James Pearce, TelecomTV (00:07):
AI and 6G are key topics on the lips of telco leaders right now, as they continue to transform from communication service providers into digital service providers. And that means they're also a key consideration for the NGMN Alliance. I'm delighted to be joined today by the Alliance's Chairman of the Board and Orange's Group CTO and EVP of Networks, Laurent Leboucher. Welcome, Laurent. It's great to see you. Let's dive straight in. Laurent, tell us what attendees can expect from this year's NGMN press and industry briefing at Mobile World Congress.

Laurent Leboucher, NGMN & Orange (00:42):
Hello, James. Hello, everyone. NGMN is an operator-driven alliance, bringing together leading global operators alongside vendors and academia to shape the future of mobile networks. Our work is currently structured around three strategic priorities: road to disaggregation, green future networks, and 6G. At the press and industry briefing at Mobile World Congress, which will take place on 3 March, between 14:00 and 15:00 CET on the Orange booth, the board members representing global operators will share the key guidance, frameworks, and recommendations delivered over the past year and outline our priorities for 2026. And attendees can expect four main takeaways. First, a practical framework for network simplification, where NGMN provides a structured approach to help operators reduce complexity while accelerating innovation, which is a prerequisite for scalable automation and economic sustainability. Second, clear guidance on cloud-native evolution and agentic AI-based operating models. Building on the NGMN Cloud Native Manifesto and CNCF maturity frameworks, we outline how operators can progressively adopt GenAI-enabled operating models, and we define the AI adoption levels aligned with cloud-native maturity to support measurable progress across people, processes, and technology.

(02:23):
Third, concrete recommendations for green future networks. This includes guidance on energy management, transport network metering, energy efficiency, resilience strategies, and sustainable AI and cooling approaches, all aimed at reconciling performance growth with climate responsibility. And fourth, operator-driven direction for 6G standardisation. 6G remains clearly our primary focus and our latest publication examines the impact of AI on 6G and identifies priority areas for standardisation to ensure flexibility, interoperability, and long-term economic viability. Overall, participants will gain a clear view on how operators are collectively shaping the transition towards simplified, sustainable, and AI-native networks and how these efforts translate into actionable guidance for the industry.

James Pearce, TelecomTV (03:32):
It sounds like a must-attend event. Why is this such a pivotal moment for the mobile community and how can direct dialogue within the industry help shape what comes next?

Laurent Leboucher, NGMN & Orange (03:43):
We are at a pivotal moment because the foundations of our industry are being reshaped simultaneously by artificial intelligence, cloud-native architectures, and software-driven networks. The surge of artificial intelligence creates extraordinary opportunities, but also unprecedented uncertainty. The pace of innovation is revolutionary, while traffic patterns, service demands, and operational models are becoming less predictable. At the same time, AI for networks is transforming how we operate, automate, and secure infrastructures with major implications for skills, processes, and organisational models. The future networks therefore need to be designed for extreme flexibility and adaptability. Yet, our industry still relies on global standards and structured 3GPP release cycles. We must collectively find ways to accelerate innovation while preserving what makes mobile unique: interoperability, trust, security, and global scale. In today's geopolitical context, this is even more critical. The mobile ecosystem has historically thrived on globally harmonised standards, and as we move towards 6G, maintaining strong, open, and globally aligned standards is essential to avoid fragmentation, to ensure economies of scale, and to protect the long-term resilience of the ecosystem.

(05:30):
Finally, 6G cannot be a technology push. It must be designed to deliver tangible value to end customers, individuals, enterprises, and societies, while remaining economically viable for operators and innovation must translate into differentiated experiences, new capabilities, and sustainable business models.

James Pearce, TelecomTV (05:55):
NGMN has been working on 6G since 2020 and has provided several requirements, including key messages from an operator perspective. You've just published your latest publication, which is on the impact of AI on 6G. What are some of the main messages?

Laurent Leboucher, NGMN & Orange (06:11):
I would say first, uncertainty of AI evolution and its impact on traffic, architecture, and business models, which makes flexibility the cornerstone of 6G standardisation. Second, we covered the impact of artificial intelligence traffic network, network for AI, and AI for network, and implications for network architecture evolution. Third, in our latest publication, we also recommended standardisation-focused areas to support industry alignment.

James Pearce, TelecomTV (06:46):
So exactly how significant is the impact of AI on the future of network traffic?

Laurent Leboucher, NGMN & Orange (06:52):
AI will reshape traffic characteristics. AI introduces, for instance, new traffic asymmetries, up and downlink, and also some uncertainties, especially in the context of machine-driven communication models across the network. So we should anticipate the scale and likelihood of the future characteristics of traffic to become uncertain and speculative. The current pattern also shows that it might require more uplink-intensive traffic and machine-oriented communications and also networks must evolve towards beyond connectivity. AI services require orchestration, intent awareness, trust, and also integration with compute.

James Pearce, TelecomTV (07:49):
What are the key priorities for operators when it comes to the impact of AI on 6G?

Laurent Leboucher, NGMN & Orange (07:55):
I would say flexibility, which must be a core 6G design principle. 6G must be able to absorb unpredictable demand patterns driven by AI evolution. Agent-based communication is expected in the 6G era. It is expected that agent-to-agent-to-network communication are enabled natively during the 6G era, standardised architecture, protocols, and interfaces enabling efficient end-to-end support of AI functionalities, standards that allow explicit demand of the actual needs of AI services in terms of, for instance, network quality of service and computing, standardisation of frameworks for agent discovery, identity, policy, and trust. Trust will be absolutely essential, emphasising the reuse, adoption, or enhancements of AI interfaces from telco and non-telco when appropriate. And we also provide priorities for standardisation, which we will highlight in the press and industry session.

James Pearce, TelecomTV (09:13):
It's clear that we're now on the road to 6G and that AI is set to play a vital role in its evolution, something we will be hearing much more about at this year's Mobile World Congress. Thanks, Laurent, for joining me today.

Laurent Leboucher, NGMN & Orange (09:26):
Thank you, James, and looking forward to seeing you next week.