What will everyone be talking about at MWC2026?

Details: James Barton, Julian Bright, Vaughan O'Grady, Manny Pham; Category: Trends & Forecasts; 25 February 2026; 9790 views

It’s the biggest event in the industry’s calendar, so of course Developing Telecoms is back on the ground in Barcelona next week for Mobile World Congress 2026 Barcelona. But what will be under discussion?

We could have said “AI” and left it there, but our readers are an engaged and discerning bunch who wouldn’t be satisfied with a glib response, so ahead of the show, our editorial team discuss its biggest talking points and how they’ll impact emerging markets.

Julian Bright on Networks, 5G-Advanced, and AI-Native 6G

The extent to which artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming telecoms will be widely in evidence at MWC2026. Network vendors in particular are re-vamping their product portfolios to both incorporate AI capabilities and support future AI applications, and will be striving to demonstrate that progress is already well advanced.

With the transition from GenAI to Agentic AI expected to drive greater economies and performance benefits into 5G-Advanced networks, even ahead of 6G deployments, many vendors now see AI as the primary tool to achieve greater autonomy, efficiencies and cost savings.

While RAN vendors will demonstrate how AI is being incorporated deeper into the radio access network for more resilient and adaptable solutions, operational and business support solution providers will show how AI functionality will be at the heart of these changes.

Elsewhere, extending support for multiple spectrum bands both above and below 1GHz to provide wider and deeper network coverage and capacity is becoming a priority, and the capabilities and performance criteria of antenna systems and Massive-MIMO solutions are being transformed by new, more flexible antenna solutions incorporating new materials.

Behind these technological advances however, the industry is more than ever prey to regional tensions, supply-chain concerns and a fragile geopolitical landscape, and AI strategies that are founded on developing relationships and building partnerships are inevitably coming under scrutiny.

Operators will want to be assured of a smooth migration path from 5G and 5G-Advanced towards 6G, and secure and reliable partnerships that can deliver on the promises. Therefore, issues such as digital sovereignty, data security and network integrity will be much to the fore at MWC2026, while technologies such as edge computing will start to acquire greater strategic importance by driving localised data storage and access.

With 3GPP Release 21 expected to produce the first formal 6G technical specifications by mid-year, technology providers can be expected to put real flesh on the bones of the new standards in areas such as network design and performance, as well as API enablement, and identifying potential drivers for 6G.

More so than in previous years, the focus will be on building a sustainable, AI-driven strategy that can drive towards AI-native 6G.

James Barton on AI RAN - and the AI bubble…

Ahead of MWC26 it’s hardly surprising to see the letters ‘AI’ appear in an article about technology trends, but the mood has certainly shifted a bit since last year as we begin to see how the comedically vast scope of the term ‘AI’ rubs up against the reality of practical use cases.

There are certainly areas where AI can enable efficiencies that almost match up to the investment required. Operators are increasingly deploying AI RAN at the edge of their networks to reduce costs through more intelligent scheduling, improved fault detection, and inferencing – but the impact of AI at the edge is somewhat dependent on whether the network itself is software-defined. This is an issue in a lot of emerging markets; given that 5G coverage is far from universal, in underserved markets operators will be questioning how much return they’ll make on their investment.

Ah yes…ROI. AI will be the most ubiquitous acronym at the show – but every time it’s under discussion, it’s usually followed by that one. However, rather than being ubiquitous, ROI is more conspicuous by its absence. It’s no secret that many operators and enterprises have thus far failed to witness their substantial AI investments bear fruit – but the pace of investment and the pressure to do so haven’t slowed, further inflating what many industry-watchers already consider to be a bubble waiting to pop.

It perhaps doesn’t help that one of the most touted use cases for AI - enabling improved energy efficiencies – is somewhat undercut by the amount of power-hungry data centres being built to provide the requisite computing power for the technology. While we’re constantly hearing that this processing can be powered by renewable, eco-friendly energy systems, there’s little evidence of this. If anything, it seems that data centre providers weren’t ready for the AI boom as they seem to be struggling to keep up with the escalating demands for power, with issues such as water shortages in data centre hotspots becoming widespread.

