Event report: two days in Bangkok

Hosted by Huawei, the 2022 Global MBB Forum took place at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in Bangkok, Thailand. The event included a slew of CEO/CTO-level speakers from around the world, examining the 5G direction of travel, both from a consumer and industrial perspective.

The event opened with the company’s rotating chairman, Ken Hu, talking about the “opportunities” presented by next-generation broadband, and the ways in which society and business can “make the most of them”.

He began by giving an overview of 5G roll-outs across the world, suggesting that it has “grown faster than any previous generation of mobile technology”. He backed this with a claim stating that in the past three years, more than 200 5G networks have been rolled out across the globe. This, in turn, he said, “was driving new shifts in consumer behaviour”.

Even more exciting than this, said Hu, are the 5G-influenced changes which are being seen across verticals such as oil and gas, mining, manufacturing, and so on. “Applications such as autonomous mining trucks are not practical without 5G,” he said.