Trends and Future of Telecom, Media and Technology from MWC25

The future of AI and edge computing is taking shape NOW at #MWC25!

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Join host Patrick Moorhead and Anand Swaminathan, EVP & Global Industry Leader – Telecom, Media and Technology at Infosys, on Six Five On The Road for a dynamic discussion on AI, edge computing, and the evolving role of telcos.

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Key takeaways include :

• The Rise of the Edge: Why hyperscalers and telcos are increasingly focused on edge computing as the next frontier for AI deployments.
• The Telco Transformation: How telcos are shifting from consumer-centric models to become key players in the enterprise edge and AI ecosystem.
• Overcoming Data Hurdles: The critical need for data readiness and how Infosys is helping telco providers and enterprises leverage their data for AI success.
• Navigating Complexity: How Infosys acts as a trusted advisor, guiding enterprises through the complexities of a rapidly changing technology landscape.

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Learn more at Infosys.

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Watch the full video above, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, so you never miss an episode.

Patrick Moorhead:
The Six Five is On The Road here in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress 2025. It’s been a great event so far. I mean, all the insights that we’re picking up from the carriers, from the equipment providers, it’s been really, really good. And the optimism is high. And I can’t think of a better person to have a conversation with, kind of share observations of what we’re seeing than Anand from Infosys. Anand, great to see you again.

Anand Swaminathan:
Thank you, Pat. Such a pleasure. You know, we met just a couple of months ago at Davos and it’s nice to follow up, you know, at the Mobile World Congress. I agree with you. It’s the second day here and there’s very palpable optimism. You can see it and sense it around across the carriers, the OEMs, as well as the software companies that are out here, including their size. So let me just start with this. So far, what’s been your observation, key trends that you’re seeing?

Patrick Moorhead:
Well, a couple things. So talk a little bit about optimism. And the reason that the carriers are more optimistic is I think they’re integrating the opportunity on the edge. The physical edge relates to AI. If you think of the factories, the airports, the distribution centers, the retail stores, the medical facilities like hospitals, they’re starting to see that they could have a play there. And it’s not that 5G was a complete disappointment for everybody. Some people did very well there. They had reduced costs, and new players came onto the scene. But this idea that with all this data that is being captured on the edge in many regions in the world, many countries, they are the power players that are providing these types of services to those enterprises. So it’s less of a consumer play. And now that I jog my memory with some of the executives of these companies, it was very much focused on the enterprise. Even the carrier equipment providers who normally are narrowed in on the service providers. They are talking a lot about what they can do for the enterprise as well in the context of this new AI type of opportunity.

Anand Swaminathan:
Okay, that’s quite interesting. From the opportunity at the edge, if I were to look at the value chain that it takes to deliver the value. Finally, one of the big missing components I see is the data readiness, particularly with telcos. As an example, if you look at the missed truck roll, for every missed truck roll, telcos incur a lot of costs in terms of actually getting the final order serviced or the customer issue service. So that’s one area that we are heavily focused on. How do we increase or reduce the time to market for the telcos to get the value out of AI and in this case, being on the edge. But it also could be in other areas, could be on the network, for example, could be on the customer support and service. There’s a lot of opportunity that we see there. So clearly I see a lot of conversations around, how do we now go to the next level of how do we make AI real? How do we get the data prepared and how do we capitalize on opportunities like on the edge, the confluence of different companies here, how do you see that play out? There is a palpable tension between the hyperscalers and the operators and so on. What’s your take? What do you see? Where do you see the chips falling?

Patrick Moorhead:
Yeah. So one of the trends that I failed to mention was that all of the major hyperscalers are here. Okay. And even I would call them kind of the second wave of them. And what they realize is that they cannot fulfill what they want to fulfill in the next five, maybe even 10 years without having a very strong edge. And edge is not where these companies play. In fact, you’ve seen many of the hyperscalers eliminate their IoT edge platforms. Okay. And what that does is that creates an opportunity for the service provider to make that happen. And there’s always been an unhealthy, healthy tension between hyperscalers and service providers. And I feel that the hyperscalers are finally realizing they can’t do what they want to do without this. And I think we might see some investments and more than I would call tactical implementations there. I think part of the challenge though, is, you know, getting those hyperscalers and those carriers connected in a more meaningful way so the hyperscalers can deliver that. And it’s not, not about or like the cloud or the edge. It’s really the cloud and the edge that people are realizing.

