All the latest developments around the fifth generation of mobile networks, the famous 5G, will be at the center of the world’s largest digital communications and technology forum, among other things Mobile World Congress (MWC) which opens its doors in Barcelona on Monday, with national entries from almost all the countries of the world.

Is there anything that cannot be connected via 5G networks, is 5G a solution for everything? Are we ready to start talking about 6G? These are just some of the dozens of questions that will concern hundreds of executives of giant companies at the international level who will be in Barcelona for another year.

The numbers of 5G and in general of digital communications and access through them to the internet are really impressive and show the global influence they have in every sector of the economy and society.

More specifically, according to the latest GSMA data available, 4.3 billion people in the world have access to the internet via mobile internet. That is, about 55% of the world’s population. Of particular interest is the fact that the greatest growth in access to mobile internet at an international level concerns low and middle income strata, which means that now more than 50% of the population in question uses mobile internet.

Also, at the international level, the number of mobile phone subscribers exceeds 5.7 billion, while the total investments and revenues of the sector exceed one trillion. dollars.

However, 5G is also the “heart” of the new interconnected intelligent world (Internet of Things) that is being created as it has enabled the interconnection of more than 15 billion devices, objects, etc. with each other and all of them with smart mobile phones and portable devices. As a result, they can be operated by their owners on a permanent basis and remotely, changing what we knew until now in every sector of the economy, society, health and every sector of our lives.

However, the adoption of 5G technology paves the way for the “metaverse” and in general the use of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applications.

Greece is celebrating its 10 years of participation

Our country could not be absent from this international celebration of new innovations and technologies, which completes 10 years of presence this year. The national participation in MWC is organized by the Hellenic Company of Investments and Foreign Trade (Enterprise Greece), in collaboration with the Association of Innovative Applications Enterprises of Greece (SEKEE) and the support of the Ministry of Digital Governance. This year, Greece will be present at the exhibition with the largest stand to date in order to meet the needs of the increased participation of 44 Greek innovative, technological companies.

The national mission at MWC 2023 has the support and active participation of a large number of agencies, chambers, banks, etc. The more than 300 Greek companies, which participated in MWC in previous years, had the opportunity to conclude important agreements and collaborations, while excellent the results also in the field of networking. The relevant list includes many of the leading Greek innovation companies, which MWC significantly helped to strengthen their extroversion, while there were also cases where the foundations were laid for Greek companies to take the next step in their business development. In recent years, Greek participation in MWC Barcelona has also been combined with a presence at 4YFN, which is held simultaneously and is one of the leading international events for the field of technology startups, where start-ups, innovation companies and investment funds meet.

The mobile phone at the heart of 5G developments and innovation – Greece

Moreover, the development of the use of mobile phones in our country and the access to the internet through them, with all that this entails, is also rampant. At the same time, the further gradual penetration of 5G in our country is also underway. It is characteristically stated that in the field of mobile banking, from only around 1,500 active users in 2005, we reached 360,000 at the end of 2015, while today there are more than 4.1 million active users. Also, according to data from the Greek multinational company Generation Y – International eBusiness Hub, which operates in the field of integrated digital transformation and e-business solutions, it appears that 6 out of 10 internet users are now classified as online buyers, with 98% of them using mobile as the primary device for its commercial digital transactions.

From Kodak’s “box” to the modern technological marvel

Our mobile phone is now the communication tool from anywhere on the planet not only with people, but with objects, as in real time we can control and manage everything: our movable and immovable property, make our purchases and we spend a lot of time on our entertainment. And all this due to the technological developments of recent years and the development of hundreds of applications for mobile phones and mobile devices

Portable devices that may now have done technological wonders that no one could possibly have imagined even a few years ago, but they even existed over a century ago and on the streets of Athens as ladies’ accessories!

We transfer the legend of Giorgos Hatzidakis to the book “Miltos Lidorikis – I lived in the era of Mpel Epok”. Hatzidakis writes in the caption of the sketch, commenting on what Miltos Lidorikis mentions in his memoirs:

“The curious thing is the accessory that the mundanes keep, complementing their eccentric elegance, the famous “box” of Kodak, the first camera. What “signal” did the machine transmit to those concerned, only the semiologists of social phenomena could decide. However, with today’s experience of the multitude of countless telephoto devices, the hobby has gone beyond fashion, escaped and bordered on craze. So with a measure of today’s reality, we can very easily understand the habit of the Atthids. Out of debt to art, we should note that the sketch is by the hand of the engraver Dimitris Galanis, whose fame had since then begun to exceed the limits of the Athenian horizon”.