Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (00:07):
So we are in Barcelona's Mobile World Congress 2025. I'm here with Enrique Blanco Group CTO at Telefonica. Enrique, thanks so much for taking time out of your schedule to come and talk to us again, always a pleasure to see you and to swap photographs of our granchildren, thats the.

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (00:24):
Yeah,

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (00:24):
Highlight of my week so far.

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (00:26):
So you know that in this congress, one of the best moment, it is this moment. So with you.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (00:33):
So

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (00:33):
Thank you for your kind invitation every year.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (00:37):
Thank you for coming. So you're acting in the final weeks as group CTO at Telefonica. So in reflection, what advances in the telecom sector how pleased you most in the past 10, 20 years?

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (00:53):
So it's a good question. So I had been reflecting about that. So we had been doing an extremely turnover of the access technology in the Telefonica and in the industries. Fiber had been a must. So you know that in the past year we were closing all the copper,

(01:15):
All the single piece of copper in our network in Spain and we are doing the same other countries and they have been given an additional iCal step through the quality and the digitalization of our customer. It has been amazing and we need to solve a lot of troubles and issue. We need to solve the customer premises, equipment, the operational model, the fiber deployments, so ducts quality and so on. And this has been dramatical change and today we are extremely proud when we are and we are pushing to the industry trying to improve and improve and the next cycle will be 10 upon and hopefully in the next cycle with 50 GP in each home of our customers. So when I was in Barcelona in the Olympics, all the rings, they were rings of two gigas. Today we are offering this to a single customer. It is amazing.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (02:08):
Wow. Yeah that's

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (02:09):
All. The ization in the past 10 year have been an extraordinary journey. Virtualization of the platform's, network pieces, IT B-S-S-O-S-S have been an amazing journey but it is still exploit is incredible what we are doing, all the access with the desegregation in the transport. So all the ization and all the autonomous network journey that we are building around the software pieces, it is a significant part of our quality, of our flexibility, of our efficiency and this is just a way that it is going to be amazing. So we change a lot but with that extraordinary focus in the customer experience.

(02:53):
Some people forget when they see the technology and this is one of my main and giants. So we are working for societies, we are working for customers so we cannot do nothing. It is going against customer pasta the year I told you. So when you are grandpa the future you can identify the eyes that they will be looking the future. It is the blue or green eyes of your granddaughter energy saving, renewable usage emissions. So we don't take any decision on who it is going against this. We don't take any decision on who it is going against our customer satisfaction. And if you see all the step that we did in the past, they're going this way. We have a lot of thing to do but my perception it is that we are in the right way

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (03:45):
Heading the right direction. Okay, excellent. Now you mentioned that the big changes there and it was 10 years ago you asked us to come to Madrid to talk about network virtualization and that's been a big journey since then. How has the development from 2014 onwards, how has that led to the networks we add today? Has that been a big influence on how this industry has evolved and how operators like Telefonica have evolved

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (04:20):
But if you see that So we start to virtualize all the IT pieces and switching off a significant part of the system and the legacy they have been our north star. They have been showing us what we need to do with the pieces that they are managing our customer and finally how need to be the pieces that they are managing our network capabilities. All the BSS today are just evolving through native cloud pieces. All the BSS who they are, the commercial pieces, all the platform that we have in the past, managing voice, managing packet core managing PSRF, managing everything they are today, fully virtualize it in 2014. So we were just pushing and trying to convince to the industry and even we need to define our own NFV pieces pushing to the industry to do it. Today it is nobody can understand that you will be just building a packet core who it is not fully virtualized.

(05:26):
It doesn't matter if it is in a vertical but today even we are just testing with the public cloud with all the security and all the performance. So this is a journey that it is going to be just moving and moving and because of this we have all the AI pieces that they are helping us trying to go through an autonomous real capabilities. We are learning ai, we are ready engine ai but we have a huge experience in machine learning, classic ai, they're helping us trying to build efficiencies, quality velocity and so on. We did it in the transport with the SDN in the disaggregation.

