Guy Daniels, TelecomTV (00:06):
It's Wednesday, the 4th of March, and this is The Slice. On the program today, Orange to put AI ran through its paces. Pakistan awaits the arrival of 5G services. Deutsche Telekom accelerates autonomous networks and Vodafone launches satellite IoT capabilities. Hello, you're watching Telecom TV. I'm Guy Daniels, and welcome to Wednesday's edition of The Slice. Over the course of this week, I've been reporting from the Telecom TV studio, whilst my colleagues, Ray La Maistre and James Pearce have been providing coverage from the show floor. Lots of news to get through today, so much so that we have two reports from Ray, and here's the first of his updates from MWC.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (01:09):
Is the Telco Edge about to have its day in Europe? It seems so. And Telefonica, which has already turned a number of former Telco exchanges in Spain interedge data centers, seems to be at the center of multiple cross-border initiatives linked to the provision of sovereign services. The Spanish Telco is leading a consortium of more than 70 European companies, including other telcos that have unveiled Euro 3C, which is described as the first pan-European sovereign infrastructure integrating telco, edge, cloud, and AI capabilities under a federated, open and secure model. Now, the European Commission likes the development so much, it has allocated funding of 75 million euros to the consortium, which boasts the likes of BT, Deutsche Telecom, KPN, Orange, Swisscom, Telenor, Telecom Italia, and Vodafone as members. Now, news of this consortium comes only days after five of those European telcos. Deutsche Telecom, Orange, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, and Vodafone announced that they had successfully federated their edge environments in a joint effort they called the European Edge Continuum.

(02:25):
Now, while we're talking about European funding and hot MWC-26 topics, we should highlight also that the European smart networks and services joint undertaking or SNSJU has used its presence at this year's MWC to announce 116 million euros in funding for 26G R&D projects. The public-private partnership noted that about 80% of its projects embed AI and machine learning as core components, which it says reflects AI's central role in intelligent, autonomous 6G network management. And to tie into another major MWC 26 theme, one of the projects receiving funding is called Sovereign 6G, a group that aims to establish Europe's first unified 6G telco cloud.

Guy Daniels, TelecomTV (03:23):
That was Telecom TV's editorial director, Ray La Maistre, and we'll be hearing more from him later in the show. AI RAN is showing up in more and more strategies and announcements this year, but the various permutations can be confusing and it can mean a lot of different things to different companies. We asked Bruno Zerbib, chief technology and innovation officer for Orange Group about his approach to AI RAN and whether or not it will achieve its potential.

Bruno Zerbib, Orange Group (03:56):
So we are going through the proof of concept. Obviously, I mean, there is the Nokia NVDI announcement, so we're working with all of them. We're going to deploy that. We're going to test that. It's possible that it's going to work out, but we need to go through the motion. We need to test it. And then the question, is that a zero sum game again? I'm using that term. Are we just shifting costs from ASIC to GPUs or is it going to give us more? And for me, the most important thing is, is that going to give me higher spectral efficiency? And is it going to lower my capex? And if that's the case, that will have a very bright future. If it's not the case, then it's a gimmick. We don't know yet, but for sure, I'm not dismissive of it.

Guy Daniels, TelecomTV (04:39):
We have a full length interview with Bruno available to watch on telecom TV, where he also discusses in detail the impact of AI, especially agentic AI, well worth watching. With so much talk around 6G at MWC, it's easy to forget that there is still a lot of growth for 5G. Indeed, some countries such as Pakistan have yet to license their 5G spectrum. We spoke to Aamir Ibrahim, CEO of Network Operator Jazz, part of the VEON Group, and asked about how the country's imminent 5G auction will play into its growing digital services ambitions.

Aamir Ibrahim, Jazz (05:25):
Next week, when I go back to Pakistan, we have the 5G option. So I think we've been deliberate and intentional about delaying 5G in Pakistan. And there's a certain inflection point when you have more than 50, 60% smartphone penetration. I think that's the right time. And I think the industry has also evolved rather than just relying on the hype of 5G. I think now there is genuine use cases that we can benefit from. There's the financial services, it's entertainment. We are stepping into em-commerce, into health. So those new areas, I think, where we're offering digital services is the real excitement point for me. And certainly having a robust digital infrastructure at the back of expansive, reliable broadband is really important. Yeah.

Guy Daniels, TelecomTV (06:10):
Do try and watch the full length version of Ray's interview, which covers the evolving market in Pakistan and how Jazz is offering a whole suite of digital services. Deutsche Telekom held its annual MWC press conference earlier this week with AI playing a prominent role, as well as updates on its partnerships with voice specialists 11 labs, the telco also provided an update on its RAN Guardian service. Abdu Mudesir, board member for product and technology at Deutsche Telecom explained how they are now taking the next step towards autonomous self-healing networks.

Abdu Mudesir, Deutsche Telekom (06:52):
When we start to talk about 6G, for me, the pain of autonomous is very difficult. The modules are not talking to each other. The data models are not really clearly aligned. We've tried over the years to standardize interfaces APIs network has been too slow. And for us, when we come to 6G, it has to be AI native, it has to be autonomous by design, and it must be intent driven. We believe also, again, the next G6G needs to enable new business opportunity.

