slump at annual get-together
Telecom companies will aim to put a positive spin on their current slump in fortunes when they gather in the Spanish city of Barcelona on Monday for the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC), the biggest event in the industry’s calendar.
Demand for products including smartphones has fallen with the onset of a global economic slowdown and rising inflation, bringing tough times to companies all along the supply chain.
But industry body GSMA, which organises the MWC, said this year's event would be buoyed by the return of Chinese delegates after Beijing finally lifted Covid-era travel restrictions.
Roughly 80,000 people are expected in Barcelona to see the latest innovations and ideas from giants of the sector like Samsung, Huawei, Nokia and Ericsson.
The bosses of network operators like Vodafone, Orange, China Mobile and Deutsche Telekom will also give high-profile speeches.
The GSMA is attempting to push a forward-looking agenda filled with much-hyped concepts like artificial intelligence, 6G and Internet of Things.
But many of the companies at the show will be focused on the bread-and-butter issue of how to make money in tricky financial times.
The wider tech sector has been routed recently and giants like Meta and Google have shed thousands of jobs.
Although telecom companies have not faced the same pain, Ericsson announced last week that 1,400 staff would lose their jobs.
- Industry 'suffering' -
One of the chief concerns for operators is getting a return on their huge investment in 5G networks.
An idea long promoted by these firms is for bandwidth-hungry businesses like Netflix and Google to pay a premium to the network operators.
The European Union launched a public consultation on the issue on Thursday.
"What they are proposing to do is really to change the economics of the internet," said Dario Talmesio of analyst firm Omdia.
He said it was ambitious but telecom firms had "an unprecedented level of political support" right now, largely because of the unpopularity of US big tech firms in Europe.
The focus for consumer brands is on shifting more units, with overall sales of smartphones last year slumping by 11.3 percent compared with 2021, according to the IDC consultancy.
"The market suffered a lot last year," said Thomas Husson from analyst firm Forrester.
As well as a wider economic malaise, he said consumers in Western Europe and other "mature" markets were simply holding on to their smartphones for much longer than before -- a major headache for manufacturers.
However, the MWC is unlikely to see the launch of many flashy new handsets, with most companies preferring to hold their own dedicated events.
- China factor -
Samsung and Apple consolidated their dominance of handset sales last year, accounting for roughly 40 percent of the market, IDC said.
Chinese brands Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo made up the other three spots in the top five, but all three had a bleak year with sales slumping dramatically.
The GSMA, though, is keeping faith with Chinese brands to reinvigorate an event that was cancelled during the pandemic and hampered by strict masking and distancing rules in the years since.
"We'll have many delegates from China," GSMA's John Hoffman told a news conference before the event, adding that things were on the way back to normal.
GSMA said Huawei, a major sponsor of the event, would have a pavilion bigger than anything the event has seen in its decades-long history.
The Chinese tech giant was the second biggest smartphone maker in the world in 2020, but scaled back its handset business after US regulators accused the firm of being controlled by Beijing.
Huawei now focuses on network equipment and cloud servers, but EU leaders are now pushing governments to remove its equipment from 5G networks.
Direct competitors Nokia and Ericsson are looking to hoover up some of the business as European countries freeze out Huawei, and both firms will send big delegations to Barcelona.
In total, GSMA said the four-day trade show would host almost 750 operators and manufacturers and 2,000 exhibitors.
X.Wong--CPN