The GCC region continues to cement its role as a global digital hub, attracting key global mobile industry events to shed light on its rapidly evolving transformation. Following the success of M360 MENA, GSMA is bringing MWC to Doha in November 2025, marking a significant milestone in the telecom sector’s expansion in the Gulf region.
In this interview, Jawad Jalal Abbassi, Head of MENA at GSMA, discusses the importance of MWC in driving digital transformation, the vision behind MWC Doha, and how it will shape policy discussions and industry collaboration across the region.
What role do events like MWC play in accelerating digital transformation and fostering collaboration among telecom operators, tech companies and policymakers?
They’re all here. This is an event where over 100, 000 people convene here every year and it has a ministerial program track. It has vendors, operators, conferences and speakers, and because it’s almost a mid-sized town, everybody’s here to do business. Policymakers talk about policy and discuss policy matters together for three days while vendors come here to meet with all of their clients. Everybody sees the MWC conference from a different angle.
Some people only see the policy aspects while others only see the sales and networking aspects and that is where its value lies. Everybody’s here and they can meet.
How would you assess the level of participation from MENA companies at MWC Barcelona compared to previous years? Has it grown and are you seeing more interest?
There is always a similar level of interest in MWC. It has always been over 100,000 people, which is almost close to capacity. This year, we had a big announcement. MWC Doha is going to be held in November 2025 and we have all of the MENA and Arab operators present in MWC Doha this year.
We did a very successful M360 MENA in Doha in 2024 and based on that success we are hosting MWC Doha in November 2025.
How do you see MWC Barcelona influencing the agenda of MWC Doha? Will there be any parallels?
MWC Doha will not be a 100,000-person event. It is going to be much smaller, similar to MWC Las Vegas or Kigali. We will have a policy track where we will talk to many of the policymakers because we want to focus on relevant policy matters.
Doha offers very nice advantages. In the 18th century, Europe was the economic center of gravity of the world and then with the rise of America and North America, it became the mid-Atlantic. With the rise of East China, India, the Gulf and Arab states, the economic center of gravity in the world is now somewhere in the Gulf, near Dubai, Doha and other cities in the region. Therefore, it makes sense to have an MWC there.
Doha is less than a four-hour flight away from over 2.5 to 3 billion people. The visa process in Qatar is very streamlined and the airport and Metro are top-notch. After the World Cup, Doha now has a very good infrastructure to host events.
We are very confident in hosting a successful MWC Doha. The target will be for all policymakers to discuss policy. Focus will also be on the conference program in addition to exhibitors and vendors. It’s going to be an MWC, but again, not as big as MWC Barcelona.
How does the expansion into the GCC intertwine with the strategic vision of GSMA for the region?
The GSMA is an association that represents the mobile ecosystem. We have been in the Arab world and the Middle East region for over 15 years now.
We hosted M360 MENA in Dubai for, I believe, five years, and in Saudi Arabia for two years, and last year was in Qatar. We’ve always been there and we have always had a team catering to our stakeholders in the region. This is just a natural progression, coupled with the fact that the region has a lot of potential.
The size of the region’s operators has also expanded internationally. MWC Doha reflects the enhanced and increasing importance of the region on the global scene.
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What unique value does MWC bring to the region’s digital ecosystem?
It’s an MWC in the Arab world and that in itself is a testimony to the importance of the region. We now have MWC Shanghai and MWC Las Vegas in addition to MWC Barcelona, the biggest edition, which will always be the flagship event. In addition to that, we now have MWC Doha and MWC Kigali.
