Ryu Young-Sang, CEO of South Korean telecom giant SK Telecom, told CNBC that AI is helping telecom companies improve network efficiency.
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Barcelona – Global telecom companies are talking about advances in key technologies such as artificial intelligence as they hope to transition from what is seen as a “stupid pipeline” behind the internet.
At the Mobile World Congress technology conference in Barcelona, CEOs of several telecom companies described how to pile funds into new technological innovations, including AI, next-generation 5G and 6G networks, satellite internet and even smart cities.
Markto, President and CEO of Japan Telecom giant kddidetailed plans to build a smart city called Takanawa Gateway City in Tokyo, and with Elon Musk’s Starlink Venture.
Ralph Mupita, CEO of MTN, Africa’s largest mobile network operator, also took the stage to share how the company has made great strides in becoming a company that provides wireless connectivity and fintech services such as payments, e-commerce, e-commerce, insurance, loans and remittances.
“The business of this telecom company is already serving us,” Mupita said in his keynote speech.
From “Silly” to “techcos”
In the past few years, some have gathered steam in the telecommunications industry yes The word “Techco” is the Portmanteau of the words “telecommunications company” and “Tech”.
The term refers to the idea of a telecom company that operates more like a tech company that invests in cutting-edge technology and provides digital services to consumers to help them make money from the massive capital expenditure allocated to upgrade their wireless networks.
For twenty years, technology giants and others Yuan,,,,, Google,,,,, Amazon,,,,, apple,,,,, Microsoft and Netflix In a world where content can be delivered directly to people, consumers can communicate seamlessly with each other and can store or stream data online without having to have a cumbersome infrastructure – thanks to innovations like the internet, smartphones and the cloud.
But these innovations undermine the business model of telecom companies that they are often seen as traditional players, where these legacy players can only place cables and other network infrastructure, enabling Internet connectivity.
It’s a puzzle, and it won the derogatory term “Dumb Pipes” of the telecom brand.
“I remember early in the industry, even before SMS was a killer app, even before the mobile internet,” Hatem Dowidar, CEO of the UAE state-owned telecom company E&E& said in a keynote speech at MWC. “We used to earn messaging revenue. We used to earn voice revenue.”
“For years, this has been so ruined by supercontenders that today many telecom companies around the world have become pipelines for packets,” Dowidar added. “And the competition has not remained still. They have scale, they have investments to disrupt further.”
Telecom companies embrace AI
Ryu Young-Sang, CEO SK TelecomTell CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal that the Korean telecom giant has sought AI technology to help it improve the efficiency of its wireless network, which has been on display at booths of MWC’s numerous telecom companies.
“For telecom companies, there are two aspects of AI. One is a user and the other is a supplier,” Young-Sang said. “As a user, you are a telecom company that can improve network efficiency, marketing and customer service by using AI technology. You can improve your operations.”
“On the other hand, artificial intelligence can be a growth engine, which is a new business opportunity for telecom companies,” he added. Young-Sang said data centers are the facility for running computing power needed to generate AI applications such as Chatgpt, and another key area where telecom companies like SK Telecom can play a key role.
In the Western world, the competition to build data centers is dominated by cloud computing giants (or “super scales)” such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. However, according to the company’s CEO, SK Telecom is actively expanding its own AI-Ready data center.
Can telecom companies catch up with technology?
For many telecom industry analysts, the endless chats about telecom companies trying to transform themselves into technology players is not entirely new – companies in the industry have long realized that their relevance in communications and media has been decreasing.
Kester Mann, director of consumer and connectivity at market research firm CCS Insight, told CNBC that although he is not a big fan of the term “TechCo”, the industry continues to focus and has made pace in the context of AI BOOM.
“AI can influence many areas … Obviously, it does involve trends that telecom companies position around Techco and operators, not just connect providers,” Mann said.
Nik Willetts, CEO of the TM Forum of the Telecom Industry Association, said that so-called “automatic networks” may be managed and fixed networks through limited human supervision, which is a rapidly gaining attention in the industry.
“Automatic networking is a movement we’re seeing because of advances in AI and new ambitions and actions across the industry,” Willetts said.
He added that the technology “can unlock gradual changes in operational and capital efficiency, improve EBITDA and free cash flow, and unlock new revenue opportunities and much-needed improvements in customer experience.”
Jeetu Patel, Chief Product Officer of IT Network Giant CiscoHe said he believes telecom companies play a crucial role in AI driving demand for network traffic and bandwidth.
“The reality is: the appetite for network bandwidth will grow exponentially with AI,” Patel told CNBC. “Today, 100% of our employees are humans. Tomorrow, you’ll get enhanced by AI agents, robots, humanoids, many edge devices.”
“These agents will be more talkative, they need more network traffic and bandwidth,” he added. “I think service providers can play a big role. In my opinion, the opportunity has not gone away.”
