On Day 3 of MWC2025, James Chen, President of Carrier Business, Huawei, gave a speech focused on how AI innovation will drive value creation.

With the rapid development of 5G, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, consumers and enterprises are demanding new digital and intelligent services. The traditional business models of the telecom industry are facing profound changes, and Chen underlined three main aspects that should be reshaped.

Firstly, operators can – and indeed should – reshape their business models around value creation, expanding proactively from connectivity into more digital and intelligent services. They also need to reshape operations and maintenance, utilizing AI and Big Data to optimize them, and reshape infrastructure by advancing the integration of multi-element synergetic networks to provide strong support for innovative services.

One example is different models for differentiated experience monetization. With consumer services evolving, businesses can be impacted by 5G network congestion – for example, a livestreamer selling products during their stream. If this becomes an issue, the network can automatically send a VIP package recommendation to the user, and once they accept the offer their livestreaming business is guaranteed immediately, with ‘VIP Assurance’ displayed on the device. This is a case of operators monetizing experience.

To achieve this business model, operators firstly need to apply AI technologies to recommend the right package for the users, and then they can dynamically adjust users’ bandwidth. The differentiated experience monetization enables operators to find more opportunities in more scenarios, such as gaming, business traveling and hotspot areas.

Moving onto intelligent homes, Chen detailed how operators in Korea and China are establishing a unified intelligent home entry with an AI agent inside. The agent serves as a gateway for accessing different intelligent home devices and AI-based services, interpreting the intentions of each family member and invoking the right applications in the cloud. For example, in the instance that an elderly relative falls, the home Wi-Fi router can automatically detect it, recognize that they need help, and alert family members. Operators can use different services to meet different needs; in this way, by bundling a high-speed fiber network with an AI Agent that can invoke various cloud services, operators can begin to shift from being home broadband providers to AI services providers.

Chen explained that while AI provides opportunities in toC and toH business, it also supports digital transformation for other industries. For example, An operator from North Africa has used its existing mobile money service as an entry point for SMEs, and is utilizing its cloud as a platform to support digital transformation of vertical industries – this was the key to developing B2B business. Its cloud was built to meet the needs of local industry and integrates both local and global partners into a unified one-stop digitization platform. It provides developers with a low code environment featuring 1-click onboarding of new applications. In this way, operators can expand from connectivity into a broad range of cloud services to help local industries bridge the digital intelligence gap.

Traditional operations and maintenance also need AI-based innovation to support techco transformation. Interruption to a wireless service can be identified in under three minutes, with an AI agent assisting the field engineer throughout the repair process. The whole process is automatic, thanks to the telecom foundation model. Without it, network troubleshooting involves entire network elements and many engineers, but with the model, the troubleshooting is fully automated with an AI agent, and the Field Maintenance Engineer carrying out the repairs is fully supported by an AI copilot.  This improves the user experience, reducing the provisioning time and troubleshooting time, and helping to optimize resource allocation efficiency.

Outlining how operators can adopt this capability, Chen explained that the first step is for operators to build a digital twin of their network and its services, then integrate this with a large telecom model. Finally, they should construct and implement knowledge-based automatic O&M operations into their daily activities.

Chen explained some major changes that will be required in the sphere of infrastructure, noting that data centers will need to be upgraded to support both high-performance training and fast inference. The traditionally north-south traffic flow is being joined by an east-west flow, and network capabilities are evolving from best effort to deterministic experience. Chen outlined how a future-oriented architecture should consider the various layers of these changes:

Intelligent connections: the network should evolve to support deterministic experience and lossless connection.

Intelligent clouds: build distributed and diversified computing power to provide cloud-based services and intelligent computing services.

All elements collaboration, from planning to operation: the operators should consider collaborative construction and resource scheduling between cloud and network, and between network and computing power.

The development of AI will accelerate techco transformation, and Chen explained how Huawei can help operators from three perspectives.

Firstly, it provides AI-boosted business, which can help operators to enrich their service offerings such as connectivity + X to SMEs, Cloud platform for large industries, and a mobile money Super-app.

Next, it supports AI-enabled operation. With Huawei’s telecom foundation model operators can enable existing NOC and SOC with AI Agents and Copilots.

Finally, it helps evolve to AI-centric Infrastructure. Operators can leverage Huawei’s technology leadership to help build a synergetic infrastructure with flexible resource scheduling to meet future service requirements.

The AI era has arrived, and the best time to act is now. Chen stated Huawei’s belief that transformation is not the goal – value creation is the essence. Huawei is willing to work together with operators and partners to accelerate the transformation to techco through joint innovation and efforts, continuously creating greater value.

