GSMA Names Barcelona Mobile World Capital 2012-2018

The GSMA, who represents mobile operators worldwide and is known for hosting the largest annual wireless conference in Europe, has just named Barcelona to be their very first Mobile World Capital from 2012 to 2018. This means the next six years' Mobile World Congress and various GSMA-organized mobile events will be taking place in the beautiful city.

Mobile World Congress is always one of our favorite events and we were just in Barcelona for this past MWC 2011, bringing you news on the latest mobile gadgets heading your way. The four-day event attracted more than 60,000 attendees from 200 countries, including 3,000 CEOs, government delegates from 131 countries and over 2,900 media representatives. However, starting with MWC 2013, which is slated for February 25-28, there will be a venue swap to the cutting edge exhibition center, the Fira de Barcelona Gran Via.

As the chosen one, Barcelona will also host GSMA's Mobile World Centre and the Mobile World Festival. The Mobile World Centre is a collection of permanent and temporary exhibitions that present the mix of culture and technological innovations and include facilities to promote the development of mobile solutions.

"We are thrilled to announce that Barcelona will be the Mobile World Capital for the next seven years," said John Hoffman, CEO, GSMA Ltd. "All of the cities who competed for this title presented extremely innovative and compelling bids, but in the end, Barcelona truly demonstrated that it deserves the title of the Mobile World Capital, with its combination of outstanding exhibition and conference facilities, its transportation and hospitality infrastructure, its commitment to expanding the reach of mobility throughout Barcelona, Catalonia and Spain, and the strong support of the public and private sectors. This is an exciting time for Barcelona and for the mobile industry as a whole."