The entrance of the Mobile World Congress, this Sunday.MASSIMILIANO MINOCRI (EL PAÍS)
Line 9 of the Metro is full of posters so that the visitor does not get lost.
The congressmen this year do not have to collect a physical accreditation.
Everything works through an
app
.
The Fira de Barcelona venue on Gran Via is now open for accredited visitors this Sunday afternoon, the eve of a Mobile World Congress which, despite aspiring to barely half the visitors than before the pandemic, plans to recover its appearance international with 50,000 visitors until Thursday.
"Tomorrow the sun will shine again and the doors will open again," said GSMA President John Hoffman.
According to the Meteorological Service of Catalonia, it will be a fairly cloudy day in L'Hospitalet, but in any case the congress is presented as a halo of hope: both for its continuity and for Barcelona to remain a pole of attraction for business tourism.
Sanitary measures are still very present.
At the entrance, the guards force those who do not wear it to buy an FFP2 mask and the organization has requested the covid certificates from the attendees in advance.
"Some complain about the price [two euros] and why they don't notify, but they do notify," explains Artur Cuadrada, who sells the face masks at the doors of the congress.
“I'm in a hurry”, snaps a visitor without stopping when asked about his participation in the event.
He asks if he can pay with American Express and leaves quickly.
An Amazon Web Services employee who does not want to give his name summons the press service.
In the end, he agrees to explain that it is his first time in Barcelona and that this morning he has visited the Sagrada Familia.
A congressman from the telecommunications regulator ARTP Senegal, Boubacar Kambel,
Assembly material this Sunday at the Mobile World Congress.JP
At Fira Gran Via, the congressmen could this Sunday carry out procedures such as collecting the T-Esdeveniment card to use public transport (still made of cardboard).
Mobile in hand and mask down for a few moments, visitors can access after passing facial recognition.
Inside the enclosure, a carpet still covered by a layer of plastic prevails.
The Mobile smells like paint, like new.
The hum of the vacuum cleaners does not stop and the last minute assembly work, with stairs everywhere and loose posters, give the idea that everything has to be done.
“In an hour we will be done”, explains Elisabet, head of the Hungarian stand assembly company Octopus, in a space where there is practically nothing.
"We have moved everything in trucks and the workers have come, some, by plane," she details.
Preparations at the Nexign company stand.
“Connectivity unleashed” is the motto of the congress.
The network has saved businesses, but the chosen adjective is antagonistic to face-to-face attendance, which despite optimistic predictions will still be restrained this year.
The head of marketing for the Blacknut company, Daphne Parot, exclaims: "Yes, we are very excited!", on the participation in the event.
His company, which participates in the Mobile in the French pavilion, is like "a Netflix of video games" and explains that they hope to meet these days with telephone operators interested in providing their service, as well as with potential investors to expand their business, already present in 40 countries.
Vige Vijana, who has come to Barcelona from India with her husband and her daughter, explains from the
startup 's stand
American Robin who is the first time she attends the event.
In Hall 5, the absence of the Russian pavilion stands out, which GSMA vetoed due to the armed conflict in Ukraine, while it recovers Ericsson and LG, which marked the trickle of cancellations in 2020 (when there was no congress) and were absent in 2021, in a reduced edition.
Among the
halls
of Fira stands out the hustle and bustle of vans loaded with plants, such as that of the official supplier Eix-Jardines.
A company worker assures that, when the congress is over, they will all return to the nursery.
Elena and Lucía, two students who will work as hostesses, point out that, entering the profession in the midst of a pandemic, they have become experts in taking the temperature, supplying hydroalcoholic gel and checking the ventilation of the premises.
At the Huawei stand, a live jazz group sings the song popularized by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
They can't take that away from me
.
This Monday starts the Mobile.
The plants are the latest to arrive at the Fira Gran Via venue.JP
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