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Shabahat Shakeel, Head of Business Development, WaveMaker

The telecom industry is at the cusp of transformation, driven by advancements in 5G, edge computing, and IoT. At the heart of this transformation lies the concept of network APIs. … [visit site to read more]

Airwallex, a global payments and financial platform for growing businesses, says it has signed definitive agreements to acquire CTIN Pay, an intermediary payment service (IPS) licensed company in Vietnam.

The acquisition, subject to customary closing conditions, expands Airwallex’s existing licences across major Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets, including Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, mainland China and Japan.

This move, the company adds, deepens the global reach of Airwallex’s financial infrastructure, aiding Vietnamese merchants to its overseas expansion, and facilitating international businesses to enter the Vietnamese market.

Airwallex says that Vietnam’s economy, with its strong growth and rapid digital transformation, is well positioned as a strategic growth market for the company in the region.

It adds that by expanding its financial infrastructure across Southeast Asia, Airwallex is well-positioned to support businesses in Vietnam, enabling them to scale internationally with greater ease.

Airwallex is strategically acquiring companies to strengthen its global presence and build a robust financial foundation for businesses worldwide. The acquisition in Vietnam follows the completion of Airwallex’s purchase of MexPago, a Mexico-based payment service provider with an Institution of Electronic Payment Funds (IFPE) licence. 

Founded in Australia in 2015 and now headquartered in Singapore, Airwallex has achieved significant growth across the APAC region in recent years. Globally, Airwallex has exceeded US$600 million in annualised revenue and US$130 billion in annualised transaction volume – a testament, it says, to the growing demand for its cross-border payment solutions and global financial infrastructure.

A new subsea cable, some dollars for data centers, a new infrastructure division, and fiber to the middle of a frozen lake: … [visit site to read more]

Could a new hydrogen fuel cell-based backup power solution for telecom towers revolutionise power supply in India by providing a cleaner, more efficient alternative to traditional diesel generators?

This appears to be the thinking behind a government announcement earlier this week, which highlighted proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells as a way to offer an environmentally friendly, efficient, and reliable energy source.

PEM fuel cells generate electricity by using hydrogen as fuel; water vapour is the only by-product. They also offer quick start-up times, operate at relatively low temperatures, and require much less maintenance than diesel generators.

News service IANS explains that the fuel cell technology works by an electrochemical reaction, where hydrogen gas is fed into the anode, oxidised to release protons, and then travels through a polymer membrane to the cathode. It reacts with oxygen to generate electricity and water, providing a clean energy solution.

India has over a million telecom towers, many in remote areas where diesel generators are often used as backup power sources. However, these generators are costly, inefficient and contribute significantly to carbon emissions,

Regulator TRAI in a 2012 directive mandates that at least 50% of rural telecom towers and 33% of urban towers switch to hybrid renewable energy sources.

Integrating PEM fuel cells with telecom towers might support this vision, though a timetable for their rollout does not appear to have yet been suggested.

Could a new hydrogen fuel cell-based backup power solution for telecom towers revolutionise rollout in India by providing a cleaner, more efficient alternative to traditional diesel generators?

This appears to be the thinking behind a government announcement earlier this week, which highlighted proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, as a way to offer an environmentally friendly, efficient, and reliable energy source.

PEM fuel cells generate electricity by using hydrogen as fuel; water vapour is the only by-product. They also offer quick start-up times, operate at relatively low temperatures, and require much less maintenance than diesel generators.

News service IANS explains that the fuel cell technology works by an electrochemical reaction, where hydrogen gas is fed into the anode, oxidised to release protons, and then travels through a polymer membrane to the cathode. It reacts with oxygen to generate electricity and water, providing a clean energy solution.

India has over a million telecom towers, many in remote areas where diesel generators are often used as backup power sources. However, these generators are costly, inefficient, and contribute significantly to carbon emissions,

Regulator TRAI, in a 2012 directive, mandated that at least 50% of rural telecom towers and 33% of urban towers switch to hybrid renewable energy sources. Integrating PEM fuel cells with telecom towers might support this vision, though a timetable for their rollout does not appear to have been suggested.

Two interesting metro fiber questions were answered this week by a bit of fiber M&A. Lightpath has announced the acquisition of WANRack’s business in Phoenix, Arizona. … [visit site to read more]

Hytera Communications, a provider of professional communications technologies and solutions, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Cable & Wireless Seychelles (CWS), the country’s pioneering quad-play telecommunications operator at MWC.

This strategic cooperation aims to drive digital transformation across Seychelles’ enterprises and government sectors. The MoU establishes a framework to advance Seychelles’ digital transformation through a series of key initiatives. A major focus of the collaboration is the joint development of a resilient Seychelles emergency communications redundant network, designed to ensure uninterrupted communications during critical scenarios such as natural disasters.

