Huawei would have tracked visitors to the booth telecom fair without permission

Telecom giant Huawei may have tracked visitors to the Mobile World Congress telecom fair without permission. Huawei denies the accusation. Exhibition organizer GSMA is investigating the matter.

Badge Huawei at MWC 2023, source: LightReading

There was a small device attached to Huawei’s badge that may have served as a tracker, claims LightReading. In addition, the back of the badge stated that Huawei was tracking “real-time location information” with “bluetooth and RFID” at the booth. There was no explanation of how that worked. Huawei would like to see which items in the booth are of most interest with the information.

GSMA says in a response that it is investigating the matter because it concerns a ‘serious accusation’. Huawei says, despite the notification on the back of the badge, it has not tracked visitors to its booth. “Tracking is not necessary at all,” says a spokesperson for the company. The badge was only used at Huawei’s booth.

LightReading has seen the badge in conversation with a top executive of Huawei competitor Nokia. Both companies are active in the broadcasting equipment market where they compete directly with each other. Mobile World Congress is the largest telecom fair in the world and took place in Barcelona last week.