48 Hours in Qatar: What I’m looking for from MWC Doha

 Travel blogs and magazines often devise itineraries for people visiting popular tourist spots. Think “Three Days in NYC” or “The perfect one-day visit to Paris.” I’m not sure who plans a one-day Parisien trip, but I do know a lot of people who will be in Doha for two days later this month.  

As the latest edition to the MWC series, MWC Doha will take place on the 25th and 26th of November. For an inaugural event momentum is impressive with 200+ exhibitors and attendance from 60+ countries. Given the aspirations and innovation coming out of the region, the excitement isn’t surprising. It’s also why I’m particularly disappointed that previously-committed travel plans mean I can’t make the trip. Of course, the GSMA Intelligence team will be in Doha to engage the market and promote our research but being there in proxy isn’t the same as being there in person.  

While I’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving under the Caribbean sun, however, there are three specific topics I want MWC Doha to shed light upon.   

• AI, Cloud and Sovereign Insights. I’ve said it before and will likely say it again – AI will dominate the agenda of any technology event for the foreseeable future. A quick glance at the agenda provides a view into what will get attention as part of the “AI Nexus” theme: agentic AI, early-stage innovation, sustainable AI development, AI for developing markets, AI in verticals. There’s even a panel on the spectrum needs for delivering on AI’s potential. Across all of these, however, I expect three recurring themes; sovereignty, cloud, and telcos. While it seems like we are well into the Sovereign AI Era, most strategies are still being built out. GCC countries, however, have been leaders with insights to lend. Sovereign AI and cloud go hand in hand. Not because AI can only be deployed in the cloud (there are myriad use cases for distributed AI) but because it’s often the easiest way to access AI resources. And, as an MWC event, the question of what role telcos can play in AI’s evolution – how they benefit from AI, but also enable it – should be one of the show’s most valuable learnings.  

• Sustainability Circa 2026. A few years back, sustainability was solidly one of the top three network transformation business priorities for telcos. Last year, it fell to #4. This year, it dropped even lower (the latest edition of our Network Transformation survey is coming out in December, so I won’t share the exact position yet). Given aggressive Net Zero commitments and AI’s energy requirements, this might seem surprising. On the other hand, the implementation of energy efficiency solutions and a shifting focus towards circularity vs. energy use help to explain why other priorities are higher on the list. The story, then, from Doha is critical. In a market where massive AI initiatives are underway, water scarcity is more than an academic discussion, and the environment is ripe for renewable energy rollouts, there’s plenty to learn.  

• Beyond 5G but Before 6G. You won’t find a single MWC Doha session with “6G” in the title…unless one gets added in after this posts. But you can be certain that Beyond 5G technologies will be on everyone’s minds. In many cases, this will mean today’s 5G-Advanced rollouts in support of new enterprise services. In some cases it will mean within the context of 2030 visions. Against the backdrop of a content agenda including AI, security, sustainability, network innovation and digital transformation, the real question will be how Beyond 5G technologies get invoked and considered…or not.    

There’s obviously a lot more that will be discussed at MWC Doha. That means there’s a lot of work for my team to do in terms of getting me a full debrief. It also underscores the value of being at the event. If you’re planning to be there, good for you – I’m jealous. If you’re on the fence, take another look at the content agenda and exhibitor list – and if you need a pass reach out, I know people!