(06:03):
We can support growing 50% of traffic maintaining flood CapEx and offering additional quality. And this is because the virtualization in disaggregation, we did it with the evolution to JI point, it is over open broadband capabilities. They mean that we have been including new providers that they are managing multiplier one giga, 10 giga in a pure desegregated software which is helping us trying to move faster through the 10 G point evolution.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (06:31):
Right.

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (06:32):
And the cycle of 5G have been so fast that we cannot manage the open run approach but we are working very hard trying to guarantee that the base band and the architecture in the cycle of 2030 for the looks like six G need to be done over a new architecture that can be helping us trying to avoid the migration to 5G to six G and so on. And we are working very hard in this. It is a journey. It is extraordinary because what you think that it is the right architecture, first of all you need to convince the industry, you need to work in the standardization ORs you need to convince to all the industry and later on you need to be implementing that but looking to the flexibility to the efficiency and to the final customer and societies and in this envelope. So it is everything that is fully aligned. I have not any doubt that Andrea Geria that will be in my church in a few days, in fact we are just with the handover. She has an extraordinary journey I will enjoy. So looking how this is happening,

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (07:45):
Well one of the things I'm sure she'll be advancing and working with is developments and network automation. Because that's a big part of this transformation we've been seeing is that journey towards automation becoming more of a reality now with the greater use of different kinds of AI tools in the network management systems.

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (08:09):
No doubt AI for that autonomous network journey, it is a tool, an extraordinary tool but it is a tool we decide trying to push in the TM forum designing and defining how need to be the way trying to see which are the KPIs. It is just impossible improve if you don't have the right KPIs to see how you are improving.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (08:36):
Right?

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (08:37):
And this is because we were extremely active and I really appreciate the big effort of the DM forum and all the people that they are a part of the DM forum. So we design and we define how need to be evolution. We define which is the higher layer and level of automation. So it is five Telefonica is today in the three. So we have the three over five. We are improving 3.5 in some countries and the new generative ai, IT is helping us trying to make this easier and faster,

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (09:07):
Right?

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (09:09):
This mean that we are implementing. So all these tools helping us trying to predict how the network creating digital twins trying to simulate what is going to happen in sun events. So how to be planning in the right way. And this is amazing because we are improving the network and we are learning about gene AI and we have the right engineer, we have the right processes and this process cannot be stopped. It will be faster and faster and faster. But AI, it is a tool helping us trying to be better. It is not a target itself, it is a tool for us. Once we learn, once we are our engineers they will be just getting all this teaching and so on. So I'm fully convinced that we are just only in the starting, we don't know what it is going to happen, how the AI will be helping us trying to even create and redefine the antenna's capabilities and so on. And this is amazing what is going to happen with the AI over the antennas? What is going to be the AI over the laser that they are marry in FDTH. We are just starting but we'll improve radically and this improvement, it is not just about CapEx, it is not about efficiency. It is about how we can improve the societies that we are serving.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (10:32):
Okay. Hey you mentioned the open ran a few minutes ago and obviously Telefonica has been one of the operators of pushing that and the industry in a certain direction. Where are you in that journey? Are you still in a kind of phase of figuring out the best way to go down that route?

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (10:56):
Open interfaces. It is mandatory and we have this in our hands, a baseband that can be ubi cool. So can be located in the antennas or can be located in the cloud. It is going to be a reality. We are testing cloud solutions. But today we are testing cloud run approaches. We are testing in the labs, we are testing in the field, real trial in the next three, four years we will be implementing the baseband, fully virtualized it with the antennas.

(11:29):
And from my point of view, we have some testing in uk, in Germany, in Spain. We are testing and it is working well. But the point is we need to implement this base van fully virtualized it. We need to give the opportunity to the antennas to be every day, every day much more smart and smart, smart and we need to implement this base band. Doesn't matter if it is co-located or co-located. Trying to guarantee that the cycle with the new frequencies and the new interfaces need to be as smooth and flexible.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (12:05):
Right?