Additionally, the partnership will deliver tailored communication solutions for key sectors, including public safety, energy, transportation and tourism. Hytera will provide push-to-talk over cellular (PoC) devices, mission-critical services (MCX) core networks, and cloud-based platforms, seamlessly integrating with CWS’s existing 4G/5G public networks while supporting the future expansion of private networks.

The MoU was signed by Mr Naadir Hassan, Chief Executive Officer at CWS, Mr Oliver Fock-Tave, Associate Director Products & Services and Information Systems at CWS, and Mr Tony Wang, Business Development Director of Hytera, at MWC 2025 in Barcelona, where Hytera showcased its mission-critical portfolio across multiple protocols such as 4G/5G, MCX, and PoC, as well as body-worn camera (BWC) and digital evidence management (DEM).

Naadir Hassan remarked at the MoU signing ceremony: “As a trailblazer in Seychelles’ telecommunications sector, we are dedicated to introducing the world’s leading technologies to our nation. Our cooperation with Hytera will not only enhance our service offerings, but also strengthen digital infrastructure, unlocking new opportunities for local businesses and communities in the Seychelles.”

Tony Wang added: “At Hytera, we bring over 30 years of experience in delivering innovative professional and private communication solutions that support seamless connectivity and enhance operational efficiency. We are confident that this partnership will help Cable & Wireless Seychelles advance its digital transformation goals while ensuring a resilient and future-ready communication infrastructure. We look forward to contributing to the growth and success of Seychelles’ digital economy.”

With MWC underway over in Barcelona, there is lots of partnership news out there as well as plenty of vendor announcements: … [visit site to read more]

Red Hat, a provider of open source solutions, has announced at MWC25 that Kenyan operator Safaricom has deployed Red Hat OpenShift as a common cloud platform for applications, including the M-Pesa mobile payment system.

Safaricom has more than 45 million subscribers and the widest modern mobile network coverage in Kenya. It runs sensitive applications with high uptime and stability requirements. This includes third party applications that connect to the renowned M-Pesa core platform, a mobile payment system that supports 51 million customers making over US$314 billion in transactions per year across Africa.

Safaricom’s vision is to be Africa’s leading purpose-led technology company by 2025. To fulfil this vision, Safaricom identified the need to move from monolithic, traditional infrastructures to a cloud-native, container and microservices-based architecture that provides a flexible, stable foundation to grow and support its digital requirements.

Building on its use of Red Hat Enterprise Linux for a stable, reliable and flexible Linux platform and Red Hat Satellite for infrastructure management, Safaricom sought an open source solution for containerisation. Initially, Safaricom deployed upstream Kubernetes but faced stability challenges and a lag in resolving bugs quickly enough to meet its business needs. Safaricom then chose to move to Red Hat OpenShift, the industry’s leading hybrid cloud application platform powered by Kubernetes, which provides production-ready maturity and carrier-grade stability along with enterprise-grade support.

Safaricom collaborated with Copy Cat Group, an experienced systems integrator, as well as the Red Hat team to deploy the platform and develop a roadmap for application modernisation. This included aligning processes across Safaricom’s security, application development and platform teams.

The companies ran joint technical workshops and a developer day to get the teams upskilled on DevOps and agile methodologies.

Safaricom in 2024 then expanded to Red Hat OpenShift Platform Plus to harness Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security for additional cybersecurity capabilities, Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes for holistic orchestration of its workloads at scale and Red Hat Quay, a security-focused and scalable private registry platform for managing content across globally distributed data center and cloud environments.

Red Hat OpenShift is now the core Kubernetes-based platform in Safaricom’s IT environment, running all of its containers and supporting approximately 70% of its tier 1 and tier 2 applications. It is moving much of its estate to Red Hat OpenShift on bare-metal for greater control, increased economic efficiencies and more flexible scale-out capabilities. Benefits that Safaricom has seen include customer experience improvements, greater platform stability, faster time-to-market, expanded automation capabilities, increased scalability and additional security.

Looking ahead, Safaricom is assessing the opportunity to expand these benefits into the network space, such as its 5G core, by expanding its Red Hat OpenShift footprint. The team is working on a proof-of-concept to kick off and define the process before scaling up to onboard the full team and applications.

The communications and media space has been quite a dynamic environment over the past few years as companies balance both internal and external transformations.  But the arrival of AI is just accelerating everything.  Professional services companies, like Accenture, are right in the middle of all of it with both a ringside seat and a hand in the changes themselves.  With us today to talk about the state of the sector and look at where things tend to be going is Dan Rice, Accenture’s Communications and Media Lead for the USA. … [visit site to read more]