Guy Daniels, TelecomTV (07:29):
And don't forget to watch our interview with Abdo, which you can find on the spotlight on 5G section of the telecom TV website. Earlier this year, Vodafone IoT partnered with Skylo Technologies to bring NB IoT satellite connectivity to its customers. We spoke to Erik Brenneis, CEO of Vodafone IoT, and asked him about the deal and the benefits that satellite can bring to Vodafone's enterprise and business

Erik Brenneis, Vodafone IoT (08:03):
Customers. Yes, our partnership with Skylo means that we will be able to offer to our customers seamless connectivity with coverage everywhere in the world, wherever they are, even on high seas or even in the desert or on the highest mountains, because mobile network is not available everywhere, but there are applications such as container tracking or trucks riding through the desert who need connectivity all the time. And the new technologies mean that for our customers, the satellite network looks just like any other mobile network. We manage this complexity. It doesn't require specific hardware. It uses the standard hardware, and that's going to be really a game changer for our customers, connectivity everywhere. And we're bringing that to the market with Skylo, and by the way, also with Iridium, another satellite provider this

Guy Daniels, TelecomTV (09:00):
Year in 2026. Satellite is featured prominently at this year's MWC. Do check out the newspage on Telecom TV for details of other partnerships and announcements. So much of the work on creating the globally agreed standards and specifications that are essential to the telecoms industry is organized and driven by ETSI. We asked Jan Ellsberger, Director General of ETSI, about the industry trends that are driving this work for the coming year.

Jan Ellsberger, ETSI (09:32):
If you look at AI, I mean, there's a lot of work now ongoing on sort of moving from AI as a tool to native AI, where AI is really embedded in the design of everything we do. 6G, I mean, 6G working 3GP is kicking off at full scale. And then in addition to that, we also have trust and security, which is really becoming a horizontal set of requirements across all technologies that we have to comply with. Then in addition to that, we also have all the discussions and trends from the policy due to the geopolitical side, eopolitical developments, where tech sovereignty and strategic autonomy is becoming really important. And standardization is also a tactical tool in that puzzle.

Guy Daniels, TelecomTV (10:24):
And you can watch the full interview with Jan for the latest on ETSI's activities on the spotlight on 5G page on telecom TV. In two weeks time, the aftershow returns. I'll be analyzing the major developments from MWC with our special studio guests. Here at MWC, we have also been speaking with several of our industry partners about the latest opportunities for telcos and the solutions available. And earlier today, we asked HPE to explain what AI native security means to telcos.

Steven Jacques, HPE (11:02):
So it's got a lot of different context, but in the context of hybrid mesh specifically, it's really about how we leverage AI in a threat mitigational detection purpose. Essentially, we have large amounts of data threat, of course, and not just the data that is being used, but the data that we get from the network. And a key element of cybersecurity is analyzing that data and looking for things like anomalies within flows and so on. And of course, AI is very, very good at that. So we let the AI do what it's good at. So using those to really see things that humans would have problems seeing, very fine grained or small anomalies that we can see which really call out threats. So we're embedding more and more of those AI capabilities into our solutions, including, of course, the hybrid mesh solution.

Guy Daniels, TelecomTV (11:52):
We'll be bringing you interviews with leading CSPs and industry executives throughout the week. Now, as promised, here's our second news and analysis report from our editorial director, Ray La Maistre, from the exhibition halls of MWC.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (12:09):
It was interesting to note that BT's Howard Watson expressed his concern during his telecom TV interview that pre-standard 6G networks might be launched as early as 2028 to coincide with the summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Now, for some time, 2030 has been the year in which 6G is expected to debut, but at this week's MWC, Kwancom announced a strategic coalition with major telecom industry partners to accelerate the development and global deployment of 6G. Coalition's members have developed, and I quote, "A clear milestone driven roadmap focused on delivering 6G commercial systems starting from 2029 onwards." Now, the coalition has dozens of partners, including Barti Airtel, KDDI, NTT Docomo, Swisscom, SK Telecom, T-Mobile US, Telstra, and BT. Well, another signatory to that 6G coalition is India's mobile market leader, Reliance Geo, which in turn is part of Geo Platforms, the telecom and digital tech division of giant Indian conglomerate reliance industries limited.

(13:22):
Now, GeoPlatforms has long been developing all manner of IT and networking technology for its own operations, but has not yet made a major push to take those products to the international market. Now, though with a major IPO of GO platforms looming, it seems plans for international expansion are being put in place, as Dan Bailey has been appointed as its president with responsibility for international business initiatives. Bailey has more than 35 years experience across consulting investment banking, and most recently served as chairman of Deutsche Bank's telecom media and technology practice. Now, it's easy for news to get lost here in the MWC noise, so it's worth noting that Accenture has acquired independent network performance analysis from UCLA, along with speed test, down detector and route metrics for $1.2 billion in cash from Ziff Davis. The rationale for the acquisition, Accenture stated that, and I quote, "Network data is no longer just a lifeline for the telecoms industry.

(14:28):
It now creates significant value across all sectors." As AI scales, the insights captured at the network device and application layers are essential to enhance fraud prevention in banking, smart home analytics and utilities and traffic optimization in retail.

Guy Daniels, TelecomTV (14:50):
That was Ray's final report this year from MWC. Tomorrow, James will be joining us again for one final news roundup. Well, time now to update our MWC Bingo card, and you can still get your own copy by downloading our special MWC preview report full of insights and recommendations, and of course, our buzzword bingo. With only one more day of MWC to go, we can mark off some more words and phrases. Oh, just the one then. That's very, very disappointing. It still leaves a lot to tick off, and I'm really not optimistic that we'll be able to fill our card before the end of the show. Well, that's all for today's edition of the slice. Join us again on Thursday for another report from Barcelona on day four of MWC, the final day of the show. Until then, from all the team here at Telecom TV, thank you for watching and goodbye.