GSM Association has announced 2022 GLOMO Awards winners at MWC, Barcelona. The Awards recognizes global firms, individuals, and governments for their tech and innovation for mobile communication.  

The GLOMO Awards are the most prestigious recognitions in the mobile communications industry. 200 independent industry experts, journalists, analysts, academics, and mobile representatives nominate the winners in its fairest system.

“Congratulations to all of our winners and the nominees of the GSMA’s GLOMO Awards 2022. You personify this year’s theme of Connectivity Unleashed,” said John Hoffman, CEO of GSMA Ltd.

He added, “This year’s event is more important than ever. Celebrating the innovation and brilliance shaping the mobile ecosystem is crucial. It’s incredible to see the meaningful impact the mobile ecosystem is having in this ever-changing digital world.”

Justin Springham of Mobile World Live and Sasha Twining virtually announced the winners on Wednesday, March 2. The global audience was able to watch it on LinkedIn.

Before we move into the list of all the winners, let’s start with Samsung’s recognition for the vRAN solution.

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Samsung wins one for 5G vRAN solution

In one of the highlights from the Awards, Samsung won CTO’s Choice Award for its 5G vRAN (Virtualized RAN) solution. The South Korean firm won the award for Outstanding Mobile Technology Award and the Best Mobile Technology Breakthrough at MWC 2022.

Samsung’s vRAN solution offers operators a range of options for efficiencies and management by deploying a software-based 5G network infrastructure.

The CTO’s Choice Award is one of the most prestigious in the Awards. A panel of industry experts consisting of 21 CTOs from prominent operators around the globe nominates the winner in this category.  

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Samsung driven for more moible network solutions

Junehee Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of R&D, Networks Business expressed his delight over winning the award. He said, “We are honored that Samsung Networks’ fully-virtualized 5G RAN was recognized as the supreme champion with the CTO’s Choice Award, representing our dedicated efforts in network advancement”.

“Samsung believes vRAN is a powerful enabler for network transformation and will pave the path towards next-generation networks. As a global leader in virtualization with successful commercialization experiences, we continue to lead the journey, redefining what is possible for 5G network innovation,” he added.

The award comes on the back of Samsung’s wide-scale deployment of vRAN solutions in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company is also the first to commercialize 5G 64T64R Massive MIMO radios on 5G vRAN in a 3.5 GHz spectrum also called C-band frequency.

Samsung’s vRAN solution runs on COTS servers. This innovative off-the-shelf technology offers equal performance to that of hardware-based equipment. Samsung claims its vRAN provides reliability, scalability, and flexibility for mobile operators to maximize their network’s performance.  

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Below is the comprehensive list of the winners from their respective categories from Mobile World Congress, Barcelona.

2022 GLOMO Awards Winners

GSMA honors the awards in several categories from Mobile Technology, to Industry Category, and others. Find them all below:

Mobile Technology category:

• CTO’s Choice Award
  Samsung Networks for fully virtualized 5G RAN solution

• Best Mobile Network Infrastructure
  Huawei for New FDD Gigaband MIMO Modules

• Best Mobile Technology Breakthrough
  Samsung Networks for fully virtualized 5G RAN solution

• Best Network Software Breakthrough
  Rakuten Mobile for 5G Open RAN

• Best Digital Tech Breakthrough (Companies under $10M Annual Global Revenue)
  AccelerComm for 5G physical layer IP for Open RAN that Maximises Spectral Efficiency

• Best Mobile Authentication & Security Solution
  AdaptiveMobile Security, an Enea Company, for the World’s First Unified 5G Network Security Solution

• 5G Industry Partnership Award
  China Unicom Beijing and Huawei for 5G Capital’s Meta Life on Gigabit Society

Industry X category:

• Best Mobile Operator Service for Connected Consumers
  Veon Group for MobileID

• Best Mobile Innovation for the Connected Economy
  Tianjin Port, Huawei and China Mobile for Port Renaissance, Intelligent Twin empowers a Smart, Green Tianjin Port

• Best Mobile Innovation for the Connected Human
  Huawei for 5G Smart Healthcare Lights up Hainan Healthy Island

• Best Mobile Innovation for Connected Living
  Safaricom for M-PESA App

Device category:

• Best Smartphone
  Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max

• Disruptive Device Innovation Award
  Oppo for its Hinge & Display Integration on the FIND N

• Best Connected Consumer Device
  ZTE for Next-Gen Cloud AI Home Security Camera Pro

Tech 4 Good category:

• Best Mobile Innovation for Emerging Markets
  Starlogik IP LLC for StarZRO

• Best Mobile Innovation supporting Emergency or Humanitarian Situations
  Hormuud Telecoms for The WAAFI APP

• Best Mobile Innovation for Accessibility & Inclusion
  SK Telecom and Tuat for AI-based Visual Assistant Service ‘Sullivan Plus X NUGU’

• Best Mobile Innovation for Climate Action
  China Mobile and Huawei for Green 5G Project

• Outstanding Mobile Contribution to the UN SDGs
  Safaricom, Close the Gap and Huawei for DigiTruck Project

Government Leadership category:

• The Government leadership Award
  The government of Spain

This year, Sigve Brekke, President and CEO of Telenor; Ambassador David Gross, Partner at Wiley; and John Giusti, Chief Regulatory Officer at the GSMA selected the winner of the Government Leadership Award category.

Outstanding Achievement category:

• Outstanding Contribution to the Mobile Industry
  Mr. Houlin Zhao, Secretary-General, ITU

• Diversity in Tech Award:
  Vodafone for #ChangeTheFace Leadership Alliance

• Best Innovation for COVID-19 Response & Recovery:
  Telit and Controlant for Cellular IoT rollout for COVID-19 vaccine distribution

4 YFN category:

• 4 YFN Award
  Human ITcare, using Artificial Intelligence to improve access to healthcare

The MWC 2022 was another successful event despite some COVID-19 fears. Over the course of 4 days, over 1,900 firms around the world joined the expo to showcase their latest tech and innovation in mobile communications. Similarly, the exhibition lured over 60,000 people in person.

What was your best moment from the MWC 2022 events? You can share with us in the comments below.