The next generation of information and communication technology (ICT) products such as 5th generation (G) mobile telecommunication and Connected Car are heating up Barcelona. Competition among global ICT makers to take the lead in the post-smartphone era has also started to be fierce. The MWC 2017, the world``s largest mobile telecommunication exhibition, which opened on February 27, gave a glimpse into the future of the forth industrial revolution.

Above all, this year``s MWC site is embroidered with 5G-based connected cars and self-driving cars. The car has started to get attention as ``the device after smartphone``. It was a connected car that visitors can see as much as a smartphone at a large exhibition space that reminded of so called ‘motor show’. Although the car exhibition was only seen in the the car maker booth only who attended the MWC a few years ago, but now the situation has changed., Cooperation with mobile carriers, automakers and software companies have made it possible to find connected cars easily in Verizon, AT & T, telecom, and other carriers along with automobile manufacturers such as BMW, Ford, Peugeot and Mercedes.

SK Telecom unveiled the connected car ‘T5’ at an exhibition hall among Korean companies. SK Telecom has cooperated with BMW and Intel to launch the T5 in November last year, and succeeded in exchanging data at 3.68Gbps in T5, which is able to run at 170km / h earlier this month.

The Chinese company-Huawei has operated the Connected Car Experience Zone in ‘Innovation City’, the joint exhibition of GSMA. BMW has attended the MWC for the first time this year, unveiled two self-driving cars in the outdoor exhibition space to attract visitors. Automotive car part manufacturer-Bosch introduced a concept car that provides personalized service by recognizing the driver``s face. The new material-graphene applied a connected car by the University of Manchester research team also attracted visitors.

Republic of Korea has presented the future vision of 5G actively. CEO of KT group- Hwang Chang Gyu announced in his keynote speech at MWC that the world``s first 5G service will be commercialized in 2019. SK Telecom also plans to commercialize 5G service in a similar period as KT group. Both companies exhibited various convergence services based on 5G in the exhibition hall. Samsung Electronics, on the other hand, has unveiled its 5G commercial product line-up, from chips to handsets and networks. Samsung Electronics is cooperating with Verizon, a US mobile operator, to launch trial services of 5G fixed wireless communication services starting in April this year. Besides, Qualcomm has announced that it will launch its 5G communication modem Snapdragon X50, and will cooperate with Ericsson, Vodafone and NTT DOCOMO to provide 5G trial services.

Chinese companies, which had been focusing on 4.5G until last year, they focused on 5G this year. Chinese mobile service company-China Telecom and Huawei, which supply network equipment, also have shown 5G related solutions and services at ZTE booth.

However, artificial intelligence (AI), which had been in high expectation before the opening, seems to need more commercialization. IBM``s AI Watson was the main theme of the booth, and a variety of products such as the LG G6, smart phones equipped with voice recognition-based AI, and smart watches were on display as well. But there are still some unsolved problems about how those products can be used in real life. Besides, Huawei P10, which was supposed to be equipped with AI service "Alexa", also promised its next support for AI support.


An industry representative mentioned that ‘Although the interest in AI has increased in the industry as a whole, it is still difficult to find a link between AI and actual service. It seems that AI is still in the process of directing toward its goal despite of direction of AI has already been set.’

From Barcelona (Spain)= by Jong Yoon Hee yuni@



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