Mobile World Congress: The time of 5G is (almost) here

If there was one common theme to the blizzard of announcements, demonstrations and general public happenings going on at MWC 2019 in Barcelona this year, it was that everyone from smartphone makers to mobile carriers to hardware manufacturers is wildly excited about the advent of 5G technology. Wireless equipment vendors, like Nokia and Ericsson, both announced slates of 5G customers and rolled out new capabilities aimed at helping 5G reach the critical inflection point. Smartphone manufacturers touted the pending availability of 5G-capable handsets, and silicon vendors trumpeted their 5G-ready chipsets and SIM cards. Qualcomm, Nokia, Ericsson, Cisco weigh in Qualcomm had a raft of 5G-related announcements, including a partnership with Rakuten to create a small-cell-based 5G network in Japan, new reference designs for sub-6GHz and millimeter-wave wireless modems, a 5G module meant for laptops and desktops and new automotive 5G systems for connected car applications. For a company working to keep its silicon in as many places as possible, this was a characteristically broad approach.