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (12:05):
Today it is a turnkey, it is side by side. This is the opportunity that our industry has, how we can manage this in a different way. And we are in a very good proposition because all the natural providers, they are moving there finally without the pressure of the greenfield or brownfield. And this is a matter of months that we will see how we will evolve. And my main attribute is we need to be really trying to deploy the new antennas for the new cycle of spectrum and so on. We are in this way. I'm extremely trust that this is happening and this is going to happen and this is one of the last step of the virtualization because if using my CapEx 80% of all the CapEx today it is fully virtualized. Only the 20% who it is the radio, it is not still fully virtual assets.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (13:08):
Right, okay. Wow. That's quite a shift from only a few years ago. Amazing. Now one of the emerging developments now as well as AI is the use or the impact rather that quantum computing is going to have on just everything but also everything that companies like Telefonica does. How are you looking to address that And as it happens, of course I saw this week that there's been an announcement of a quantum and facility that Telefonica is setting up to address this. So what's the first step forward for Telefonica? Is it looking at quantum site networking to be able to protect data and customers or what's the thinking around the impact of quantum

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (14:04):
At Telefonica, our engineers and our scientists, they are working in quantum more than 10 years ago,

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (14:11):
Right?

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (14:13):
We have been working in all the different scenarios. First of all it is quantum communications. It is

(14:22):
can we use the quantum capabilities even without quantum computing capabilities? Can we using so these quantum communications in the natural connectivity in our network. The answer to this, yes we can do it. In fact we have been designing and defining connection with universities in Spain, in Madrid. We are now doing with the north in the bus country in the north of Spain. And we have today in our hands the possibility trying to be using quantum communications. It is true that still we have some restriction, no more than 70 kilometers. But with the repeaters we will manage. This is a matter of time. This is happening today. This is going to happen.

(15:06):
If you put together when the quantum computing capabilities, they will appear, some people say five, 10 years, we have now seen a small quantum computing capabilities using logical doors that they can be offering us 42 100 cubits.

(15:26):
This is today in our hands. It is true that it is not still mature. You remember the art of computing books, we are still in the art of quantum computing but it will be fully industrialized. This is going to happen. This kind of machines, they can get that high influence in the security of our customers. So we are just preparing our big customers trying to be protected even against these quantum computing capabilities. And we are extremely active and in Spain. So we signed recently, so a deal that we announced how we can be putting together all the sensor for the industry, all the quantum communications, all the quantum safe technology, building an ecosystem that can be helping us trying to deploy that. So in the next five you'll be here in 2030 and I don't know it. So of new capabilities and new spectrum, link to the 5G evolution or six G, whatever you call it. And quantum, they will be the main paradigm

(16:37):
And the AI will be helping us trying to manage, trying to offer to the big customer. So this technology easier because for us, if we are offering our big customer communications connectivity, we are offering them cloud, we are offering them cloud services, we are offering them. So all the ecosystem of the cybersecurity, we are offering them a digital operations center helping them enter to manage in easy way. When this customer are asking, trying to include some AI massively LLM models, our approach, it is I will be offering you GPU as a service, AI as a service managing with all the data protection, with all the flexibility. You don't need to acquire massive capabilities of GPUs around of this quantum communication and quantum computing. It is going to be a must and telefonica going to be present because we have all the power and all the capability to do it.

(17:45):
But which is the main issue. There is not many people with the training, with the knowledge. We have extraordinary engineers, we have extraordinary physicists, we have extraordinary mathematicians. But we need to specialize all of them managing this. And this is because we decide to create a competence center. Okay, we need to prepare people trying to manage this. And this is going to be one of my main dreams in the next future. How we can prepare to the mats, physicists, engineers, managing this computing quantum capabilities for the next future. We need to prepare the societies for that and prepare the talent of the young people. It is going to be a must

