The Mobile World Congress expects 50,000 attendees next June

This year's Mobile World Congress (MWC) will not be like previous ones, but details are already beginning to emerge on how the largest international fair in the mobile industry and the most important held in Barcelona will be organized. The MWC 2021, from June 28 to July 1, will have a reduced format, with an estimated attendance of between 40,000 and 50,000 congress attendees, less than half of the last edition, in 2019, when a total of 110,000 participated. This time, the number of attendees will no longer be what determines the success of the Mobile, after years of growth and breaking historical records.

The operation of the congress will also be completely different, adapting to the new context marked by covid-19. The GSMA has developed a health and safety plan to minimize the risk of contagion among congress attendees. "We have worked with partners, health authorities, and medical professionals to create a plan that builds confidence in our return to in-person events," says GSMA CEO John Hoffman. "Since 2006, we have collaborated closely with the different city authorities and with Fira de Barcelona to maintain the safety of MWC. Without a doubt, covid-19 is our biggest challenge to date. But our experience gives us a solid foundation from which we have built our plan," Hoffman defends.

Among the measures contemplated in the GSMA plan, it stands out that attendees will be required to take rapid coronavirus tests every 72 hours to access the Gran Via venue of Fira de Barcelona, where spaces will be set up to perform them. Attendees will also have to download a mobile application, My MWC, which will replace the iconic accreditations of the congress that invaded the entire city for a week and will have to be used to access the event without any physical contact. This application will also serve to fill out a daily questionnaire on the health status of congress attendees and perform tracing.

The organization at the L'Hospitalet fairgrounds will also be different. A contactless environment has been devised, digitizing interactions that were previously physical, such as accreditation control for access or payment in restaurants. To guarantee social distancing, entrances and exits have been doubled, with one-way traffic flows, and restaurants have been redesigned. Likewise, new fresh air intake and external ventilation systems, and monitoring systems, have been incorporated, which will control the capacity and density of congress attendees. Other elements included in the plan are the placement of 1,300 disinfectant dispensers and temperature taking.