Against this backdrop, the suggestion by AI firms that generative and agentic AI will enable efficiencies that aren’t already handled by machine learning looks increasingly implausible – and indeed, this is perhaps indicative of a wider reckoning as the touted promises of AI collide with the realities across the industry. The use cases haven’t been compelling enough to justify the astronomical levels of investment, and the benefits simply aren’t evident enough either in terms of public perception, workload efficiencies, or savings. AI firms are painting a rosy picture, but I’ve spoken to enough analysts who’ve cautioned that this reddish tint is more likely coming from the flashing alerts…

Vaughan O’Grady on Satcoms, D2D, and D2C

The role of satellite communications in extending connectivity to remote areas is not solely relevant to the developing world, but there is certainly an opportunity in developing markets. It’s clear, for example, that Starlink in particular is seeking a foothold in developing countries, having procured licences in markets as diverse as Chad, the DRC, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Fiji.

It can be assumed therefore that in the coming months, Amazon LEO, Eutelsat OneWeb, and other competing satellite operators will attempt to catch up with Starlink’s launch programme and gain a foothold in countries and regions where connectivity is still limited.

But this begs a few questions. Firstly, who are these systems for? The obvious target markets are industries outside major population centres where connectivity is an issue, such as mining, oil production, and agriculture.

However, will the average African villager also benefit? Can such an end user even afford Starlink services? Or, more realistically, can shared, multi-user systems be devised that might benefit remote communities – but still be financially rewarding for service providers?

The business case question becomes even more interesting when we look at D2D – global direct-to-device (D2D) satellite services. Early versions of Globalstar and Iridium didn’t have much luck addressing this market in the 1990s with dedicated devices. However, advances in technology could make D2D much more appealing to investors, especially with the promise of direct-to-cellular (D2C) – standard smartphones able to connect directly to LEO satellites for messaging, data, voice and emergency services in areas lacking terrestrial coverage.

IoT D2D services may have an even stronger market, given they involve sensors and trackers rather than smartphones and, presumably, smaller bandwidth and lower latency requirements.

Lynk Global, Space42, Viasat, Omnispace, AST SpaceMobile, Iridium and of course Starlink are names already familiar in this market, though actual services are currently few and far between, but the key questions remain: who will benefit? Who can afford it? And is the business model viable? However, there are other considerations – how much competition will there be in D2D? Starlink has a big head start and pretty deep pockets – could its sheer strength undermine competition? Would that keep prices too high?

And, of course, spectrum requirements, WRC-27 plans for spectrum allocation and the need for partnerships with mobile network operators could affect rollouts, as could differing regulatory environments around the world.

Manny Pham on how emerging market operators are ahead of the curve

Operators from emerging markets have for years learnt from the mistakes of their so-called ‘developed’ colleagues in the Global North by expanding beyond airtime and data to offer a range of services those of us in developed markets would consider strange to procure from an operator.

I say that as someone who has acquired video games from a leading UK mobile operator. But I digress - what I want to focus on is how emerging market operators have decisively expanded beyond core connectivity, partly because they have seen MNOs in markets such as the UK struggle with flat ARPU, massive capex and late-to-the-game moves to diversify.

Rather than treating fintech, insurance or digital commerce as bolt-on experiments, many operators across Africa, South Asia and Latin America have embedded these services early into their core propositions. Mobile wallets, micro-lending, health and crop insurance, SME cloud tools and even energy financing are being positioned not as add-ons, but as fundamental pillars of growth. In markets where operators already control billing relationships, distribution networks and customer identity, they are uniquely placed to monetise adjacent services at scale.

The contrast is instructive. While European incumbents wrestled with spectrum costs and infrastructure rollouts, players in emerging markets built digital ecosystems around connectivity itself. The result is greater revenue diversification, stronger customer stickiness and in some cases, a clearer pathway to sustainable margin expansion.

This trend is unlikely to slow. Expect further partnerships and platform plays to surface at Mobile World Congress, particularly around embedded finance, AI-enabled credit scoring and digital marketplaces. If anything, 2026 could be the year emerging market operators stop being framed as followers - and start being viewed as the template.