elecoms
Sector Focus
Mobile Trends
EN Editor Saul Leese
takes a look at the mobile
telecommunications industry
and the events behing it.
T
he UK Mobile telecommunications
market (Telco) is a bit of an anomaly
when it comes to events and the overall
telco landscape. While Apple dominates
the smartphone market here in the UK
and the US, Samsung holds the edge
globally based on devices shipped.
Samsung accounts for 31 percent of all
global usage compared to Apple’s 23
per cent. Over 18 percent of all phones
shipped in Europe in the first half of
2019 were Samsung devices compared
to Apple at 6.5 percent. Huawei gained
ground in Europe and for the first
time and overtook Apple shipping 8.5
percent of all phones.
In May, 5G launched to somewhat
of a muffled fanfare and while the
technology is set to revolutionise how
we access and consume information in
the future, 5G is some way off becoming
the norm. It’s fair to say that when 4G
arrived, it took some time to knock
3G off the number one spot. Despite
numbers being low, the UK has taken
an early leadership position on 5G.
The UK mobile telco exhibition
market has great potential, with just a
sprinkle of dedicated exhibitions and
content out there. There’s plenty of
events that touch on mobile telco in one
way or another but there could be real
potential for a major exhibition to grow
into this space. The UK, to some extent,
is the last tech-giant battleground, with
Samsung spending millions of pounds
on strengthening its brand.
Connected Britain (June 2020, BDC),
organised by Total Telecom satisfies the
UK’s eagerness to adopt 5G. The B2B
event helps organisations to keep up-
to-date, with the latest developments
in the connectivity market and is one
of the few exhibitions best placed to
understand the regulatory and financial
landscape for digital infrastructure
investment in the UK. The 2020 series
continues to focus on the wider digital
strategy and explores how the UK can
tackle emerging challenges to become a
leading player in the digital revolution.
Now in its sixth year, Connected
Britain is growing, starting as a 200
attendee event and doubling in size
each year to 2,500 for its next offering.
The event features speakers from
the telco industry including Three,
Ericsson, O2, Huawei and Nokia but
also attracts organisations, including
councils that need to consider
A raft of technical
developments is helping drive
sales across the smartphone
market with features such
as AI, AR and triple cameras
gaining in popularity. Facial
and fingerprint recognition
have also been key drivers
in advancing smartphone
technology, security and
sales.
Embracing 5G
After the 5G hype of 2018,
the next five years are about
starting to deliver on the
promises. 5G is expected
to bring about vastly
more efficient and faster
connectivity, along with its
low latency advantage and
virtualisation and cloud
capabilities. All the publicity
is already making customer
expectations soar, which in
turn, will force telcos to keep
up the pace; the issue that
is currently hindering the
market.
Foldable smartphones
Samsung launched the first
foldable smartphone called
the Galaxy Fold 5G costing
£1,900. The phone folds in
January — 25