MWC26 Kigali Postponed as GSMA Pulls Africa’s Biggest Telecoms Event Off the June Calendar

The GSMA has postponed MWC26 Kigali, the continent’s largest mobile and connectivity gathering, just two weeks before it was due to open.

The event was scheduled for 16 to 18 June at the Kigali Convention Centre. In a short statement issued from London on Tuesday, 2 June, the industry body said it recognised the inconvenience the decision may cause and that a new date would be announced “in due course.” It gave no reason.

This is the second time in three years the gathering has slipped. The 2024 edition was called off about two weeks before its opening and moved into 2025, where it eventually ran in October. Back then the GSMA also stayed quiet on the cause. The timing, though, lined up with a Marburg virus outbreak in Rwanda that had prompted travel restrictions.

The most likely trigger this time is another regional health emergency. On 17 May, the World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern. The strain is Bundibugyo virus, first detected in Ituri Province in eastern DRC. On 22 May, Rwanda’s Ministry of Health barred entry to any foreign national who had passed through the DRC in the previous 30 days, with residents subject to quarantine.

The GSMA has not tied the postponement to the outbreak. MWC Kigali works by flying in mobile operators, ministers, regulators and investors from across Africa and beyond. When borders tighten and travel advisories climb, an event of that scale becomes very difficult to stage.

The cancellation lands awkwardly because organisers had just expanded the programme. MWC26 was set to debut the first GLOMOs Africa awards, the continental version of the GSMA’s well-known industry prizes. It also planned new summits covering 5G, education, health technology and fintech, plus a Scams Summit focused on AI-powered fraud. The 2025 exhibition had sold out, so demand was clearly there.

For Kenyan and East African delegates, the event matters as a deal-making floor. It is where operators, fintechs and policymakers meet to push digital inclusion across the region. We covered the gathering when Kigali first hosted MWC in 2023, and the agenda has only grown since.

For exhibitors and delegates, the immediate questions are refunds, rebooking and sunk travel costs. The bigger one is timing. Until the GSMA names a new date, planning around Africa’s flagship telecoms event stays on hold. Watch for whether it returns to its old October slot, and whether a third disruption starts to dent confidence in Kigali as the host city.