Mobile World Congress 2018 will witness high speed technologies like massive MIMO, millimetre wave & 5G and industrial Internet technologies like IoT gain prominence. This year, the focus is also on artificial intelligence, machine learning and security.
Commenting on artificial intelligence, Doron Youngerwood, Product Manager, Artificial Intelligence, Amdocs said, “Over the last year or so, we have witnessed a surge in the adoption of AI platforms to drive customer engagement and enable service providers to deal with the high volumes of inbound requests. Machine learning and automation have become essential due to the speed, scale, or complexity of the customer data that needs to be processed. Based on this intelligence, operators can anticipate issues that are likely to lead to complaints and pre-emptively engage with those customers before they pick up the phone to contact the call centre. AI can save operators time and money – reducing inbounds to call centres by around 15%, while increasing net promoter scores by 20%.
“We anticipate a string of AI-related announcements at the show, and not just from the mobile carriers but other service providers and brands too, all looking at ways and means to deliver a more complete customer experience. We’re looking forward to seeing new AI concepts and innovations across the board,” added Youngerwood.
Speaking on digital transformation, John English, Senior Product Manager, Service Providers, Netscout said, “Digital transformation will power a surge in momentum for the IoT, with the number of connected devices predicted to reach 30.73 billion by 2020.”
“At MWC, we also expect to see more examples of how the IoT can touch all aspects of the digital economy, unlocking enormous benefits in a wide range of sectors, from agriculture to automotive. With more and more IoT technologies underpinning critical applications, such as disaster monitoring and military situational awareness, service delivery assurance and security assurance will come into sharp focus. Conversations at the show will therefore focus on the increasing challenge of maintaining connectivity and communication across a myriad of devices and infrastructures in the IoT age,” commented English.
Sesh Krishnamoorthy, Director, Product Management at Blue Danube Systems said, “At MWC 2018, we will see new technology that can address operators’ capacity demands and performance issues in high-density areas, in a cost-effective way. This new technology will be in the form of innovations in Massive MIMO.”
“As a long-term solution to their capacity and network performance issues, operators are also investing heavily in the 5G, which will inevitably be the hottest topic at the show. The real winners at MWC will be the technology providers offering a 5G ready solution today, which can also support operators with their current deployments,” commented Krishnamoorthy.
“Smart cities will be a major point of focus at MWC, from the autonomous vehicles which will transport their citizens to the innovations in the medical industry which will help improve welfare. Digital DAS deployed in a C-RAN model will emerge as the critical network architecture required to make these concepts a reality, allowing capacity to be cost-effectively distributed to different sectors of a building or areas across a smart city. This approach can support a wide range of applications, including cellular, public safety and last-mile IP backhaul for WiFi services, such as surveillance cameras and IoT devices”, said Rami Hasarchi, VP Coverage, Cobham Wireless.
“Expect announcements at MWC of further trials of driverless cars, and new collaborations between AI and machine learning specialists, and vehicle manufacturers. But slow and steady will win this race: there will be no commercial deployment of autonomous vehicles next year, and it will be more important to invest resources into developing and crystallising the 5G fundamentals,” says Li-Ke Huang, Research and Technology Director, Cobham Wireless.
“Millimeter wave 5G connectivity was all the hype at MWC last year. At this year’s show, service providers will be focusing their attention on the properties of the mid-band spectrum for delivering 5G connectivity. The mid-band is set to become the workhorse for urban 5G capacity as well as wireless broadband in residential and rural areas. Many residential and rural areas are only reached today with scarce low-band mobile spectrum and have a very limited choice of wireline broadband options. This underscores the need to push new wireless broadband options to homes in these areas where fibre is too costly and where mobile coverage and capacity are not viable options,” says Jaime Fink, CTO and Co-Founder, Mimosa Networks
“Lastly, we expect security to take centre stage during the event. Technology is advancing and fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated, meaning operators must look to stop threats before they hit. Protecting networks, revenues, customers and business reputation requires a global, collaborative approach, with organisations working together to safeguard communications and connectivity. MWC offers a fertile ground for discussing these issues and planning for the future,” said Daniel Kurgan, CEO, BICS.
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