The mobile industry has never been more important to the world’s citizens and economy. Our role at the GSMA is to unlock the power of connectivity so that people, industry and society thrive, and we will continue to play a leading role in supporting and amplifying the vital work our industry is doing at this time.
See how the mobile ecosystem is tackling COVID-19 on Mobile World Live.
See COVID-19 updates specific to low- and middle-income countries here.
Latest Updates
Keeping everyone and everything connected: How temporary access to spectrum can ease congestion during the COVID-19 crisis
Thursday 12 August, 2021 | Blog | COVID-19
During the pandemic, mobile broadband, fixed wireless connections and mobile apps have become the main tools to remain operational and in contact with medical professionals, work colleagues and loved ones. The work of some role model countries can act as inspiration in parts ...
Sovereignty, Resilience and Trust: Strengthening Europe’s Digital Economy after COVID-19
Tuesday 2 February, 2021 | COVID-19
The GSMA, on behalf of its European members, presents the mobile industry’s vision for 2021 and beyond in its latest report. Top priorities include delivering on the European Commission’s 5G Action Plan, building a distributed cloud and edge infrastructure and shrinking the ...
New perspectives: How COVID-19 has shifted sustainability priorities in the mobile sector
Friday 20 November, 2020 | COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it an unprecedented human and economic crisis, affecting all corners of the world. As governments have grappled with responding to the rapidly evolving crisis, the role and expectations on private companies have increased. This report ...
Mobile’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals: Good progress to date and much more to do
Monday 26 October, 2020 | Blog | COVID-19
This blog was written by Mats Granryd, Director General, GSMA “Even pre-COVID, the world was not on track to meet the SDGs.” This was the sobering statement from Sanda Ojiambo, CEO of the United Nations’ Global Compact, in her keynote at our recent webinar exploring the ...
Using mobile big data to help inform the fight against COVID-19 in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Wednesday 29 July, 2020 | Blog | COVID-19
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 epidemic. The country is already dealing with cholera, a measles epidemic that has caused 6,000 deaths since January 2019, as well as a new outbreak of Ebola in the Équateur province. At the ...
How the emergence of connected drones is helping the fight against COVID-19
Friday 3 July, 2020 | COVID-19
The coronavirus pandemic has forced us all to adapt at speed, and ask some deeply unwelcome questions – among the most difficult of which has been how we can care for one another, and keep the world turning, while avoiding personal contact as much as possible. In some ways, ...
AI4I Webinar series : Using Mobile Big Data Analytics to combat global challenges inc. COVID-19
Monday 29 June, 2020 | COVID-19
An overview of Mobile Big Data Analytics With the COVID-19 pandemic spreading across the globe, governments are seeking innovative and dynamic solutions to make the right decisions at the right time, both to save lives and minimise the long-term impact on the economy. Beyond ...
AI for Impact : Mobile Big Data Analytics to combat challenges including COVID-19
Monday 29 June, 2020 | COVID-19
Using Mobile Big Data Analytics to combat global challenges including COVID-19 With the COVID-19 pandemic spreading across the globe, it’s becoming clear that few can avoid its reach, posing severe challenges to health services and having a range of related social and ...
5G: Empowering Recovery and Fighting Misinformation in Europe
Friday 5 June, 2020 | COVID-19
On 3 June, the GSMA, alongside ETNO, hosted an online event on 5G: Empowering Recovery and Fighting Misinformation, garnering over 700 registered participants. Moderated by GSMA’s Maria Sotiriou and ETNO’s Paolo Grassia, the event gathered the views of the European ...
COVID-19: Digital Contact Tracing Applications
Wednesday 3 June, 2020 | COVID-19
As the world works around the clock and across many fronts to combat COVID-19, the mobile industry is playing a critical role. Mobile network operators (MNOs) are providing robust and secure connectivity for individuals, business continuity and government response.
COVID-19 Network Traffic Surge Isn’t Impacting Environment Confirm Telecom Operators
Friday 29 May, 2020 | COVID-19 | Press Release
More Energy Efficient Networks and Renewable Energy Usage are Negating Negative Environmental Impacts London: The energy consumption and carbon emissions of telecoms networks have remained mostly unchanged in recent weeks, despite significant increases in network traffic ...
Digital Declaration signatories: companies’ response to COVID-19
Thursday 21 May, 2020 | Blog | COVID-19
It’s being said a lot: we are living in unprecedented times. It is precisely when we face the unknown, or a new endeavour, the need for leadership emerges stronger than ever. This is now particularly true in the digital age, given the key role technology is playing in ...
A message from the GSMA Leadership Team on the mobile industry during COVID-19
Tuesday 19 May, 2020 | COVID-19
Hear from the GSMA Leadership Team on how the mobile industry is supporting emerging technology, protecting privacy, connecting businesses and keeping us together, while apart.
Joint Statement of the UNI Europa ICTS and the Telecom Industry Representatives: Attacks against telecom employees must stop now
Tuesday 19 May, 2020 | COVID-19
Brussels, 19 May 2020 – The European trade union federation representing telecom workers, UNI Europa ICTS, and the Associations representing the telecoms industry, ETNO and the GSMA, have joined forces to call for swift institutional action to stop attacks against telecom ...
The Role of AI for Impact in the Fight against COVID-19
Monday 11 May, 2020 | Blog | COVID-19
It is difficult to overstate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on families, industries, and governments across the globe. The disease has caused widespread illness and enormous disruption to many aspects of modern life. As the physical economy became disrupted, digital and ...
5G: A Backbone for Europe’s Economic Recovery
Wednesday 6 May, 2020 | Blog | COVID-19
One of the biggest strengths of the GSMA – our ability to convene 110,000 people from 90 countries for the annual MWC in Barcelona – suddenly became a challenge in the face of a fast-moving new virus, COVID-19. We were forced to cancel the trade show on 12 February, when ...
Adjusting mobile tax policy in light of COVID-19: How fiscal policy can keep us connected
Tuesday 5 May, 2020 | Blog | COVID-19
As countries battle with the coronavirus outbreak, governments around the world are taking unprecedented fiscal and economic measures to support their economies. Recognising the critical role of digital technologies in keeping people connected, enabling business continuity, ...
The Mobile Industry: Keeping us connected during COVID-19
Tuesday 5 May, 2020 | COVID-19
Mobile operators are working around the clock; strengthening their networks, connecting the unconnected and supporting all of us during COVID-19.
COVID-19 Crisis Response: Digital Development Joint Action Plan and Call for Action
Friday 24 April, 2020 | COVID-19
Agreed by the World Bank, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the GSMA and the World Economic Forum (WEF) this Joint Action Plan aims to serve as a best practice for governments and regulators during the COVID-19 crisis. The Joint Action Plan includes a call to ...
The World Bank, WEF, GSMA and ITU Mobilized in the Fight Against COVID-19
Tuesday 21 April, 2020 | COVID-19 | Statement
Partners discussed a set of concrete actions to help governments and private sector cope with the pandemic. WASHINGTON —During a high-level dialogue, Finance and ICT ministers, ICT regulators, CEOs of telecom and technology companies from around the world discussed an ...