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (18:35):
And

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (18:36):
This is a society necessities that we need to serve.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (18:40):
Okay, well I think for a long time people have said, oh, young people wouldn't be interested in telecom. It's not a sexy enough industry to go into. But now there's so much ai, quantum is an emerging technology. This has surely got to be attracting some of the best people coming out of universities and everything to enter this industry. And let's hope that that will be the case

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (19:03):
I'm preparing. We try to prepare the new generation thinking in maybe in the next 15 years, one of your granddaughter or granddaughter she can decide that she could be an expert in quantum computing. This is our responsibility.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (19:19):
Okay. Yes, that's right. Okay. I'll accept that challenge. We'll see what's happened. Good. Very briefly, one of the topics here at this area as well, and it's going to crop up from here on is how this industry needs to prepare for sixth Street, the route it needs to take, what it needs to do. How do you think the industry, well, what the industry needs to do to prepare properly to get to the right place with what post 5G or 60 or whatever you want to thought.

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (19:54):
To be honest, and this is a personal opinion, 60 doesn't exist. What is the evolution of the 5G technology helping and serving to the real customer and society's necessities? This mean that when we are preparing new interfaces, we are working very hard. We call it six G, but we are preparing new interfaces that need to be fully supported by new antennas. Capabilities that need to be fully supporting new spectrum, but they need to be done in the natural revolution of the mobile technology. Be thinking that the six G, this is going to be a logo itself, that it is going to add value. So my point is that as an industry, we need to try to avoid it.

(20:40):
We need to send the message that everything the society needs, we will be just offering them. It doesn't matter. It is a 5G 5G plus 5G standalone new. And with this all the regulatory guys, they need to understand that the access to the spectrum so need to be done in a different way. And I go back to the wifi when some provider IT is offering you at home FTDH or whatever, we are not offering you fiber, I'm offering you wifi. So you will be just looking your quality in terms of how in each room at home you are enjoying the wifi. If you don't carry it is wifi five, wifi six or wifi seven. And the spectrum, it is from free access, 80% of all the traffic that you manage. It is coming from wifi. So we need to change the model because if we change the model that we can be just doing what we try to do, it is offer quality and evolution to the customer and to the society. And this is because for me, six G doesn't exist. I'm just modernizing my 5G to six G. Big mistake. So don't think like this

(21:55):
Customer service, customer, customer satisfaction evolution. And I know that we are breaking the traditional deal antenna provider or a smartphone provider. I know it, but we are a part of the equation. They cannot forget it. We are a significant part of the equation and the people that don't take care about that. So we need to change it.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (22:18):
And finally, Enrique do have a message for the industry that they can take away from your time and experience in the industry. Do you have a parting message for the telecom site?

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (22:32):
It is a privilege. So the impact that this industry has in the society, it is massive. And you only see what this means when you lose it,

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (22:46):
Right? Yeah.

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (22:47):
So many years ago, I say connectivity, it is the oxygen of the digital life. But it is more than this because today the digital life, it is very difficult to design and to define the borders with the real life. So we have the privileged strength to serve to societies a significant part of the digitalization, healthcare, security, critical services. Day by day they are serving by us. So we need to be proud. But because of this, because we are so relevant and we cannot fail, it is because we need to look at our mirror and say, hey, we need to be proud and we need to cry how relevant we are. Sometime we don't do it.

(23:33):
And the message it is. So we are so important that we need to ask for the right position in this because nothing happened. Nothing happened with the big prescale, nothing happened with the new XR devices. Nothing happened with evolution of the absence. Oh one, if we are not serving with the right quality throughput and sometimes we forget it, and my message is you need to be proud what we are doing for the societies, but we need to be asking to be part in the right position in the societies if we do that. So we will be just even being better for the societies because finally we are serving. We serving. Okay,

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (24:20):
Enrique, a pleasure as always. Thanks so much for taking time in your final weeks at Telefonica to come and speak to us.

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (24:29):
Thank you Ray.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (24:30):
Thanks

Enrique Blanco, Telefonica (24:30):
It's a pleasure. Thank you very much.