Hiya was delighted to meet customers and partners in person at Mobile World Congress 2024, the world’s largest and most influential trade show for the telecommunications industry, held February 26-29 in Barcelona, Spain. 

MWC 2024 drew 2,700 exhibitors and more than 100,000 attendees from 200+ countries and territories. All facets of the mobile communications industry attended the event, including network equipment providers, wireless carriers, the press, and more.

“This event is about providing a glimpse into the future and demonstrating how AI, 5G, and APIs are unlocking new possibilities, thanks to collaborative initiatives like GSMA Open Gateway,” said Mats Granryd, Director General of GSMA, which sponsors the event each year. 

Here are some of the events where Hiya could be found at this year’s MWC:

Panel discussion at Mobile World Congress: The Future of Voice

Panelists for The Future of Voice discussion included Hiya’s Chief Product Officer James Lau, Gabb Wireless SVP of Product Isaac Jacobson, and Ecrio CEO Micael Gannage, hosted by Hiya’s VP of Marketing Patchen Noelke. In his introduction, Noelke stated the current situation and called on panelists to discuss the future of voice communication.

“The voice call remains the cornerstone of modern communication, but in our current environment, we’re plagued by spam and fraud,” said Noelke. “So that creates a huge trust problem for infrastructure providers and carriers.” Topics discussed by the panelists included:

• How criminals are using AI to create a new generation of voice clone scam calls — and how AI is likewise being used to fight back against scams. 
• How to keep children safe on the phone while allowing them to stay connected with friends and family. 
• The importance of protecting business customers from targeted vishing attacks.

Roundtable Discussion at Mobile World Congress: Wayra Unleashed: A Tale of Telco Transformation in the Open Gateway Galaxy

Hiya CEO and founder Alex Algard was one of four entrepreneurs who shared how Open Gateway technology has helped his company innovate. At the last MWC, the Wayra Open Gateway Activation Programme was launched to search for disruptive startups and technologies with applications that could benefit from Open Gateway APIs open to developers. 

Hosted by Wayra CEO Irene Gómez, the roundtable discussion featured CEOs who are using Open Gateway to solve a wide variety of problems, including fighting phone spam (Hiya), improving data streams for climate change modeling (Mitiga), improving the quality of holographic communication (Matsuko), and integrating systems and platforms (Digibee).  

Each speaker addressed how their business has benefited from Open Gateway, a GSMA-led initiative to open up telco capabilities through global, standardized APIs.

“We’re very excited about standardized APIs because so much time is wasted on how we integrate into the carrier and network infrastructure, and that conversation squeezes out the opportunity to talk about the consumer pain point we’re trying to solve,” said Hiya’s CEO Alex Algard. “The whole innovation discussion goes out the window because you spend 90 percent of your time discussing integration. The great thing about the Open Gateway initiative is that if we do some standardized APIs, we and our competitors can talk to any carrier about what we want to do and not waste time discussing integration.”

Watch the full roundtable discussion by here. 

Hiya’s Adaptive AI was shortlisted for a Global Mobile Award 

Hiya was honored to be one of six companies shortlisted in the Best Mobile Security Solution category in MWC’s Global Mobile Awards (GLOMO). 

Hiya was nominated for Adaptive AI, used in Hiya’s call protection solution, Hiya Protect. Adaptive AI is the industry’s only self-learning spam protection system that learns from past and present call data. Not only can Hiya Protect accurately detect the methods that spammers and fraudsters use today, but it automatically evolves as they innovate new calling practices. 

Hiya competed against global heavyweights in the telecom industry. Finalists included:

• BT Group, Juniper Networks, KETS, and Arqit for Quantum-safe VPNs with Crypto Agility

• Athonet, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Acquisition, Ampliphae and Arqit for The First Quantum-Secure 5G

• Hiya's Adaptive AI

• Nokia for NetGuard Cybersecurity Dome

• SK Telecom and SAPEON for AI-Powered Anti-Phishing System (APS)

• Vox Solutions for VOX360

In the end, HP’s Athonet won for the first Quantum-Secure 5G, but Hiya was proud to be among the finalists. According to MWC, “The Global Mobile Awards are the connectivity industry’s most prestigious accolade. To be shortlisted for a GLOMO Award means recognition as a serious player—one to be watched closely in the tech sector.”

If you missed us at MWC but want to learn more about Hiya, email us at carrier@hiya.com.