Artificial intelligence has ascended to the top of minds in the telecoms sector over the past year due to its potential to transform the industry.

TM Forum president and CEO Nik Willetts (pictured) opened Digital Transformation World 2023 with a stark message for the telecoms industry, claiming it is at a “crisis point” where it faces being left behind by the “very revolution we’ve created”. 

In the final instalment of our recent series focusing on e-waste in emerging markets, we reached out to a major Asian operator to learn more about how they plan to achieve a major sustainability pledge - Thailand’s True Corp, which has announced that it aims to achieve zero e-waste to landfill by 2030.

In the first instalment of this series, we explored the scale of the issue of e-waste and some of the steps being taken to reduce it. As attitudes towards sustainability shift, policymakers take note – whether at company or government level – and in this article we’ll explore the factors pushing the industry towards sustainability.

In this new series of features, Developing Telecoms will explore the under-reported issue of electronic waste. We will explore possible solutions for addressing the issue as well as examining a case study with a leading Asian operator, but to begin, this article aims to examine the scale of the issue affecting operators in developing markets.

Shutting down 2G and 3G is ramping up across the globe as operators make way for more capacity for 4G and 5G networks. It is the inevitable cycle of progress, out with the old, and in with the new as the old saying goes.

Helios Towers is one the biggest towercos in Africa, and since its IPO four years ago the firm has dramatically expanded its footprint and portfolio. It has also strongly pushed a sustainability agenda while continuing to drive increased coverage across some of the most challenging markets in the continent. We caught up with the firm’s CEO Tom Greenwood to discuss how it has achieved this.

Despite the heavy emphasis on sustainability in 2023, it does not change the fact that global economies are growing beasts, with insatiable demand for energy as they grow. 

Those of us in the telecoms industry have sat through the same keynote speeches, listening to the same messages year after year on how enhanced connectivity will be the core to a brighter future for mankind.

Smartphone sales in India are down to their lowest level since 2019, despite the pandemic underlining the importance of connectivity in society. However, while the overall volume of shipments may have dropped, the devices in demand are increasingly more expensive high-end models.

The Philippines telecoms market is one that constantly hits the headlines and this heat stems from the historic duopoly of Globe Telecom and PLDT’s Smart Communications in the archipelagic nation.

Through acquisitions and shareholdings, the Hungarian government – led by Prime Minister Victor Orbán’s Fidesz party – is increasingly displaying its determination to boost the state’s role in the telecoms sector, arguing that it will deliver an economic boost to Hungary, strengthen its position on the global stage, and prove beneficial for consumers.

The over-arching purpose of smart cities is to improve the living standards of their people through multiple pathways, be it waste management, transportation or energy efficiency, to name a few. All of this can lead to making citizens more productive and delivering what all countries desire - economic growth.

Mobile World Congress 2023 may be done and dusted, but the agenda that emerges from the show tends to impact the industry’s focus across the following year. I’ve felt in the past that these trends have been more tangible than they were in 2023; we’re perhaps in a year of evolution rather than revolution.

Above all else, North Korea is defined by its secrecy – this isolated nation tightly controls the flow of information into and out of its borders, and this is never more apparent than with its telecoms sector.

African nations, operators and private companies were all in agreement that Africa continues to hold so much potential, with much progress being made, but how much longer are we going to hear this instead of seeing it being fully realised?

In October 2022, Zambia announced that it would zero-rate imports of telecoms equipment in a bid to encourage investment into the country’s ICT sector, which the government views as essential to job creation and economic development in the market.

Venezuela’s telecoms sector has not been flush with positive developments of late – the country’s economy has been in a downward spiral for well over five years now, and this has caused a staggering decline in a sector that had seen average to strong growth up until around 2015.

Amidst rising costs of coverage expansion to fulfil the rapidly increasing appetite for connectivity, operators globally are under more pressure to balance the books  - a trend that is not limited to developed markets.

It’s never a good sign when a government steps in to block internet access, or bans a communication platform such as Twitter, and unfortunately such practices are not unheard of in the markets we cover at Developing Telecoms.

The traditional approach for operators to run their business forever changing, now the telecoms industry needs to be more open to collaboration to truly thrive.

The long-running saga of India’s 5G spectrum auctions has finally seen some closure in 2022. The multi-band auction wrapped on August 1 with 71% of the available spectrum sold – a result that India’s government considers positive, as it will be sufficient to achieve nationwide 5G coverage within two to three years.

The invasion of Ukraine will forever go down as one of the most infamous moments of this era. It is a conflict that caught the world off guard as all nations began recovering from the pandemic.

Africa 2.0 – Inside a Continent’s Communications Revolution presents a 35-year history of the impact of mobile and internet on Sub-Saharan Africa.

The pandemic accelerated digital transformation faster than anyone could have anticipated, and service providers have needed to adapt just as quickly. In regions such as Southeast Asia, the scale of the challenge is clear – a colossal population which previously had more limited internet access has suddenly shifted to conducting the majority of its business online.

Originally focused primarily on the carrier Ethernet space, MEF has worked for years on developing standards and certifications. Across the past few years, its remit has expanded greatly across other technologies, making its certification work of ever-greater importance to operators in emerging markets.

The pandemic has prompted a global surge in demand for data, with video-grade networks required now for entertainment as well as basic communication with those we’ve been unable to see in person. Operator groups were already on this journey, but have been forced to accelerate their strategies to meet this demand.

It’s no secret that many emerging markets suffer from a digital inclusion gap, but building a business case around correcting this can be challenging. We caught up with Elisabeth Medou Badang, Senior VP of Orange Middle East and Africa, to discuss the operator group’s Digital Centres and how a strategy focused on the benefits of connectivity is key to driving demand.

Vikram Sinha is a veteran of the telecoms industry, having spent 10 years with Bharti Airtel across India and Africa before moving to the Ooredoo Group.

Delivering reliable coverage in Africa presents many logistical challenges, but since joining Airtel Africa in 2016 the group’s Chief Technology Officer Razvan Ungureanu has overseen the expansion and development of the operator’s networks into some of the continent’s most isolated and unconnected areas.

The impact of fraud can be devastating for operators in emerging markets who are working with extremely low ARPU.

The collection, storage, and usage of customer data is a hot-button issue across the telecoms industry post-Cambridge Analytica, particularly within Europe following the introduction of the EU’s GDPR laws.

Developing Telecoms’ Founder Alec Barton recently caught up with Kaan Terzioğlu, CEO of Turkcell at Huawei’s Operations Transformation Forum 2018 (#OTF2018) in Munich.