
All Aboard the Telco AI Hype Train? A Mobile World Live Panel Provides a Deep Dive

AI isn’t a new phenomenon in the telecom sector , but the advent of generative AI (GenAI) has added a dimension to the technology and its applications, unlocking new possibilities for telcos to improve their operations, services, customer experience—even social impact.
Exploring this topic in depth, Mobile World Live hosted a panel discussion: “Should Telcos Fully Get on Board the AI Hype Train?” The panel featured four industry experts:
Chad Dunavant , EVP, chief product & strategy officer, CSG
Abhishek Sandhir , managing director, telecommunications, Sand Technologies
Lasha Tabidze , group digital operations & performance officer, VEON
Peter Jarich , head of research, GSMA Intelligence
The panel was moderated by Kavit Majithia, managing news editor of Mobile World Live .
If you’re trying to determine where GenAI is helpful or overhyped when it comes to the telco business, you didn’t want to miss this discussion. But if you did, here’s a breakdown—focusing on the opportunities and challenges of AI for telcos, along with the use cases and advice provided by the expert panelists.
THE AI OPPORTUNITY FOR TELCOS
The panel kicked off with an industry overview from GSMA Intelligence’s Peter Jarich, who highlighted the hype and the reality of AI for telcos. He showed some data from GSMA Intelligence research that indicated that while AI is a strategic technology priority for many operators, it is not as high as other technologies such as automation, open networks and 5G. Over a third of respondents in a GSMA Intelligence survey said GenAI was either very or extremely important as a strategic priority. But that ranked GenAI at the bottom of other priorities surveyed; for comparison, open networking technologies like Open RAN were seen as very or extremely important by 79% of respondents.
“They’re still not quite on board that hype train,” Peter said, pointing out that the commercial deployment of GenAI is still low, but the testing and trialing is high. That suggests that operators know the technology is important, but they’re still figuring out how to leverage it effectively.
But there are use cases already yielding benefits, according to the panel. Chad Dunavant gave an example of how CSG uses AI , which reduces calls to the contact center, speeds up time to payment and fosters a better customer relationship.