A week in telecoms: Telcos unite for AI

Welcome to the Inform weekly news round-up, where we take a look at some of the recent telco news and how it impacts the industry, including a telco alliance around AI;

Telcos unite for AI

Deutsche Telekom, e&, Singtel, and SK Telecom joined forces to form the Global Telco AI Alliance with the aim of accelerating the use of AI within their businesses and developing AI-fuelled business models to drive growth. In a multilateral memorandum of understanding, the operators agreed to combine their capabilities to create a Telco AI Platform that will underpin a host of new AI services, such as those that improve service quality, digital assistants, and super apps.

As a next step, a joint working group will be set up to iron out the details for a final agreement on how they will invest in and develop the platform. They will also consider assigning C-level execs from each operator to oversee the collaboration. They also plan to build an ecosystem and support each other in the operation of AI services and apps in their markets.

Claudia Nemat, Board Member Technology and Innovation at Deutsche Telekom, hailed the alliance as a “milestone” for the industry that bridges the gap between Europe and Asia. She said the Alliance wants to develop “industry-specific applications” that can “make the most of the possibilities of generative AI for our customers and our industry.”

While telcos start combining their efforts, the Singaporean government launched an initiative in partnership with Google Cloud called AI Trailblazers to help organisations design, test and implement generative AI (GenAI) tools at two Innovation Sandboxes. The initiative follows the launch of the country’s AI Government Cloud Cluster, also with Google Cloud. Singapore aims to be an “open and trusted global AI hub.”

5G growth in Asia Pacific

5G accounts for just 4% of mobile connections in the Asia Pacific region, according to the latest edition of the GSMA’s Mobile Economy APAC 2023 Report, which highlights the huge diversity of mobile adoption across mature and developing markets. While 5G is considered to have hit a mass market in advanced countries like Australia, Japan, and South Korea, nearly 47% of the population in the Asia Pacific does not have access to mobile internet services.

By 2030, there will be 1.4 billion 5G connections in the region, accounting for 41% of total connections and a six-fold increase from 2022. The growth is attributed to accelerated network expansion (particularly in India), lower device costs and more marketing by operators. However, 4G will remain the dominant technology in the market, accounting for 55% of connections in 2030, down from 70% in 2022.

The report also measures the economic impact of the mobile industry. Across Asia Pacific, mobile technologies contributed approximately $810 billion of economic value in 2022, which is estimated to be 4.8% of Gross Domestic Product. The mobile sector also supported 11 million jobs in the region in 2022. By 2030, the industry’s economic impact will rise to $990 billion, as higher take up of mobile services is expected to improve productivity and efficiency, with 5G delivering 13% of the value ($133 billion), according to the report.

Monetizing 5G networks will become a bigger issue for operators as service take-up grows, according to the report. It points to extend reality (XR) as well as fixed wireless access (FWA) as candidates that can use the new capabilities of 5G to create new services and generate incremental revenue. In enterprise services, private 5G networks and 5G standalone are seen as “pivotal” for 5G revenue growth.

e& enterprise and Tap Payments tie on digital payments

Mobile and digital financial services have long been an area of interest for mobile network operators, although they have not come without pitfalls. Orange Group recently decided to end its retail banking activities in France and Spain, for example, although its Orange Money service in Middle East and Africa continues to thrive. 

In a recent development, Emeriti operator e& enterprise and Tap Payments announced a strategic partnership that they somewhat ambitiously say is “aimed at revolutionizing the digital payments landscape.”

The duo plan to exploit Tap’s network of merchants and financial institutions and e& enterprise’s digital payment platforms and technologies to “deliver innovative payment products to businesses.” These include diverse payment options, seamless integration, enhanced security, and an improved customer experience.

As part of this strategic alliance, the Etisalat Payment Gateway (EPG) will also be enhanced to provide businesses with a secure and unified payment solution. The platform will also offer a comprehensive range of value-added services, including dynamic currency conversion, acceptance of loyalty points, and customizable features, providing businesses with a competitive edge, the partners said. 

ETSI takes on network slicing

Telecoms standards body ETSI has established a software development group called OpenSlice that is dedicated to supporting new ways of delivering network slicing, with Telefónica as one of the founding members. The group plans to create an open-source, service-based Operations Support System (OSS) to deliver Network Slice-as-a-Service (NSaaS). The OSS will align with existing standards work from TM Forum, as well as 3GPP and the GSMA.

OpenSlice is based on ETSI’s Zero-touch network and Service Management principles, as well as ETSI’s NFV model and application programming interfaces. The development is the latest open-source project for the standards group, adding to others such as Open Source MANO (OSM) and TeraFlowSDN, which it said creates a “comprehensive framework” for new telecoms network models.

OpenSlice is ETSI’s first SDG and it is hoped that it will foster collaboration between software development and standards groups to “accelerate the time to market of next-generation networks," according to Luis Jorge Romero, Director General of ETSI.

The founding members of the group include OpenSlice Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC), Instituto de Telecomunicações, Telefónica, University of Murcia, and University of Patras. Additional members include K3Y, Odin Solutions and Ubitech. 

Deutsche Telekom takes quantum cloud leap

Deutsche Telekom became the latest telco in recent weeks to signal further developments in the field of quantum computing. The Germany-based group’s enterprise unit T-Systems signed a memorandum of understanding with IQM Quantum Computers to provide its customers with cloud access to IQM’s quantum systems.

IQM Quantum Computers, described as the European leader in building superconducting quantum computers, will enable T-Systems customers to train their skills and develop use-cases on IQM's quantum infrastructure. This access will be integrated into the Deutsche Telekom affiliate’s cloud landscape.

T-Systems noted that it launched its Quantum-as-a-Service (QaaS) offering in March and said this announcement sees it expand its offering to a “multicloud” quantum landscape. 

IQM’s commercial quantum computers include Finland’s first commercial 54-qubit quantum computer with VTT, IQM-led consortium’s (Q-Exa) HPC quantum accelerator in Germany, and IQM processors will also be used in the first quantum accelerator in Spain.

Operators such as BT, Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone have been have been working on quantum technologies for some time, but customers are now increasingly aware of the threats and opportunities that quantum computing presents, while investment in quantum technology spiked in 2022.

More tower moves

Although activity in the towerco sector has slowed down following the recent multi-billion-dollar spate of mergers and acquisitions, it has not come to a grinding halt.

For instance, Qatari operator Ooredoo, Kuwait’s Zain Group and Dubai-based TASC Towers Holding have entered into exclusive talks to create the Middle East and North Africa's largest tower company, according to a joint statement.

The negotiations are “to combine their approximately 30,000 telecommunication tower assets in Qatar, Kuwait, Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq and Jordan into a jointly owned independent tower company in a cash and share deal.” The aim is to sign definitive agreements in the third quarter of 2023.

Meanwhile, independent towerco Cellnex signed a €315 million finance contract with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to “support the development of the mobile telecoms infrastructure behind 5G rollouts in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Poland.”

Cellnex said the loan will mobilise total investment of €631 million to improve and expand the coverage and capacity of very high bandwidth mobile network infrastructure in these countries, helping to speed up the digital transition in both urban and rural areas.