Anand Swaminathan:
Yeah, I think that’s a good way to summarize it. And you can also see it in the narrative now with the service providers, for example, they are talking more as an ecosystem player rather than the only player who would address an enterprise. I think there is a lot of realization that you need a set of partners to make things work in an enterprise, both from a service provider as well as from a cloud provider or a hyperscaler standpoint. Because a lot of complex things that make up an enterprise are not that easy to fix in a proprietary closed loop system. So I see a lot of energy in terms of really getting open and transparent about how we bring the right set of players to solve problems. And that’s where we find the value from a service integrator standpoint or systems integrator standpoint, where we come in with an understanding of the vertical, the specific business process and the issue and how do we then bring the ecosystem of players to solve the problem. And the number of conversations around this area has multiplied over the years and particularly this year seems like an year where it could actually take off given the focus on edge and AI.

Patrick Moorhead:
Yeah. And the trusted advisor that you play with others is super important when there is conflict because as we say, you don’t have a dog in the hunt. What you’re trying to do is solve your customers’ problems. And whether that involves a hyperscaler carrier equipment company or talk about conflict, you have carrier equipment companies going directly to the enterprise and you have the traditional companies that were enterprise network providers going to the carrier. So you are the glue that pulls this together. I think there’s a lot of demand for that because in the end you don’t play favorites. Right. You’re trying to deliver that longevity. And I mean, I think you have sometimes 40 years of experience with these players there. So the trust I think is there between those companies and you’re doing work for the hyperscalers as well.

So that’s the area that, the big area that I see you playing also it’s very technical, which you’re not just a management consultant that’s saying, hey, here’s a great strategy of how you two can work together. You’re doing that, but you’re also taking responsibility that this actually works and it’s getting the quality of service at the edge. And this is the other reason why I think the carriers have an opportunity here is they know the quality of service. And I heard it this week, hey, what’s the cost of downtime for a single minute in your factory? It was $100,000. And well, what’s the biggest source of your frustration right now? And they said, well, it’s the network, it’s the quality of service and the integration of how everything came in together from all of the equipment on the manufacturing floor with the people and the power and pulling that whole thing together. I want to loop back to what you said about the data. Okay. In all of our research it says that data is the number one impediment to a successful generative AI launch. And we all know, we all went to school and it was garbage in, garbage out. Data’s always been important, but it’s amplified with Generative AI because it’s pulling data from all, all of these different places. It’s not just one slice that is together and then you add agents on top of that which are more action oriented and your capability goes up, but your risk goes up as well if the data’s bad.

Anand Swaminathan:
Yeah, absolutely. That’s why this year in MWC we have announced a solution called Telco Insights with a few partners. And this is about how you leverage the enterprise data to deliver specific enterprise value. I spoke about the truck roll example. We have similar applications on network issues or failures and many other areas that we’re building so that Telco can actually look at how you leverage the data, build agentic AI and get to the final value sooner than later. And to do that it requires pulling together a multitude of technologies with considerations around security, privacy and everything to get there. And we are happy to progress on that. On the point that you mentioned, Pat, around the opportunity with the different players and bringing them together for an enterprise, the way I kind of see it is now everyone is reimagining their business given the opportunity to reimagine with AI in play. And one area that it’s getting very strongly re-examined is the channel to the customer. Now what used to be a very nicely laid out channel of chip suppliers to the OEM players, to the software companies, to their size and others into the clients. And now there is no order. Now there is chaos in a way where everyone wants to directly engage and maximize their value.

