GSMA: Mats Granryd to step down as Director General

Mats Granryd, Director General of The GSM Association (GSMA), has shared that he will step down from his role after MWC Barcelona 2025. 

He has spent nine years in the role and after March 2025, he will become Special Advisor to the Board, for the rest of 2025. 

“The GSMA board has a solid succession plan in place and I know they are going to find someone of the highest calibre to take on the role,” Mats shared. “In the meantime, I have no plans to slow down, I am more energised than ever by the progress we're making on Open Gateway, on all our events, reducing the coverage and usage gaps and will keep pushing to deliver on our ambitious 2024 plan and KPIs!”

Mats Granryd used his leadership to bring attention to gender, inclusion, the climate and humanitarian efforts across the mobile sector

The GSMA is a global organisation with a vision to unify the mobile ecosystem and develop positive business environments and societal change. The GSMA represents mobile operators and organisations across the mobile ecosystem and adjacent industries.

The GSMA is the force behind MWC Shanghai, which first ran in 2012. It is the same organisation behind the flagship MWC Barcelona event, which is held every year and first opened in 1987. Besides offering a wealth of information on the latest in mobile technology, the event also encourages collaboration across the sectors, including automotive, healthcare and finance, of which the impact of mobile technology has been huge.

Granryd’s career in telecoms started in 1995, when he joined Ericsson. After a varied career, Mats joined the GSMA in 2015 and jumped to participate in the roll-out of all the Gs. He has attended many of the Mobile World Congress events and witnessed the substantive ways that connectivity has evolved and the wider mobile sector has grown, as well as the changing way customers are interacting together.

Now, Mats looks forward to seeing through the remainder of 2024 and is excited for his 27th MWC Barcelona, which will take place 3rd - 6th March 2025. 

GSMA’s Head of Mobile for Development (M4D), Max Cuvellier Giacomelli, shared the impact of Mats’ leadership. 

“One of the reasons why GSMA - Mobile for Development has had the impact it's had in the past decade, is definitely Mats' constant leveraging of his leadership to bring attention to the key areas we focus on: Gender, inclusion, climate and humanitarian,” said Max. “His unfailing commitment - even in tougher pandemic times - to the work that we do to address challenges in these areas through digital solutions and partnerships with the GSMA's mobile operator members.”

Asia’s top telecommunications event, MWC Shanghai, will take place in Shanghai, June 2024

The Mobile World Congress (MWC) Shanghai is back for 2024 at the New International Expo Centre and Kerry Hotel Pudong, 26th - 28th June 2024. The themes which will be a focus of discussion this year are Future First, with 5G and Beyond, AI Economy and Manufacturing DX standing in as sub-themes for the event.

The GSMA will also host the finalists of the GSMA-China Telecom Open Gateway Hackathon, on 23th - 25th June 2024, where participants will aim to transform telecommunications capabilities into fresh solutions. This will be followed by the awards ceremony on 28th June 2024, at the Open Gateway DevCon at MWC Shanghai.

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