It was a special pleasure to welcome Mats Granryd, GSMA CEO and GSMA Board Member on 03 March 2025 when the GTWN bestowed our  Lifetime Achievement Award for only the third time in our 33-year  history on him.

Colleagues from around the world joined us in celebrating Mats achievements at his 10th Mobile World Congress and on the eve of his departure as GSMA CEO and Board Member in a festive and joyous ambiance at the MOCO Museum, one of the iconic Barcelona city center buildings.  

 

Be it Open Gateway; be it as the first global professional organization to commit to the UN SDG’s; be it cultivating a Culture of People across the entire ecosystem; Mats Granryd has led our industry into a new era with integrity and credibility.  Indeed, during the 9 years under his leadership, the GSMA was transformed into a caring, open, platform to bring about the human aspect of our great industry.

We were delighted to welcome Sunil Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises; Anna Borg, President and CEO of Vattenfall, and Maria Eugenia Gay, deputy mayor of Barcelona replacing Mayor Calboni pulled away at the last moment,  to give the laudations for Mats, highlighting various aspects of his long and glorious career.  We were also particularly pleased to have Mats family with us.

The GTWN International Board was in full force to present Mats with the Lifetime Achievement Award trophy.  We were also pleased to present our new members and to pay homage to Vicki MacLeod who has served the GTWN as Secretary General for the last 15 years, now passing the flame to Rosalia Gitau.

The GTWN was also very pleased to thank our Gold sponsors for the evening, Vusion Group – a world leader in sustainable, human-centered commerce technology, and TMCell  – powering mobile telecommunications in Latin America and the Caribbean, respectively represented by , SEVP of Vusion and Mario Ego-Aguirre, TM Vice President.  

The GTWN Welcome Cocktail also served as an occasion to highlight the publication of The Mobile Century and our first ever podcast series, dedicated to “Digital Humanism”.   We heartily thank CMS  our Media Partner and Sponsor without whom these two flagship productions of the GTWN would not be possible.  Dora Petranyi, CMS Global Co-Head of TMT and GTWN International Board Member presented the authors and podcasters who came from around the world to participate in the celebration.

As always, the evening concluded with lively discussion amongst all our guests, including our amazing mentees, continuing the mantra of the GTWN “Changing the Culture of Communications…from Generation to Generation”.