5G is different than previous generations of mobile tech and people should give it some time to grow up, Sihan Bo Chen, greater China head of the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), told CGTN on Wednesday.

Chen made the comments during the GSMA's Mobile World Congress (MWC) Shanghai 2021 to calm concerns that 5G technology might not change people's lives that much.

"We can't follow the previous Gs. So we need to explore, and exploring takes some time," Chen said in an interview with CGTN Digital. "But we can see the direction is right."

GSMA made this year's MWC a hybrid event of online and in-person activities to demonstrate the positive part of the new generation of mobile communication technology.

Click here to watch the rebroadcast of CGTN's live tour in MWC Shanghai.

Chen also promised that the in-person events they hold during the COVID-19 pandemic will have adequate safety measures to protect participants.

"We are from Shanghai sending out a very positive signal to the world," she said.

This year's MWC Shanghai is much smaller in exhibition scale and number of in-person participants. It's expected that the event will only host 20,000 visitors compared to more than 70,000 in 2019.

The MWC main event in Barcelona, Spain, which is planned to take place in June and host 80,000 people, will also follow the same fashion. "We are not going to have huge super-crowded halls," Chen said, adding that a parallel online event can ensure the safety of participants.