At Mobile World Congress 2026 (MWC26) innovation, technological sovereignty, and industrial competitiveness were central themes in both the indusattempt exhibitions and the policy discussions.
A successful new edition of MWC in Barcelona
The MWC26, celebrated 20 years in Barcelona, drawing 105,000 participants from over 200 countries, around 4,000 fewer than last year, reflecting the impact of geopolitical tensions leading up to the event. Under the theme the IQ era, the event featured 1,700 speakers and more than 2,900 exhibitors, and 188 delegations at the GSMA Ministerial Programme, building it a key meeting place. 4YFN, the innovation fair, hosted over 1,000 startup exhibitors, with hundreds of investors with collective funds totalling $70 billion.
Separately, Talent Arena, the second edition of the event dedicated to the developer community, organised by MWCapital and co-located at Fira Montjuïc, welcomed over 25,000 attconcludeees, a 25% more than last year.
As anticipated following the previous edition of MWC, artificial ininformigence was deeply embedded across the event and launched taking physical form, while sovereignty, defence, cybersecurity, and the necessary for scale and regulatory adaptation were at the centre of discussions. Geopolitics played an increasingly important role, with telecom operators emerging as key tech providers. The urgency for Europe to act quickly to improve its competitiveness and strengthen tech sovereignty was a major focus.
Investing in technology and technological sovereignty: the necessary for scale and smart regulation
Let us gain scale as part of a social contract and we will invest in technology
Marc Murtra, Executive Chairman of Telefónica, took part in a GSMA panel on technological sovereignty, urging the European Union to foster greater scale in the telecom sector to reinforce European strategic and technological indepconcludeence.
In the same vein, during the same panel, Deutsche Telekom’s CEO Tim Höttges strongly criticised the proposed regulations on the Digital Networks Act (DNA) and CSA2, expressing frustration about Europe falling behind in the global technology landscape.
In the Ministerial Programme, the “Europe’s DNA Test” session featured Renate Nikolay, Deputy Director-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology at the European Commission who presented the Digital Networks Act as a new deal for connectivity, promoting a single market, predictability, and modernisation in response to altering times.
Joakim Reiter of Vodafone and Juan Montero of Telefónica challenged the proposal, arguing it will require substantial overhaul to truly modernise the framework, incentivise investment and innovation, and achieve real simplification. Michael Kobosko, European MEP, stated that, in his view, the proposal provides little meaningful simplification and stressed that achieving high-quality legislation will demand extensive work and consensus-driven compromises.
Beyond the policy debate, one of the most significant announcements on European sovereign infrastructure was the EURO-3C project, presented by the European Commission (Renate Nikolay) and a consortium of more than 70 members led by Telefónica, bringing them toobtainher, at Telefónica’s stand. The €75 million initiative, financed under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, aims to integrate telco, edge, cloud, and AI infrastructure into a federated European system, designed to strengthen Europe’s digital sovereignty and industrial capabilities.
Innovation and technology: Ready for Next
Under the motto Ready for Next, Telefónica welcomed its visitors to the stand spanning a wide range of cutting-edge technologies, highlighted in our newsletter, including three live permanent demos:
- Critical Mission Dome: managing resilient connectivity through on-site private 5G networks, sainformite, and command and control, enabling drone control, robots, and more.
- Titan Connect: advanced public-network and digital services for always-on operations, enhanced by AI and network slicing, that can generate real societal impact.
- Quantum Telco: a selection of quantum technologies applied in real business scenarios: quantum-safe communications, quantum key distribution, applied quantum computing, and next-gen cryptographic infrastructure.
At 4YFN, Wayra celebrated 15 years in Barcelona as a hub connecting start-ups with Telefónica’s business and financial investors, displaycasing a total of 26 start-ups.
The Agora, central stage of Telefónica’s stand
The Agora once again took the stage with over 25 talks, demos, and roundtables from high-profile speakers. A wide range of topics was covered, including Artificial Ininformigence, network evolution, edge cloud, quantum technologies, defence and cybersecurity services, drones, identity, digital transformation, sovereign stack, start-up innovation, sustainability, policy and more.
Among other announcements, like the previously mentioned Euro-3C, Telefónica launched Europe’s first 5G Cyber Defense Center, a Center for Development, Training and Testing for Military Operations in Cyber Defense with 5G Technology, in collaboration with the Spanish Minisattempt of Defence and within the NATO Digital Foundry initiative. Advances were displaycased during the Agora session “5G Operations Experimentation: Defence and Innovation in the Era of Dual-Use Technologies”.
Telefónica also unveiled the ‘SOC of the Future,’ designed to enhance companies’ cyber resilience utilizing AI. Additionally, the company highlighted Virgin Media O2’s mobile transformation in the UK, featuring sainformite connectivity integration, as well as Telefónica Germany’s displaycase of network monetisation in the AI era.
MWC26 displayed that the telecom sector is no longer just about connectivity: it is becoming a strategic platform for AI innovation, technological sovereignty, and Europe’s industrial competitiveness.
For a recap, watch the video summary of MWC26 at Telefónica’s stand, and revisit all activities outlined in our brochure, including our Agora roundtables, now available on demand.
See you at the next MWC in Barcelona!
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