Barcelona (AFP) - Exhibitors and organisers were gamely showing off new AI-focused tech at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) trade fair in Barcelona Monday, although some were kept away by travel disruptions caused by the US-Israel-Iran war.

The annual gathering, expected to draw around 109,000 visitors, went ahead without many Israeli companies as flights were cancelled from the nation’s airports.

“Certainly, the travel restrictions are having an impact,” said Lara Dewar, marketing chief at the GSMA telecoms industry association, which organises the MWC.

Around 30 Israeli participants had been slated to exhibit in the Catalan city.

Some such as AI security firm DeepKeep were unable to attend, AFP journalists saw on signs posted at the absent companies’ stands.

Nine of the 25 businesses supposed to join the Israeli national pavilion were also kept away.

“Due to the current situation, our flights… were cancelled, and we were unable to reach Barcelona,” Nofar Moradian-Shiber of the Israel Export Institute told AFP.

Spanish media reported that thousands of prospective MWC attendees had cancelled, as airports across the Middle East have shut down during the fighting.

Catalonia’s regional president Salvador Illa said there was “very limited disruption” to the trade show.

- ‘Decolonise technology’ -

Several Israeli firms declined to comment to AFP about the war’s impact on their operations.

The GSMA said that no Iranian exhibitors had been expected at this year’s event.

GSMA chief Vivek Badrinath referred to the fighting directly in a Monday morning panel discussion, saying: “Our thoughts are with all those affected by the conflict.”

Around 30 demonstrators had earlier gathered at the entrance to the vast congress centre, shouting “Boycott Israel, boycott USA”, shadowed by several police officers.

“Let’s decolonise technology,” one demonstrator had written on a sign.

“We were already planning to demonstrate before this weekend’s actions. So what (the Israelis) have done proves that we must continue to boycott them,” said Roland Mimi Ngoy, a spokesman for the activists.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had on Sunday condemned the US and Israeli strikes on Iran at a Barcelona dinner on the sidelines of the MWC.

“You can be against a despicable regime… like the Iranian regime, and at the same time against an unjustified and dangerous military intervention,” he said.

- ‘Safe bet’ -

Beyond the day’s dominant news story, players in the telecoms sector are looking ahead to a year with packed to-do lists, from network improvements to the growing capability of generative artificial intelligence.

“In a world filled with uncertainty, our country is a safe bet,” Sanchez said after meeting Amazon representatives in Barcelona.

Governments – especially in Europe – are engaged in a push for technological sovereignty to insulate their tech infrastructure from geopolitical tensions.

In Europe, “we need larger companies that assume more risks, attract better talent and have deeper technological investments,” said Marc Murtra, head of Spanish operator Telefonica.

Calls for more mega-mergers to be allowed in Europe have been an MWC staple for years.

Around the world, device makers are confronted with a surge in the price of memory (RAM) chips, pumped by massive demand from tech giants building up AI computing capacity.

That could put the brakes on growth in global smartphone sales, which added 1.9 percent to reach 1.26 billion devices last year.

Meanwhile, operators and space firms are together racing to offer so-called “direct-to-device” satellite connectivity, in which phones or other connected gadgets communicate directly via satellites overhead without the need for towers on the ground.