Refresh
Well, that’s a wrap from day one at MWC 2025 – and what a day its been!
Here’s a little recap on all the news so far today:
- Nokia announced a swathe of new partnerships for AI-RAN development, teaming up with the likes of Nvidia, Softbank and T-Mobile.
- PwC research has indicated that the telecoms industry is likely to bloom after recent years of growth and increasing demand for 5G services.
- Microsoft released a Microsoft Fabric telecoms-focused data model to unify data sources and steamline telco workloads.
- Vodafone and IBM have joined forces to enhance mobile phone quantum-safe cryptography, using IBM Quantum Safe technology to boost the resilience of Vodafone Secure Net
- Capgemini research outlined the priorities of B2B telecoms – simplified buying process, customization over cost, and and creating and orchestrating an ecosystem.
- AWS unveiled its AWS Outpost racks offering a solution for low latency, high throughput workloads – with a dedicated rack for Cloud RAN.
- GSMA has announced new partnerships with 5G Automotive Association (5GAA), Japan Automotive Software Platform and Architecture (JASPAR), Outsight, Safran Passenger Innovations, and Seamless Air Alliance.
- RedHat has partnered with Orange, SoftBank, KDDI, and Rakuten Mobile to enhance efficiency and sustainability, boost RAN operations, and enhance cloud-native infrastructure.
- Amdocs research indicates that inefficiency in company processes are costing communication service providers $24 billion per year.
- Ericsson and Keysight Technologies are collaborating on “realising 6G by 2030” by establishing “pre-6G standardisation.”
- ServiceNow has introduced telecom AI agents to its new business transformation AI platform, built with Nvidia AI Enterprise software.
Don’t forget to stay tuned for day two, as we will once again be on the ground hearing all the latest news and updates from MWC 2025!
To round off day one of MWC 2025, here’s a trip down memory lane from Managing Editor Desire Athow…
“MWC began life as a small conference in Brussels back in 1987 at the very beginning of the mobile phone revolution before moving to Cannes and then to Barcelona where it has been an annual event (bar the Covid years) since 2006.
“My first trip was in 2011 where I was fortunate enough to see the launch of the likes of the second Samsung Galaxy smartphone (the S2), the Sony Xperia Play, the LG Optimus 2X, the HTC One X and so many others that were trailblazers at the beginning of the last decade. Android was very much in its infancy back then and the mobile ecosystem was a different place to be. Back then, hardware was the king and mobile network operators were the king makers. Fast forward to 2025, and it is a very, very different universe.”
ServiceNow introduces AI agents
ServiceNow has launched an AI platform for business transformation, including AI agents for use in the telecom industry. The agents will help drive productivity, and were built with Nvidia AI Enterprise software.
“The launch of new AI agents developed specifically for the telecom industry demonstrates our continued commitment to building solutions that help solve the biggest challenges facing business leaders,” said Rohit Batra, GM and VP for manufacturing, telecommunications, media, and technology at ServiceNow.
“ServiceNow has been at the forefront of AI innovation for years, and this collaboration with NVIDIA marks the next step in delivering agentic AI‑powered automation that transforms how CSPs operate and serve their customers.”
Keysight and Ericsson announce 6G tie-up
A collaboration between Ericsson and Keysight Technologies has been established to develop a pre-6G test setup, using an Ericsson base station and Keysight’s test user equipment (UE) operating in the centimetre Wave (cmWave) frequency band.
The companies say cmWave frequency is a “strong candidate” for future 6G networks, and has promising potential for low latency, high data rates, and improved coverage.
“Evaluating the performance potential of new spectrum and exploring new and evolved technology concepts pre-6G standardisation is a top priority for Ericsson. Our collaboration with Keysight enables us to take valuable steps forward on the journey towards realising 6G by 2030,” said Freddie Södergren, Head of Technology & Strategy, Business Area Networks, at Ericsson.
