MWC26 Doha sells out exhibition floor ahead of opening

MWC26 Doha has sold out its exhibition floor. General attendee registration remains open in its final stage.

The event will take place at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre in Qatar alongside the International Telecommunication Union's PP-26 gathering.

Organiser GSMA said the second edition of the Doha event will bring together telecoms, technology and government figures for three days of conference sessions, exhibitions and summits focused on digital policy and network development across the Middle East and North Africa.

The sold-out show floor includes exhibitors such as Cisco, Google Cloud, HPE, Microsoft, Ooredoo and ZTE, alongside Carnegie Mellon University, Fortinet, Scale AI, Strategy&, Trend Micro, VEON and Vodafone Qatar.

Speakers are due from companies and organisations including Accenture, Dell Technologies, Ericsson, Google, Huawei, the International Telecommunication Union, Mastercard, Microsoft, Nokia Solutions and Networks, Ooredoo, PwC Middle East, ServiceNow, VEON and Vodafone Qatar.

Policy focus

The event is being held in partnership with Qatar's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. It will also include the GSMA Ministerial Programme, which is set to bring together ministers, regulators, city governments, intergovernmental organisations and senior mobile industry executives for closed-door meetings and exhibition tours.

The agenda also includes a Digital Leadership Forum, supported by the ministry and involving the ITU. The session is intended to examine policy, regulatory and investment priorities linked to digital transformation.

The line-up reflects a wider push by Gulf states and regional operators to position the Middle East as a centre for telecoms investment, artificial intelligence infrastructure and next-generation digital services. By sharing a venue with PP-26, the event is also expected to attract an international policy audience alongside commercial technology groups.

Summit agenda

Eight summits are planned across the three days, covering future networks, security, smart mobility, satellite and non-terrestrial networks, sovereign AI and national digital strategy, agentic AI, AI deployment and open telecoms AI.

The sessions are expected to address 5G standalone roll-outs, cloud-native networks, the transition to 6G, direct-to-device satellite services, telecoms threat intelligence, autonomous transport and the use of AI in operations and customer service.

Several themes highlight how operators and governments in MENA are trying to balance industrial policy with network modernisation. Sovereign AI, spectrum strategy and security have become central issues for states seeking greater control over data infrastructure while still attracting international partners.

The inclusion of an Open Telco AI Summit also underlines the industry's interest in applying AI tools to network management and service delivery while maintaining common frameworks across operators and vendors.

Hackathon results

Ahead of the event, GSMA ran the MENA Ignite Hackathon, which it described as the first GSMA Open Gateway hackathon for the Middle East and North Africa. More than 1,500 participants from Arab League countries and Türkiye took part.

GSMA said 63 teams produced working prototypes across seven challenge themes using CAMARA application programming interfaces through AI agents. Ten finalist teams presented to a judging panel, and three winning teams have been invited to demonstrate their work at the Doha event.

The hackathon offers a practical example of how telecoms groups are trying to open network functions to software developers and startups. The effort has become more prominent as operators look for new revenue sources beyond conventional connectivity services.

For Qatar, hosting a sold-out telecoms and policy event alongside a major ITU meeting offers another opportunity to raise its profile in regional digital strategy discussions. For vendors and operators, the full exhibition floor suggests sustained commercial interest in the MENA market despite broader pressure on telecoms returns and the high cost of network investment.