The Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2012 took place in Barcelona from 27
February to 1 March with the participation of global leaders in the
world of telecommunications.
The event coincided with the decisions on roaming and data roaming
charges in the European Parliament, considerations of the future
investment in internet technologies and debates on the
Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), each with its own policy
ramifications on the telecoms industry.
Despite the positive global trends linking broadband technology to
GDP growth, speakers at the MWC pointed out that Europe remains the only
continent where telecommunications business is running at a loss. The
European Commission has dedicated €9.2 billion to co-finance transition
from copper to fibre-based cable telecoms and internet networks in
October 2011.
Indonesian Telecoms Minister Tifatul Sembiring stressed at the
broadband forum organised by leading global information and
communications technology solutions provider Huawei that growth in
broadband was central to economic growth of 6.5% that the country
experienced in the past year.
The importance of the broadband internet as an engine for the
economic growth was pointed out by Huawei Vice Director Richard Brennan
who told New Europe that the technology could improve various aspects of
life, including education, healthcare and the way businesses operate.
One of the creative solutions presented at the eve of MWC is
improvement in machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies presented by Huawei
that allow both wireless and wired systems to communicate with other
devices, providing an interface for consumers and developers to
implement ideas and services as applications on the cloud rather without
unnecessary worries about the infrastructure set-up and maintenance.
The future IPv6 technology, championed by Huawei, would allow for
every appliance to be connected to the network, fetch data from it and
report its position and other information. Application of such
technology in healthcare could provide timely and accurate treatment
while lowering costs.
Many companies around the globe already benefited from using
Huawei's cloud technologies, but creation of a wider open-access data
network, based on the fibre broadband which would serve as a backhaul
available to users, could provide a boost to invention-based economy and
creative businesses.
The World Bank estimates that a 10% increase in broadband
penetration can potentially translate into 1.3% GDP growth, with
comparative studies in countries which committed to national broadband
commitments confirming this trend.
in New Europe