GSMA Officials Stress 5G Growth, Leave Out Shareholder Value: Strand

Some 62,000 attended the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, where a major theme was the fast growth of 5G, John Strand of Strand Consult blogged Monday. Top officials at GSMA didn’t mention “the declining shareholder value of mobile operators,” he said: “Since 1998, the only net value add from has been premium SMS to pay for ring tones, logos, Java games, and TV polls. While mobile data traffic may be up 40% last year, this does not translate into greater revenue for mobile operators. … GSMA's members may talk a big game about the future; it has failed to monetize it.” Strand said “the elephant in the room” was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “While there’s a consensus that Russia’s actions are wrong, few realized just how brutal the invasion could be,” he said. “2022 is likely the last MWC that GSMA and its members can pretend to remain neutral geopolitically. Governments, consumers, and shareholders are forcing companies to choose sides.” MWC was held Feb. 28-March 3.