Seville closes the eighth edition of the 5G Forum with record numbers: almost 1.000 professionals and more than 330 companies

• The event featured a total of 87 speakers, almost 40% of whom were women, who discussed innovation, projects and 5G deployment in Spain and internationally.
• Meinrad Spenger, CEO of MasOrange, was Speaker of Honour and announced for the first time the deployment of the first 5G Advanced network in Spain from La Cartuja.
• The 5G Forum will return in 2026 for its ninth edition, which will take place from 11-15 May.

A total of 906 registered professionals (on-site and virtual) and 332 registered companies made the 5G Forum a record eighth edition. The Cartuja Auditorium -managed by Yventu-, located in the Cartuja Science and Technology Park in Seville, brought together more than 700 people during the three days on Monday 12, Tuesday 13 and Wednesday 14 May, while the two virtual days in online format -Thursday 15 and Friday 16- were followed by nearly 200 registered through ‘The Observatory’.

The 5G Forum once again broke its own attendance record, with a record number of companies registering for the event with 10,700 virtual visits from a total of 52 different countries.

The eighth edition of the 5G Forum had a total of 87 speakers, of which almost 40% were women. All of them participated by addressing key topics of innovation, projects and 5G deployment, both in Spain and internationally. CEOs, CIOs, CTOs and directors of Innovation, Business, Product, Strategy and Marketing, as well as consultants and researchers from Europe, America and Asia, presented the latest advances in 5G technology, Artificial Intelligence and cybersecurity. They also discussed the future of telecommunications and the 6G horizon.

Telephone operators, ICT multinationals, institutions, local, regional and national administrations, as well as technology organisations and consultancies, took part in the 5G Forum 2025. Universities and leading companies in the telecommunications sector also participated. In total, more than 70 entities from the national and international scene made up a top-level agenda.

Participants included the country’s main operators – MasOrange, Telefónica, DIGI and Vodafone – along with other leading multinationals such as Huawei, ZTE, GMV, NTT DATA, OpenNebula, Nokia, Oracle and Rohde & Schwarz, among others.

Technological milestone at the 5G Forum: the first 5G Advanced network in Spain

Among the participants was Meinrad Spenger, CEO of MasOrange, Speaker of Honour at the eighth edition of the 5G Forum. During his interview, he shared his vision of the impact of 5G on digital transformation and the technologies that his company is driving, especially in intelligent and automated systems. He also announced for the first time the deployment of the first 5G Advanced network in Spain from La Cartuja to coincide with the 5G Forum “with a peak speed of 10Gbs, quintupling the 5G speed and minimising latency, while consuming less energy in mobiles and allowing devices to work better”.

MasOrange’s CEO warned that 5G Advanced will be the prelude to 6G and said that “multiplying the average connection speed can increase national GDP by one percentage point”.

For his part, Joaquín Segovia, General Manager of Telefónica’s Southern Territory, was interviewed during the institutional block of the opening day, in which he spoke about the advances being made in the company’s 5G technology. “This country should be proud of the excellent 5G infrastructures it has,” he said, pointing out that Telefónica already has 92.8% national 5G coverage, according to data from March 2025. These figures position Telefónica as “our country’s 5G leader”.

Exhibition area with demonstrations

The event featured an exhibition area during the on-site sessions. MasOrange pioneered the deployment of a 5G Advanced network; Telefónica showcased a drone, virtual reality glasses, a Xiaomi robot and a robot dog; Secmotic presented Seclive; and Wavecontrol showcased its MonitEM-IoT solution. In addition, exclusive demonstrations were offered by leading companies such as Vicomtech, GMV, Gradiant, OpenNebula, Ayscom, Teltronic, Axion, Nokia, Rohde & Schwarz, SAPEC, TESLA, Kenmei and AIFunded, as well as the University of Malaga and ‘The Observatory’ y Medina Media Events.

Important institutional support

The eighth edition of the 5G Forum was attended by the Government of Spain and the Seville City Council, with the participation of Álvaro Pimentel, Deputy Mayor of Seville, who welcomed the Andalusian capital as the venue for the 5G Forum, “an event -he said- that places Seville at the nerve centre of technological innovation”.

Once again, several representatives from the Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service attended the event. Among them, Matías González, Secretary General for Telecommunications, Digital Infrastructure and Digital Security, who reiterated the “commitment of the Government of Spain to the deployment of 5G technology” to continue with the “public-private collaboration that we have been successfully enjoying in our country so that 5G can be a lever for transformation and development at a national level”.

For her part, Julia Criado, deputy director general of Radio Spectrum Planning and Management, opened the opening day’s presentations with the ‘map of 5G in Spain in 2025’, which is mainly focused on “reducing the digital divide of 5G technology”.

Cyber Day and Women’s Day

The 5G Forum 2025 dedicated two of its sessions to cybersecurity and female talent. On Wednesday 14, the ‘Cyber Day’ was held, a session entirely dedicated to cybersecurity, in which this issue, which has become a priority for companies both internally and externally, was discussed. The gender gap in technology was also discussed by María José Escalona, professor in the Department of Computer Languages and Systems at the University of Seville, who pointed out that it is “cultural and social factors” that “keep girls away from STEM from an early age”.

A preamble to the day dedicated to learning about the careers of leading women in the technology sector, with the aim of motivating girls and young women to study STEM careers. A total of 15 leaders and experts in the technology sector, including university professors, senior managers of multinationals and heads of departments of operators and technology companies, sent inspirational messages to the younger generation of women.

Extensive media coverage

The eighth edition of the 5G Forum has had extensive national, regional and local media coverage: Canal Sur, Canal Sur Radio and Andalucía Directo, Cadena Ser, Europa Press and Europa Press TV, ABC, Cinco Días – El País, La Vanguardia, El Español, Forbes, Diario de Sevilla, Diario de Jerez, Diario de Cádiz, Diario de Almería, Granada Hoy, Málaga Hoy, Jaén Hoy, Diario Europa Sur, El Día de Córdoba, Diario Economía, El Correo, El Diario Vasco, La Razón, Diario Sur, El Norte de Castilla, Diario Montañés, El Economista, Intereconomía, Viva Ediciones, Cibersur, Canarias 7, Las Provincias, El Comercio, La Verdad, Andalucía Información, The Objective – El Liberal, Infobae, Bolsamania, Ideal Press Digital and ADSL Zone, among others.

The eighth edition of the 5G Forum was organised by Medina Media Events with the support of Orange, Telefónica, DIGI, Netmetrix, Huawei, ZTE, GMV, NTT DATA, HPE – Aruba Networking, Vicomtech, Gradiant, i2CAT, OpenNebula, Ayscom, Keysight, Teltronic, Datatronics, Oracle, Universidad de Málaga, Axión, Wavecontrol, Nokia, Rohde & Schwarz, Hispasat, Circet, Iplus|F, Dihbu, SAPEC, Gsertel, Kenmei, Ingenalia, AIFunded, Opossum, AEVAC and Secmo Schwarz, Hispasat, Circet, Iplus|F, Dihbu, SAPEC, Gsertel, Kenmei, Ingenalia, AIFunded, Opossum, AEVAC and Secmotic, among others.

All the presentations are still available for on-demand viewing through ‘The Observatory’, the digital platform of Medina Media Events, where each intervention will be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, free of charge.

The 5G Forum will return in 2026 with its ninth edition, to be held in Seville from 11 to 15 May.