GSMA Reveals Winners of 2021 GLOMO Awards

GSMA has announced the winners of the 2021 Global Mobile (GLOMO) Awards at MWC Barcelona. The Awards celebrate the companies and individuals driving innovation in the rapidly evolving mobile industry.

“Congratulations to all the winners and nominees of the GSMA’s GLOMO Awards 2021. You truly embody the theme of this year’s event, Connected Impact,” said John Hoffman, CEO, GSMA Ltd. “Given the challenging circumstances we’ve all faced over the last 15 months, it’s more important than ever to come together to recognise the incredible innovation and ingenuity shaping our industry, as well as the positive impact this is making on the world around us.”

Co-hosted by Justin Springham and Sasha Twining of Mobile World Live (MWL), the ceremony was hosted live on the MWC Barcelona stage on Wednesday 30 June and for the first time, was streamed to audiences around the globe on MWL and LinkedIn.

The GLOMO Awards are widely recognised as the most prestigious recognition scheme in the mobile industry and judged by independent experts, analysts, journalists, academics, and, mobile operator representatives.

New for this year was the ‘Best Innovation for COVID-19 Response & Recovery’ award which was added to the Outstanding Achievement category. These awards celebrate individuals and businesses in the tech sector who have used their passion, innovation and resources to better the industry.

The winners of the 2021 GLOMO Awards are:

Mobile Technology category:

CTO’s Choice Award
Rakuten Mobile for 5G OpenRAN on Kubernetes

Best Mobile Network Infrastructure
Huawei for BladeAAU series

Best Mobile Technology Breakthrough
Rakuten Mobile for 5G OpenRAN on Kubernetes

Best Network Software Breakthrough

Telenor and partners for the world’s most diverse multi-vendor 5G Standalone solution

Best Mobile Network & Software Breakthrough (Companies under $10M Annual Global Revenue)

BroadForward for Enabling 4G-5G Hybrid Core with the world’s first converged signalling solution

Best Mobile Authentication & Security Solution

ZARIOT for A global SIM with signalling to cloud protection

5G Industry Partnership Award

Ministry of Science and ICT, SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus for 5G Korea, the key to regional Innovation (nationwide shared 5G RAN deployment)

Industry X category:

Best Mobile Operator Service for Connected Consumers
Telenor Digital for ‘Millom – Engage with customers where they spend time’

Best Mobile Innovation for the Connected Economy
China Southern Power Grid 5G+Smart Grid

Best Mobile Innovation for the Connected Human
Fjord (Design and Innovation from Accenture Interactive) and The Scott-Morgan Foundation for Verbal Spontaneity – Personality Retention

Best Mobile Innovation for Connected Living
VisualCamp for SeeSo, AI-based eye-tracking SDK

Device category:

Best Smartphone
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G

Disruptive Device Innovation Award
ARM for mobile device processor development

Best Connected Consumer Device
Vodafone Smart Tech for Curve, the smart GPS tracker

Tech 4 Good category:

Best Mobile Innovation for Emerging Markets
Huawei for RuralStar Pro connectivity and digital inclusion solution

Best Mobile Innovation supporting Emergency or Humanitarian Situations
IrisGuard UK Ltd for Covid-safe mobile iris payments enable access to aid for millions

Best Mobile Innovation for Accessibility & Inclusion
SK Telecom, Google, and the Cultural Heritage Administration for 5G MEC-based AR Tour Service ‘Changdeok ARirang’

Best Mobile Innovation for Climate Action

KT for AirMap Platform

Outstanding Mobile Contribution to the UN SDGs
Rainforest Connection (RFCx) & Huawei for Nature Guardian Project

Outstanding Achievement category:

Outstanding Contribution to the Mobile Industry
Fred Hillebrand

Diversity in Tech Award
TIM Brasil

Best Innovation for COVID-19 Response & Recovery
China-Japan Friendship Hospital & Huawei for 5G Telemedicine Solution for COVID-19