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July 15, 2026

Leading the Network 2030: WBBA Officially Launches AI-Net, a Globally Authoritative Data Communications Certification

BANGKOK, THAILAND, July 14, 2026 —— At the Asia-Pacific Broadband Development Summit (BDS), the World Broadband Association (WBBA) officially launched AI-Net, a globally authoritative data communications certification for countries and operators worldwide. Serving as a digital infrastructure milestone, the certification provides a strategic guideline for global networks to transition from connectivity-driven architectures to intelligence-driven networks, propelling global infrastructure from the "All-Cloud" era into the "All-Intelligence" era, while accelerating industry-wide generational evolution and intelligent transformation.

Currently, AI is reshaping the global economy, demanding higher carrying capacity, scalability, and intelligence from underlying infrastructure. As industries transition to Net5.5G, traditional metrics like bandwidth and coverage no longer reflect national competitiveness in the intelligent era. Consequently, the WBBA introduced the AI-Net Certification, focusing on three new pillars: national policy guidance, collaborative industry ecosystems, and Net5.5G penetration rate. This highly quantifiable evaluation system aims to accelerate global Net5.5G deployment by aligning top-level policies with industrial ecosystems to systematically benchmark technological maturity.

AI-Net Certification

During the launch, the WBBA elaborated on the bidirectional empowerment of the AI-Net Certification, highlighting its dual core values:

First, "Network for AI" establishes networks as the foundational bedrock for intelligent computing rather than mere transmission pipelines. By delivering deterministic performance—characterized by high throughput, zero packet loss, and ultra-low latency—modern network infrastructure fully unleashes the potential of intelligence. This ensures seamless, deep coordination between computing power and network scheduling, providing guaranteed experience quality for elastic demands and optimizing data efficiency for large-scale AI model training and inference.

Second, "AI for Network" injects native intelligence directly into devices and management platforms. By deeply integrating AI capabilities, networks transition from passive routing to active cognitive systems with endogenous intelligence, self-healing, and continuous self-optimization. This structural shift drives infrastructure toward highly automated "Agentic" O&M and AN L4, drastically reducing operational complexity and mitigating maintenance overhead for global operators.

WBBA Director General Martin Creaner elaborating on the AI-Net Certification

The AI-Net assessment spans both macroeconomic and microeconomic dimensions. At the macroeconomic level, the certification evaluates national policy alignment and industry-building efforts. Key criteria include top-level policy frameworks anchoring Net5.5G, IPv6, and intelligent networks, alongside active contributions to global standards and ecosystem collaboration. At the microeconomic level, the assessment benchmarks operators using the IP Network Development Index (IPDI) launched by the WBBA at MWC, precisely measuring live-network intelligence and Advanced IP/Net5.5G deployment density to identify Net5.5G pioneers.

Moving beyond Wide Area Networks, the certification's scope extends to end-to-end digital foundations, integrating highly interconnected Data Center Networks and comprehensive endogenous security systems into its core criteria. This multidimensional alignment not only highlights a nation's strategic foresight but also validates the full-scenario, highly secure network capabilities delivered by leading operators in specialized sectors like automated logistics, smart retail, and smart cities.

"A trusted, industry-recognized benchmark, AI-Net turns the Four Forces into measurable progress toward Network 2030." Moving forward, the WBBA will leverage this certification to build global consensus among policymakers, standards organizations, and leading operators. By accelerating unified standards and closing the digital divide, the initiative will construct an "AI-ready" network foundation to drive industries toward the 2030 intelligent future.

 

About the World Broadband Association:

The World Broadband Association (WBBA) is an open, multilateral organization and platform that brings together cloud and broadband industry stakeholders to address and drive forward the shared goals of maximizing the social and economic benefits of digital ultra-broadband for all globally. The WBBA champions the business, consumer and citizen outcomes that broadband can deliver across the world, through converged network and cloud infrastructure.

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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.