Amdocs research claims CSPs are losing $24B to inefficiency
New research from Amdocs has claimed communication service providers (CSPs) are missing out on $24 billion per year thanks to problems and inefficiencies in company processes – equating to 7% of global telco revenues.
According to the research, digital marketplaces have an over 50% abandon rate, suggesting big gaps in “converting leads into revenue”. As many as one in five requests for proposals (RFPs) aren’t answered in time thanks to inefficiencies within the firms.
This means that money is left on the table during renewals, and leaves significantly less time for teams to upsell opportunities.
Red Hat announces four new telecom partnerships
A number of major new telecommunications collaborations have been announced at MWC 2025 by Red Hat, including Orange, SoftBank, KDDI, and Rakuten Mobile.
Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, and will work with SoftBank to further optimise network performance with AI-driven energy efficiency and sustainability solutions.
The partnerships with Rakuten Mobile and KDDI will look at enhancing RAN operations, both with Red Hat OpenShift and with Red Hat Enterprise Linux – accelerating software deployment and minimizing downtime.
Finally, Orange has chosen Red Hat platforms for cloud-native infrastructure. Red Hat will work with Orange to expedite telco cloud transformation and network softwarization in a move providing large scale flexibility and innovation.
GSMA announces new strategic partnerships
The GSMA, the organization behind MWC, has revealed its own new partnerships in the automotive and aviation industries. Headed by GSMA Fusion and working on behalf of the mobile industry, the collaborations will help providers to better understand and support the connectivity needs of the sectors.
Partners will include the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA), Japan Automotive Software Platform and Architecture (JASPAR), Outsight, Safran Passenger Innovations, and Seamless Air Alliance.
“The partnerships we’re announcing today, through GSMA Fusion, provide strong direction from these industries to ours, helping the mobile ecosystem truly meet the needs of the automotive and aviation sectors and harness the power of mobile connectivity to create innovative solutions that enhance safety, efficiency, and customer experience,” said Mats Granrys, Director General at GSMA.
AWS has unveiled AWS Outpost racks designed for on-prem low latency, high throughput workloads, including Cloud Radio Access Network (RAN).
AWS Outpost features the new Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) 4th Generation Intel Xeon Scalable-based (Sapphire Rapids) bare metal instances, built on the AWS Nitro System with support for pre-validated Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) add-ons.
“For modern cloud-native 5G Core networks, our customers demand a cloud architecture that meets high throughput processing requirements while ensuring simplified operations, enhanced security, and full automation,” said Raghav Sahgal, President of Cloud and Network Services at Nokia. “This drove our collaboration with AWS, leveraging the breadth of AWS services and Nokia’s industry leading telco expertise and commitment to automation to build the right solution. The new AWS Outposts racks enable porting and deploying Nokia’s 5G Core workloads on AWS services in customers’ data centers.”
Capgemini claims these are the top priorities for B2B telecom clients
New research from Capgemini has revealed what exactly B2B telecom firms are looking for when it comes to their service provider.
Its survey of a thousand senior executives found a simplified buying process (74%) was the most desired aspect, followed by customization over cost (63%) and creating and orchestrating an ecosystem (70%). Other top priorities were better CX, with 43% saying they would pay more for better service, and a desire for better dedicated customer support, including AI-powered self-service options.
“In today’s hyperconnected world, telcos are the backbone of the digital economy. Businesses expect telecom providers to move beyond connectivity services, and offer tailored, end-to-end and flexible solutions that power digitalization, operational efficiency, and sustainable growth,” said Praveen Shankar, Global Telecom Leader at Capgemini. “By forging strong partnerships with customers and industry peers, orchestrating an innovation ecosystem and prioritizing seamless customer experience, telecom organizations can enhance trust, simplify offerings, and differentiate themselves in a fast-moving landscape.”