So in the process the enterprise customer is a little confused. Who do I go to, what do I buy and how do I really make my value finally come true? And that’s where we are thinking quite deeply is how do we structure the right partnerships and not a lot of them, a few of them. And how do we therefore go to market in a way where it can deliver the best value to the enterprise. So there is a lot of excitement. And with excitement there is disorder. And if we sort this out correctly, I think there will be a phenomenal value at the end. And the players who are able to play this in a more collaborative way with a clear vision, I think have a good chance to succeed.

Patrick Moorhead:
Yeah, I hadn’t even thought of it from that point of view, but in disintermediation and opportunity, everybody’s going for the brass ring, right. They want to be the first, you know, even. And it’s wild. Like, even chip providers, like, who would have thought 25 years ago? I mean, I always thought chips were awesome.

Anand Swaminathan:
Yeah.

Patrick Moorhead:
But they’re not the solution. Right. And yeah, pulling that together and you having these types of relationships and strategic alignments on the technical side, sales side, and the marketing for joint go to market, it just makes sense. And in the end, your customers are looking for solutions to their problems. I know, it just sounds like that’s a throwaway, a line, but it is important. Sometimes we do get caught up in the moment, oh my gosh, this AI technology is so amazing. Right. But in the end, it has to deliver something , has to drive revenue, has to increase customer stickiness or lower costs, and if not, businesses shouldn’t be doing it. And there’s experimentation that has to go on before you get there. But that’s definitely another added value that I see you and other SI’s playing in the marketplace.

Anand Swaminathan:
So, you know, as we are discussing this, what comes to my mind is aligning the digital and physical world. And that’s where I think we will get to the next level of value creation. And you started that. You started with value on the edge or AI on the edge as one of the focal areas. Clearly that’s coming, coming out as the biggest opportunity for the service providers now. And that’s something that we are excited to see how to work with the service providers. The next is how do we create a more open ecosystem to deliver final value to enterprise and how do we traverse the competing forces here? With a very mature approach to it. Because you’re competing with a person, but you’re also collaborating with them on a different level. Right. So as sis, we have the balance. We have to balance it out in a way that we are creating value for the final customer, but at the same time we are also managing these forces well. So it’s pretty exciting at times stressful. But I think that actually reflects the kind of opportunity that we are in. I think there is going to be a separation for all these players as we go forward with, with SI’s, with hyperscalers or with other players. I can see that clearly coming. Opportunity is big and exciting, but I don’t think it’s cut out for everyone. There’s some serious groundwork to be done from here on.

Patrick Moorhead:
Yeah, I mean, this is harder than it always looks. We all get disappointed at the first round, but we always underestimate the long term value of any one of these technologies. Kind of like we overemphasized the cloud in the first couple years and reality set in and then it skyrocketed. I think we saw the same thing with Generative AI right now. People are like, does this thing actually work or do something? And you know, the trough of disillusionment, they say. But absolutely. I think as an industry, we know what the challenges are and we’re figuring out ways to solve them collaboratively where everybody makes money in the industry because we’re making tremendous amounts of investments. So fascinating conversation here. I wanted to give you the last word, Anand, if you’d like to maybe sort of any final observations you might have.

Anand Swaminathan:
I think the final observation I would say, Pat, AI is for real. We are seeing that happen. Huge investments going in real use cases, both on revenue enhancements and cost efficiency playing out. And we, as I said, announced the telco insight solutions, which is a way to realize value from AI faster. We are personally quite excited about it. Our current positioning in the market in terms of the work we have done with all the constituents that we talked about gives us the unique opportunity to play a leading role as we go into the future. But we need a lot of collaborative consultative engagement and discussions to make that happen. And in that area, I really appreciate the insights you bring and the perspective you’ve been bringing the market. So look forward to this collaboration and look forward to helping our customers together.

Patrick Moorhead:
Yeah, hopefully this is the second Six Five we’ve done together and hopefully I think our viewers want to see where this thing goes. So thank you very much, Anand. I appreciate that.

Anand Swaminathan:
Thank you very much.

Patrick Moorhead:
This is Patrick Moorhead of the Six Five and of course, Moor Insights and Strategy. We’re glad you tuned in. Hit all of the Mobile World Congress 2025 content and also the discussions we’ve had with emphasis out there. Hit that subscribe button. Take care.