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March 28, 2025

Insights and emerging trends from a week in Barcelona

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Martin Creaner, WBBA Director General, March 2025

If there was one theme that stood out during MWC in Barcelona 2025 it was that AI is everywhere and it’s shaping the way the industry globally is looking to generate efficiencies and drive innovative business models.

The ‘app-less’ AI Phone by Deutsche Telekom and Perplexity was one standout for me, allowing users to perform tasks like making reservations and shopping through voice interactions. As was Opera's Agentic Browser allowing users to instruct it in natural language to complete actions like purchasing items or booking tickets. While at the network level, Huawei’s announcement of their AI WAN for 5.5G Networks resonated well with the WBBA Net5.5G vision for a seamless, high quality end-to-end high bandwidth, low latency network, stretching from the access network to the datacenter network.

These announcements underscore the growing integration of AI across various devices and services, and confirmed what many in the industry already know, AI is not just an emerging trend, it’s a fundamental strategic pillar in the Telco industry.

5G remained a hot topic at the event with a strong focus on operational efficiency and identifying ways to improve customer experience by leveraging automation.  It was not hard to find operators who have been disappointed with the ROI they have received from 5G, and a lot of the discussion in Barcelona was on how to monetize 5G (and possibly 5G-Advanced) more effectively.  Private 5G was another top conversation and we saw many verticals such as utilities and defense announcing the adoption of private 5G alongside leading vendors. Surprisingly, there was almost no talk from anyone on the topic of 6G and I don’t expect that to change until 5G monetization improves.

Although there was little mention of 6G there were interesting discussions around how next-generation communication standards need to think more broadly and to accommodate the increasing linkages between different communications technologies (mobile, WiFi, Satellite, fixed, etc..) and the evolving demands of AI and the Metaverse.

At the WBBA Broadband Development Congress event we looked at all aspects of how the broadband industry is going from strength to strength, accommodating the massive demands of AI while also helping to address the inequality of broadband access across the world.

There were several compelling and thought-provoking Thought Leadership White Papers published by the WBBA and our partners.  The white paper on the current and potential uses of AI during the pre-deployment phases of broadband networks was well received as was the launch of the ‘Gigacity Index 2025’.  This ranks cities from 30 countries across the globe in terms of their broadband sophistication. With gigabit broadband services pivotal to delivering next-generation internet services, and establishing a premium business environment, the first issue of the Index assesses cities such as Singapore, Shanghai, New York, Madrid and Zurich, ranking their broadband capabilities and highlighting the policies and investment approaches that led them to becoming Gigacities.

The WBBA continued to help move the industry forward with the launch of the latest Net5.5G white paper that focused on use cases from across five continents which demonstrate successful Net5.5G scenarios and functionalities from operators, carriers and other key industry players.  This collection of use cases showed how the Net5.5G architecture is already being deployed by many operators and stakeholders all over the world.

If you’re interested in learning more, all our WBBA white papers can be found on our WBBA Knowledge Centre  here.

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Key Messages
Key Messages
Recommendations
Recommendations
The Importance of Greater Broadband Investment​
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Key Messages

