Published January 2026

The Great Telco Debate returned to London in December 2025 for its twelfth year, bringing senior industry leaders together for five sharply focused debates on the strategic choices facing telecoms operators.

This recap of the day's discussions, which covered AI infrastructure, the access edge, network APIs, automation and autonomy, and the business case for 5G standalone, looks at each session in turn, summarising the main arguments and viewpoints, gives a brief description of the motions and reveals whether they were passed or defeated by the live audience.

It also includes links to the relevant videos, so you can watch the debates in full to get the complete sense and energy of each discussion as they took place.