There is a prevailing belief that telcos are ‘bad’ at innovation. Exploring and challenging this viewpoint is one of many reasons why the Mobile Network Innovation Summit from The Mobile Network was formed, bringing together operators, investors, innovators and major vendors.
The inaugural event, kicking off today at the Allianz Stadium in London, promised to bring together 45 speakers and panellists over two days to discuss innovation-led change across the telco industry via four main streams:
- AI-Native Networks
- Non-Terrestrial Networks
- Energy Efficiency
- Quantum Communications
Delivering the keynote for the Energy Efficiency Innovation Stream in the afternoon of day one was Marie-Laure Lamouroux, NGMN Programme Lead for Green Future Networks, and Director, Green ITN Program at Orange Innovation Network.
Under the banner ‘Understanding operator requirements for energy efficiency’, Lamouroux’s talk included an excellent overview of how NGMN is seeking to identify the most frequent challenges facing mobile operators, including energy demands and cooling needs.
This included a summary of NGMN’s latest publications around the key themes of sustainable AI networks, resilient networks and cooling strategies.
Elsewhere on day one of the event, Olaf Swantee, Former CEO of EE, gave his views around satellite, AI, 6G and eSIM as some of the current innovations in the industry. Talking about the latter, he described eSIM as a revolution for the mobile industry, while also highlighting how if telcos fail to innovate their products will simply become commodities.
There was also an interesting session featuring operator insights, providing an introduction to three innovative companies including OQ Technology, a Luxembourg-based satellite operator positioning itself as the world’s first satellite telecom operator for global IoT connectivity. Amongst many milestones discussed, one of OQ’s main achievements to date is the successful delivery of Europe’s first direct to mobile emergency broadcast from space.
There’s a similarly packed schedule for day two of the event tomorrow, which will mainly focus on investment and scale-up strategies, and the companies bringing innovative technology into the telco ecosystem.