Advanced cloud technology together with superior end-to-end connectivity can enable a wider and more sophisticated range of applications that can in turn drive greater innovation, efficiency, and wealth.
Both enterprises and broader industry ecosystems are actively looking at broadband’s role in enabling their digital transformation. Most respondents to the WBBA’s Thought Leadership Enterprise Survey stated that they need faster and more reliable internet to run their business applications.
Certainly, in the short to medium term, xDSL, cable modem, fixed-wireless access (FWA), and satellite are all expected to have a role in the delivery of broadband services. However, full-fiber access will always deliver the optimum experience and remains the most sustainable and cost-efficient option.
There is a danger therefore for governments to base their cost-benefit analysis on a national economic view. However, such analysis will miss all the social benefits, as well as the more local economic benefits, that advanced broadband networks can bring. Governments must take all benefits into account, including more localized ones, when creating national broadband policies.
However, future applications will not only need ultra-high-speed services but also ultra-low latency and jitter, with high levels of reliability and consistency if they are to function properly. Countries with networks that are not capable of meeting such criteria will be left behind as the world moves to the next phase of internet applications such as the “metaverse.”
Fiber networks are significantly more environmentally friendly than equivalent copper-based networks, and can help support other green initiatives such as greater working from home, the use of advanced videoconferencing, etc. Fiber-based networks also require less maintenance due to there being less active equipment in the field, and can therefore reduce operators’ operational costs.
With rollout of new access technologies like 5G and Fiber, IPv6 reached more than 30% penetration worldwide (APNIC) and is rapidly growing. IPv6 Enhanced technologies, including segment routing over IPv6, per flow monitoring and AI, enable a multitude of objects and people to be flexibly connected to the proper services, granting end-to-end quality of experience.
Based on the responses from the WBBA Thought Leadership Survey, respondents believed, on average, this coverage could be expanded to approximately 70% through private investment. It is clear that government support will be needed to get to 100%.
However, a lack of data on the available infrastructure, access to key infrastructure such as ducts and in-building networks, and a lack of understanding both internally and externally are also key barriers to further investment.
Respondents to the WBBA survey stated that a reduction in regulatory barriers, greater flexibility in partnership arrangements, copper switch-off regulations, and setting out minimum service standards for network installations, would all take priority over financial support.

Recommendations

All countries must look to maximize the potential of broadband. This means creating long-term national broadband plans that evolve around three basic phases of broadband adoption:

  • Phase 1: Fast deployment of basic connectivity (most likely focusing on wireless technologies)
  • Phase 2: Continued rollout of fixed-broadband access to 100% of premises
  • Phase 3: Continued investment in advanced broadband technologies to move to gigabit societies and beyond.

In order to help facilitate this evolution to advanced broadband networks, government organizations and regulators must consider:

  • Implementing regulatory flexibility, including the removal of outdated or non-essential regulation
  • Introducing flexibility in partnership arrangements; for example, allowing agreements between players, such as co-financing, collaborative models, public-private partnerships, etc.
  • Facilitating deployment through municipality approvals, using existing resources (government buildings, streetlights, ducts, etc.) and sharing infrastructure and facilities, including in-building networks. This should also include other types of utility infrastructure where possible
  • Providing financial assistance through investment support, incentives, and subsidies; e.g., universal service funds
  • Improving access to telecom facilities and physical infrastructure; improving procedures for rights of way and accessing public infrastructure, as well as broadband mapping.
Making the Recommendations a Reality

Operators, enterprises, vendors, regulators, and policy-makers should seek to create a collective voice, to evangelize, advocate, co-create, and partner in the drive toward the provision of ultra-broadband networks and services for all. Organizations such as the WBBA can help by influencing key stakeholders through discussion, education, and promotion. Specifically, the WBBA should aim to:

  • Set out the importance of greater broadband investment, not just for the good of the service provider but for countries as a whole
  • Promote regulatory, legislative, public relations agendas that help advance the interests of members through WBBA publications and live events, highlighting best-practice business models from around the world to remove any “lack of understanding at boardroom level”
  • Influence through research, discussion, and promotion of new potential marketing or naming concepts for fixed broadband to ease mass-market understanding of the different generations of broadband access – hiding technical jargon such as “Mbps,” “latency,” and “jitter” from the customer
  • Through thought leadership, media activity, and live events, continue to make the case for what governments need to recognize and do to close the industry innovation, socioeconomic, and environmental benefit gaps through infrastructure investment
  • Explore through new research the challenges and opportunities arising from changes in the industry structure, addressing its impact on the business and the standardization landscape. This includes aspects of fiber wholesale, the move toward horizontal industry structure with separation of infrastructure and services, and the change of customer relationship to digital
  • Work with stakeholder partners to understand and promote the potential of future applications that will bring new benefits to broadband customers and wider society
  • Develop in-depth thought-leadership research on the new revenue opportunities advanced networks can provide to service providers in both the consumer and enterprise markets
  • Develop and highlight best-practice investment models that show the true return on investment of a full-fiber rollout to both private companies and government organizations
  • Champion the needs of its members to highlight barriers to future investment, creating a platform to enable open discussion between different types of stakeholder to encourage greater cooperation and new partnerships.

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