Vodafone and IBM team up on quantum-safe cryptography for phones
Vodafone and IBM have showed off a prototype for better protecting mobile users against future threats, particularly those related to quantum computing
The two firms have developed a new proof of concept using the IBM Quantum Safe technology to enhance Vodafone Secure Net, the company’s all-in-one mobile digital security service, to protect against anticipated quantum security risks. IBM Quantum Safe is being used by Vodafone to implement new post-quantum cryptography standards as it looks to introduce new, attack-resistant cryptographic algorithms across its networks.
“We want our customers to enjoy the internet without worry, now and in the future,” noted Luke Ibbetson, Head of Research & Development, Vodafone. “On the one hand quantum computing could have many societal benefits such as modelling new medicines and optimising advanced digital networks. But on the other hand, it could be used to undermine the cryptographic principles that the Internet relies on today. That is why Vodafone and IBM are working together with other partners to get ahead of the curve.”
Microsoft announces telecoms-focused data model in Microsoft Fabric
Microsoft isn’t always a big player at MWC, but the company has announced a telecoms-specific software release for this year’s show.
Its new telco industry data model in Microsoft Fabric is “designed to unify all data” for networks and telcos, covering everything from network performance metrics to customer interactions, all within a single analytics environment.
Customers will be able to use the new model to manage and streamline how all their data is ingested, modeled, and analysed, with telco-specific features and tools to optimize their work and processes.
“The telecommunications industry is experiencing significant AI advancements, emerging as the leading adopter of generative and agentic AI to drive automation, personalization, and data-driven decisions,” said Silvia Candiani, Vice President WW Telecommunications, Media and Gaming, Microsoft.
“Our ecosystem of customers and partners are harnessing the power of AI to reimagine customer experiences, modernize networks, automate business operations, and drive growth.”
PwC research claims global telecoms industry set to grow, despite challenges
New research from PwC revealed around MWC 2025 has sounded an optimistic tone for the future of the global telecoms market. The firm’s annual Global Telecoms Outlook report projects big rise over the next few years, driven by continuing strong 5G needs, as revenues rose 4.3% in 2023 to hit US$1.1 trillion. It claims 5G subscriptions are projected to quadruple by 2028, with the cellular internet-of-things (IoT) services market seeing a particular boost from the automotive sector, hitting $34.1 billion by 2028.
“The telecoms industry must re-imagine how it creates, delivers and captures value in the face of rising costs and competition,” said Dr. Florian GröneGlobal Telecoms Leader, PwC US. “The industry faces enormous potential, particularly as consumers and societal actors increasingly operate across digital platforms and AI drives significant investments in digital connectivity infrastructure, but the industry remains sensitive to macroeconomic forces and is highly cost-intensive, with almost all the cash it generates absorbed by CapEx, dividends and servicing debt. As new and emerging technologies transform sectors, the telecoms industry must harness the power of AI, while working with investors and regulators to optimise market structure and deploy deals to build scale.”
Nokia reveals major AI-RAN development milestones
A major player at every MWC, Nokia kicked its news off nice and early, revealing a host of partnerships aimed at boosting AI-RAN development. The networking giant is teaming up with the likes of Nvidia, Softbank and T-Mobile to work on creating and rolling out AI-powered networks and the infrastructure that powers them, offering scalable and powerful capabilities for AI processing and other services.
“To fully harness the transformative power of AI-RAN, Nokia is working hand-in-hand with an ecosystem of leading industry partners,” noted Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia.
“We enable the evolution of 5G networks toward a multi-purpose cloud platform that unlocks new revenue models and infrastructure synergies for AI and RAN while already today enhancing RAN performance and efficiency with AI-powered products and services.”
MWC is one of the biggest tech shows on the planet, so there’s plenty of news and announcements which may fly under the radar, especially in the B2B world.
Not to worry – as our team on the ground, and back at TechRadar Pro headquarters, are keeping tabs on everything being revealed…
We’re here at La Fira, and while the traffic was expectedly awful, getting in was a breeze!
We’ll be bringing you live updates on all the news direct from Barcelona, so stay tuned…
More about pro
Services Marketplace – Listings, Bookings & Reviews