Last year at Digital Transformation World (DTW) Copenhagen, TM Forum President and CEO Nik Willetts (pictured) said the telecoms industry was at a “crisis point”.
He highlighted how revenue and profits have long stayed stagnant and the telecoms space had come to a halt in the “very revolution we’ve created”.
Willetts painted a stark landscape back in September, but laid out how partnerships with so-called hyperscalers can be a key route to bringing the industry back to growth.
The landscape has shifted dramatically since then, particularly after MWC Barcelona and the explosion of artificial intelligence captured the attention of the industry. We will for sure gain more intelligence on this at DTW.
The conference is back again next week and Developing Telecoms will join the almost 4,000 attendees in stomping under the glass roof of the Bella Center. Below are our hot topics that will come up during the two-day event.
AI
There’s no escaping Artificial Intelligence (AI) and with Apple’s recent alignment with OpenAI to supercharge the next iPhone with ChatGPT, momentum will continue to rise across the board.
AI was widely discussed at MWC Barcelona and Gen AI was the buzzword of the show, as companies sought to learn and equip themselves with it develop new avenues of growth.
Analyst house IDC said the Asia-Pacific will play a “pivotal role” in driving the next wave of AI innovations and advancement. Purchases of Gen AI hardware, software and services is projected to soar to $26 billion by 2027 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 95.4 percent for the period 2022-2027.
IDC also noted the Middle East, Turkiye, and Africa will see AI spending increase a five-year CAGR of 37% to US$7.2 billion in 2026, as widespread adoption accelerates.
Browsing the DTW agenda, there are 13 sessions/roundtables scheduled that centre around AI, and that’s only on day one. Much has been hyped about the technology and but will it actually live up to this or prove a false dawn as so many hailed technologies have in the past.
Digital transformation
Willetts’ call to action last year stems from an urgent desire to change mindsets, practices, and strategy. This all points to digital transformation.
The world is on the cusp of another technological revolution, but the telecoms space has much work to do in upgrading its own operations to continue being pioneers.
Digital transformation has long been pushed by BSS/OSS providers to get MNOs to upgrade their operations. IDC reported that investments into digital transformation will reach up to US$4 trillion in 2027, with AI and Gen AI driving that figure which represents a CAGR of 16.2% between 2022 and 2027. Digital transformation investments are also projected to potentially surpass two thirds of overall ICT spend in the same period.
“Digital transformation is no longer a discretionary investment: companies that want to be competitive and win in the digital economy are leading the way," said Angela Vacca, IDC Data & Analytics Group, Senior Research Manager.
5G
5G was arguably deployed around 2018 in the US with other markets following, but after the last six years operators are still struggling to properly monetise the technology. 5G has yet to deliver on its promises to fulfil operator desire of diversification of revenue and growth.
Despite being quite lacklustre for years, 5G has been highlighted to play a pivotal role in supporting AI and digital transformations, as it can help deliver real-world demand from consumers and enterprises as it develops.
Juniper Research stated that operators will generate around US$400 billion in service revenue from 5G networks in 2023, a year-on-year surge of 32%.
The analyst company warned 5G penetration rates will become saturated among consumers, and it is imperative that operators launch services over 5G networks that can deliver value to enterprise IoT users.
5G-Advanced and 5G RedCap were identified as key emerging technologies to attract high-spending IoT driven companies.
Juniper Research added over 360 million 5G IoT devices will be connected to public networks by 2028, up from 35 million devices in 2024.
Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), otherwise known as superfast mobile broadband, will be enhanced by 5G-Advanced and 5G RedCap and provide operators with similar network conditions as fixed network service providers, argued Sam Barker, Juniper Research VP of Telecoms Market Research.
