Mugged in Barcelona

I can’t help feeling the Mobile World Congress has become rather like a juggernaut whose driver has fallen asleep at the wheel. Every year it slams into Barcelona in northern Spain (or Catalonia, if you’re from Barcelona), dragging more delegates and organisers along for a journey that seems to have no clear destination. There was a time when companies would use the event to announce a market-changing deal, or at least unveil an exciting new product. These days it seems to be an expensive post-Christmas distraction from the main business of running a telecoms organisation. ‘Unremarkable’ was the word a number of attendees used to describe this year’s bash.

It’s also gotten too big to be manageable. I found it harder than ever to book suitable accommodation, despite scouring hotels weeks in advance. A PR rep I know had to make do with a dormitory bed in a youth hostel, and ended up sharing the room with five or six other be-suited telecoms executives. Could it soon outgrow Barcelona, just as it spilled out of Cannes in southern France a few years back? OK, that’s unlikely to happen for some time. But I can certainly see a day when the GSM Association, which organises the event, is annexing island states or small countries with the MWC in mind.

I’m probably sour because I was an unlucky victim of crime during my trip. I was enjoying a cold beer in a café near the conference centre – after a hard day of slogging it out on the exhibition floors – when my bag was snatched from under the table. The wily thief got away with a laptop, two recording devices and all my notes from the first two days, rendering a large portion of the event a complete write-off from a personal perspective.

As I understand it, however, I wasn’t the only one. Several journalists had wallets and phones stolen by pickpockets, and one unfortunate soul was mugged near Las Ramblas, the main tourist thoroughfare. While Barcelona has always been a hotspot for petty theft, such crime seems to have spun out of control last week – much like the MWC itself. Sure, the police were sympathetic, but few appeared to be on patrol when all this was happening. If Barcelona is to play host again next year – as we all expect – I’d hope the city authorities do a better job of ensuring it’s relatively safe.

No doubt, despite all my griping, I’ll be there at next year’s conference, hoping somebody says something of interest while keeping a watchful eye on my possessions.