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MWC starts as metro strike averted
27 February 2012
Barcelona’s bus and metro drivers settle pay deal as world’s mobile industry gathers for Mobile World Congress
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Barcelona
Mobile World Congress
MWC
GSMA
Mobile World Congress got off to a sunny start in Barcelona, with a threatened transport strike averted over the weekend.
The GSM Association has stood down its plans to provide alternative transport so that the expected 60,000-plus visitors can travel from their hotels across the city to the last MWC to be held at the city-centre Fira site before it moves in 2013.
Under pressure from the GSMA — which has named Barcelona as its Mobile World Capital for the next five years — the metro workers were the first to agree to a deal on the Saturday before the show opened on Monday, followed by the city’s bus drivers. As the show opened in bright, warm sunshine the transport system was working normally.
In 2013 Mobile World Congress moves to the out-of-town Gran Via site, away from the shops, cafés, bars and restaurants that are close to the Montjuic site on the edge of central Barcelona which has been home to the annual event for the past few years. The new site is not yet connected to the metro — there are plans to build a line — but is served by a local train service that starts from a station alongside the main entrance to the current site. GTB
Further reading from Global Telecoms Business: '
No progress on MWC transport strike 17 Feb 2012
New director general Anne Bouverot sets GSMA's priorities for ... 15 Feb 2012
MWC claims 60,000 visitors as dates shift 17 Feb 2011
GSMA considers move from Barcelona 20 Aug 2010