A week in telecoms: Ericsson ties with Softbank on AI-RAN

Ericsson ties with SoftBank on AI-RAN

In the first of two major operator tie-ups this week, Ericsson and SoftBank Corp announced a collaboration to explore the potential for developing new AI-integrated RAN solutions that boost network efficiency and performance.

The partners said they plan to research network and compute infrastructure solutions that allow both AI and RAN to operate on the same network infrastructure. The goal is to unlock new use cases for communications service providers by using the power of AI to enhance network efficiency, they added.

Notably, Ericsson and SoftBank are also founding members of the AI-RAN Alliance launched at Mobile World Congress in February, along with Amazon Web Services AWS, Arm, DeepSig, Microsoft, Nokia, Northeastern University, Nvidia, Samsung Electronics and T-Mobile USA.

In their bi-lateral alliance, they will look at optimizing AI and RAN convergence, with a focus on centralized RAN (C-RAN); AI and RAN co-existence; and engineering demos, testing the possibility of running RAN applications and AI engines on the same hardware infrastructure to see how they can share resources.

Hideyuki Tsukuda, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at SoftBank, said the Japanese group “welcomes this new collaboration with Ericsson, which aligns with our strategy to invest in AI infrastructure that enables the overlay and optimization of RAN. This partnership reflects our vision of leveraging AI to enhance communication networks and opens up opportunities for collaboration with key industry players.”

Vodafone and Google strengthen generative AI ties

The second major operator tie-up this week is between Vodafone and Google. They announced a ten-year strategic expansion of their existing partnership to bring new services, devices, and TV experiences to millions of Vodafone’s customers across Europe and Africa, supported by Google Cloud and Google’s Gemini models.

A key focus is to help consumers take advantage of the latest hardware and digital technologies, including AI and cloud-based applications.

In summary, Vodafone said it will expand access to AI-supported Pixel devices and continue promoting the Android ecosystem; deploy Google Cloud’s generative AI (GenAI) tech on Vodafone TV set-top boxes; offer Google One AI Premium subscription plans, including Gemini Advanced, in select territories by 2025; expand its partnership with Google Cloud; and develop a new cloud-native security service for its business customers.

Vodafone formed a similar ten-year deal with Microsoft earlier in 2024 that focuses on AI, IoT and the cloud.

Margherita Della Valle, CEO of Vodafone Group, said the aim of the Google tie-up is to “put new AI-powered content and devices into the hands of millions of more consumers. Using these services, our customers can discover new ways to learn, create and communicate, as well as consume TV, on a scale we haven’t seen before.”

Vodafone and Google Cloud have already worked together to create a data repository (data lake) that houses Vodafone’s data and its existing AI and data analytics services.

With the expanded partnership, Vodafone will use Vertex AI, Google Cloud’s enterprise-ready AI platform, to build, deploy, and scale machine learning models and AI applications powered by Google’s Gemini models.

Three more 5G licenses issued in Egypt

Egypt’s National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) awarded 5G licenses to Vodafone Egypt, Orange Egypt, and e& Egypt, meaning that all four operators in the market are now in a position to offer 5G services.

Telecom Egypt secured its 5G license in January for US$150 million. A statement from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) said the four licenses are valued at a total of US$675 million and have a 15-year term.

No auction took place, and no new frequencies were allocated. The operators are expected to utilize the 2.6GHz TDD spectrum, already used in Egypt for 4G. In 2022, Orange Egypt paid $440 million for 30MHz, while NTRA previously allocated 80MHz to Vodafone Egypt, Egypt Telecom and e& Egypt at a cost of $1.1 billion. 4G licenses were granted to all four operators in 2016.

Amr Talaat, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, highlighted that the introduction of 5G technologies would positively impact the national economy, improve Egypt’s international ICT rankings, and enhance the country’s digital infrastructure.

He also emphasized support for vital sectors like smart cities, logistics, healthcare, and agriculture, which heavily rely on Internet of Things (IoT) technologies supported by 5G.

According to Daily News Egypt, Talaat also said the four operators are expected to partner with each other as well as compete, noting that this partnership “will be crucial to the success of the 5G rollout in Egypt.”

Telcos embrace GenAI - study

A new study conducted earlier this year by Coleman Parkes Research and commissioned by SAS has found that the telco industry is leading the way in GenAI adoption.

Based on a survey of global senior key decision makers including in the UK & Ireland, the research found 70% of telcos are currently using GenAI and have either fully implemented it or are running tests ahead of implementation into regular processes across departments including marketing, sales and IT.

Additionally, 29% are currently deploying or planning to deploy the technology across the enterprise.

The news might come as little surprise to a sector that seems to talk of little else these days. The opportunity presented by GenAI for telcos also prompted the TM Forum to launch GAMIT — Generative AI Maturity Interactive Tool, in collaboration with AWS.

Open source large language models (LLM) were found to be the most common approach to adopting LLMs among telcos, with 38% of organizations having already done so, compared to 29% of other industries on average.

Telcos also plan to lead the way in terms of investment, with 89% expecting to invest in GenAI in the next financial year – the joint highest along with the insurance industry.

According to the study, the biggest concerns for the telco industry regarding the adoption of GenAI are data privacy (83%) and data security (80%). These are followed by ethical implications (60%), and in-house talent and skills (54%).

Report highlights $400bn enterprise opportunity for telcos

Generative AI was not the only topic to spawn a report this week. GSMA Intelligence also issued a report on enterprise service opportunities, claiming that there is an addressable market of more than $400 billion for telcos in this field.

This equates to approximately 35% of the existing mobile operator revenue base worldwide, the reported added.

However, this potential will only be achieved if telcos look beyond connectivity-driven solutions and services, the reported warned.

It said core telecom solution and service areas, such as SD-WAN, unified communications and mobile voice and data, contributed around 70% of B2B revenues or $250 billion for operators in 2023, although they offer little headroom for growth with just 3% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) expected out to 2030.

On the other hand, enterprise spending on services including cloud and data centre, cybersecurity, IoT, analytics, AI, blockchain and network APIs is said to be around five times the spend on traditional communications at $1.16 trillion in 2023, with a CAGR of 14% to 2030, growing to become a market worth $2.91 trillion.

The report also highlights four key verticals: financial services, manufacturing, automotive and aviation. In 2023, these sectors presented significant addressable opportunities for telcos, valued at $59 billion, $61 billion, $22 billion and $16 billion respectively, it said.

Collectively, they accounted for 37% of the total addressable market opportunity, amounting to $159 billion. Projections are for an expected CAGR of 10.9%, 12.1%, 12.0%, and 8.4% from 2023 to 2030.

Also noted…

Telecom Italia (TIM) is examining an offer from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and Retelit for its Sparkle unit based on an enterprise value of €700 million.

Xavier Niel is starting to buy up remaining shares in Eir.

Chris Sambar, president and head of networks at AT&T, will leave after more than two decades at the company.