Speaking at the International Telecoms Week (ITW) 2025 in Washington, D.C, Emmanuel Rochas, CEO of Orange Wholesale International, Kerstin Baumgart, Director of Wholesale and Board Member at Telekom Deutschland, Enrico Bagnasco, CEO of Sparkle, and Sharat Sinha, CEO of Airtel Business, highlighted the push for innovative AI solutions to manage fibre and network costs.
According to Rochas, 5G Standalone (SA) will significantly change many aspects of the industry. He noted: “Despite the adoption of 5G SA being much slower than anticipated, progress is still being made.
This comment comes as research revealed that it was expected over 110 networks would adopt 5G SA in 2022, however, today, the number sits at just 60.
“It's happening.” he states. “We're seeing the emergence of new use cases- particularly in high-mobility scenarios, roaming and applications exposed through APIs. The 5G APIs are already supported by SA deployments, which opens the door to substantial innovation.”
“We believe this shift will drive significant change, creating new revenue streams and opportunities for innovation- something we're watching very closely.”
However, commenting on API’s, Airtel’s CEO Sharat Sinha, called for tech firms to leverage their own networks.
“For broader implementation, collaboration between multiple telecom providers is essential,” he says.
“Once these use cases are developed, the next step is collaboration among multiple telecoms. That’s when the full potential of such solutions can be realised. Eventually, some level of standardisation will also be necessary, as it will help telecoms implement solutions more effectively and consistently across networks.”
“There isn't just one network or source in API; there are various ways to communicate with customers. That's why it's essential to adopt an omnichannel approach, considering the different communication channels available to both our customers and their customers.
“For example, when we look at network APIs, such as number verification, there are multiple ways to achieve this-both traditionally and through modern methods. It’s important to recognise that there isn’t a single, fixed path to the customer.
“Different routes will exist, and our customers will choose the approach that works best for them,” she added. “This flexibility is a key point to remember, it’s not a one-way street.”
However, Sparkle CEO, Rochas said that API’s “are not a magic wand” for the industry, instead revealing there are a “few other considerations where APIs are clearly a critical element”.
“Both in global automation and in platform and network strategies. What we need to keep in mind is that APIs don’t just add themselves-it’s not effortless. It requires investment in the network and in building the functionality we want to expose.”
Rochas added: "The scope and potential of what we can do with AI as a carrier is very broad.
“That’s why we need to focus on specific areas. At Orange, one of our key priorities is anti-fraud. We're using AI-not generative AI, but more traditional machine learning-to detect patterns and respond more quickly to block fraud. So fraud prevention and cybersecurity are major focuses.”
Bagnasco concluded: “The biggest shift we’re seeing, of course, will be driven by AI. It's becoming evident everywhere-both in terms of how we use API in our network infrastructure and mobile rollouts, and how it impacts the customer experience.
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