The telecoms industry has never been short of predictions.
Every year, at events, on panels and in keynote speeches, we hear about the next big thing that will change the industry. From 3G to 5G, and now AI, 6G, network APIs, satellite connectivity and autonomous networks, there is always something new around the corner.
So, rather than making another prediction ourselves, Mobile Europe asked AI what it thinks.
We asked it to look 18 months ahead and tell us what the telecoms industry might look like – what will change, what won’t, and where operators could get it wrong.
Q: If we jump 18 months from now, what will feel different for the telecoms industry?
AI: “The biggest change may be that the network stops being treated primarily as connectivity infrastructure and starts being treated as a programmable platform.
“By early 2028, operators could be exposing more network capabilities directly to applications through APIs, dynamically adapting connectivity to what an application needs, and using AI to manage increasingly large parts of network operations.
“The customer may not notice any of this directly, that’s the point.
“Instead of asking for “5G”, businesses may increasingly ask for a particular outcome: guaranteed latency, additional uplink capacity, precise positioning, temporary coverage or a specific level of reliability.
“The network becomes something applications can interact with rather than simply something they connect to.”
Q: It seems like you can’t have any conversation without bringing AI into it; what actually changes because of AI?
AI: The important distinction is between AI for networks and networks for AI.
AI for networks means using AI to operate telecom infrastructure more intelligently: predicting faults, optimising radio resources, reducing energy consumption, improving customer service and automating network operations.
“Networks for AI is the more disruptive opportunity.
“AI applications increasingly need connectivity with predictable latency, high uplink capacity, reliability and access to network capabilities such as location and authentication.
“That means the network itself becomes part of the AI application’s architecture.”
Q: So, are you basically saying AI is going to end up running the network?
AI: “Eventually, parts of it may.
“But, AI will run the network” is one of those statements that sounds more dramatic than it is useful.
“Telecom networks are unusually unforgiving environments. A recommendation engine can make a bad recommendation and recover. A network making a bad decision can disconnect thousands or millions of people.
“The near-term future is therefore more likely to be AI-assisted autonomy rather than unrestricted autonomy.
“AI will increasingly recommend, predict, optimise and execute within defined boundaries.
“The difficult part won’t be making AI capable of taking actions. It will be deciding which actions operators are comfortable allowing it to take.”
Q: Does this mean job cuts for those running these networks? Are we talking about jobs disappearing, or will telecom engineers simply be doing very different jobs?
AI: “Their jobs change.
“Network engineering is unlikely to disappear, but the balance between manual intervention and system-level orchestration will shift.
“Instead of spending time identifying why a particular network element is behaving unusually, engineers may increasingly ask an AI system to investigate the problem across multiple vendors, domains and datasets.
“The human role moves towards supervision, judgement, architecture and exception handling.
“That could actually make telecom engineering more strategic. But there is a catch.
“If organisations automate the routine work without investing in the skills needed to supervise increasingly autonomous systems, they could create a new operational vulnerability: nobody fully understands the system anymore.”
Q: Let’s move on to 5G. We’ve spent years talking about it, and now everyone wants to talk about 6G. By 2028, are we still going to be talking about 5G?
AI: “Absolutely. Probably more than the telecom industry would like.
“5G is not disappearing just because 6G is being developed. In fact, the important question is whether operators complete the transition towards the capabilities of 5G Standalone and 5G-Advanced that make the network more programmable and suitable for advanced applications.
“So 6G isn’t simply, 5G but faster.
“It is more likely to represent a shift towards networks designed from the outset around AI, programmability, sensing, automation and new forms of connectivity.”
Q: So, should operators actually be rushing towards 6G?
AI: “No.”
Q: What about satellites?
AI: “Not an alternative. A complement.
“The more interesting future is one where customers don’t need to know which network they’re using.
“Your phone might move between terrestrial mobile, Wi-Fi and satellite connectivity according to availability and requirements.
“In an emergency, rural area or remote location, the satellite layer could become effectively invisible infrastructure.”
Q: Okay, final question. If we come back to this conversation in 2028, what do you think the telecom industry will have misunderstood about its own future?
AI: “That the future of telecoms is not really about networks.
“It’s about what becomes possible because networks can understand, predict and respond to what is happening around them.
“The next phase of the industry will combine connectivity with AI, compute, sensing, identity, security and automation.
“The network becomes an active participant rather than a passive pipe.
“But I would add one warning. Telecoms should not become so obsessed with making networks intelligent that it forgets to make them useful.
“The winning network won’t necessarily be the one with the most advanced technology. It will be the one that makes something valuable possible.”
My human conclusion
There is a lot coming to AI, including advancements in AI, 6G, improved satellite connectivity and much more; however, technology is only part of the story.
For operators and the wider industry, the real challenge will be turning these developments into something that makes a difference. This could mean cutting costs, creating new revenue streams, offering customers a better service or even improving networks.
So, perhaps the next 18 months won’t be about one technology taking over. That, too, might help make networks smarter and more efficient, but it won’t be the silver bullet.
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