What’s up with… OpenAI & Circles, Swisscom, disaggregation

• OpenAI and Circles team up for AI-native telco platform R&D
• Swisscom forms new security unit
• For telcos, disaggregation doesn’t come easy

In today’s industry news roundup: OpenAI and telco software-as-a-service specialist Circles will jointly develop a next-generation business support platform; Swisscom is merging part of its broadcast services arm with its video surveillance specialist to form a new business; RtBrick survey finds telcos are keen on data network disaggregation but are struggling to commit to deployments; and much more!

Telco software-as-a-service (SaaS) specialist Circles has entered into a strategic collaboration with ChatGPT developer OpenAI to develop a “fully AI-native” telco SaaS platform that will drive “unprecedented levels of consumer intelligence, productivity and profitability across research, operations, customer support and CRM [customer relationship management] for operators globally,” the companies have announced. The resulting system will be deployed first at Circles.Life, the SaaS vendor’s sister digital service provider (DSP) that operates in Singapore, and then will be expanded to Circles’ telco partners globally. According to the vendor, the “multi-year collaboration will also give Circles access to OpenAI’s early-stage models and research programmes, positioning Circles at the forefront of inventing new AI benchmarks for the telco industry. Circles will combine its deep consumer understanding and operator expertise with OpenAI’s industry-leading models to showcase the potential for AI in text, voice, image and vision.” Awais Mailk, global chief growth officer of Circles, stated: “At Circles, our mission is to continuously push the boundaries of what a telco experience should be and bring innovation from Singapore to the world. OpenAI is a global pioneer in AI and we are thrilled to collaborate with them to launch this AI-native platform to our telco partners globally. This collaboration will deliver a paradigm shift in not just user experience but also operator efficiency, which will further enhance value to the users.” It added: “By tapping on OpenAI’s latest technology, Circles aims to radically transform consumers’ digital experiences as well. The AI-native platform will power a path-breaking agentic AI app that understands context, adapts to users’ digital lifestyles and delivers personalised experiences across connectivity, shopping, travel, gaming, wellness and more.” Oliver Jay, managing director for international at OpenAI, stated: “Circles has consistently demonstrated leadership in digital transformation within the telco industry. With OpenAI’s technology, Circles will be setting new standards for how AI can enhance consumers’ interactions with critical telco services. We look forward to working with Circles to raise the bar for customer experience and drive operator efficiency globally.”

Swisscom is eyeing video security services as a new area of business-to-business growth and is pooling the activities of two subsidiaries to form a standalone entity. It aims to extract the Secure and Intelligent Spaces (SIN) unit from Swisscom Broadcast and merge it with audio-video g+m (AVGM), which was acquired by Swisscom in 2022. The two units will be combined into a single entity called Swisscom Secure Vision, which will offer “integrated security solutions from a single source” and aims to establish itself among the leading providers of video security solutions in Switzerland. The merger will take place on 1 January 2026. According to the telco, Swisscom Secure Vision will protect public spaces, critical infrastructures, such as energy and transport facilities, as well as industrial and commercial sites with “tailored, networked security solutions”. It added that customers will benefit from a “comprehensive range of services”, including intelligent video surveillance with image analysis to secure data transmission, and said the focus here is on data protection, cyber-resilience and Swiss hosting. The existing locations in Zurich, Bern, St. Gallen, Yverdon, Lamone and Ennetmoos will continue to operate, and further locations are planned. Stefan Mattenberger, who is currently head of safety and security at Swisscom Broadcast and sits on the company’s management board, is to take on the role of CEO at Swisscom Secure Vision and will oversee an initial workforce of 70 people. Mattenberger commented that Swisscom has identified a “growing need for reliable, scalable security solutions – in both the public and private sectors. At Swisscom Secure Vision, we will combine IT expertise, customer focus and innovative strength, thus positioning ourselves as a strong provider in the Swiss market”. The executive board of the new entity will also include Antonio Marselli and Alan Boffi, who both sit on the AVGM management board, and Daniel Gasser, currently head of secure and intelligent spaces at Swisscom Broadcast.

The warnings about the potential impact of increasing data and video traffic on telecom networks are coming thick fast. Last week we heard from Ciena and Heavy Reading, which found that telcos expect data traffic volumes to ramp up significantly in their metro and long-distance optical transport networks in the next few years due to AI workloads. Now disaggregated routing specialist RtBrick is warning that “operators are at risk of being overwhelmed by the demands of streaming bandwidth in the next five years”. The vendor commissioned a survey of 200 telco decision-makers in the US, UK and Australia: It found that 81% of the respondents “concede their current architectures are not well suited to handling the future increases in bandwidth demand, suggesting they may struggle with the next wave of AI and streaming traffic”. Naturally, for RtBrick, this challenge can in part be solved by the deployment of disaggregated routing infrastructure and, it claims, the survey respondents also believe this to be the case. “The industry recognises it needs to adopt next-generation disaggregated networks to survive,” noted RtBrick in this announcement. The problem, though, is that while the survey respondents recognise the benefits that come from the deployment of disaggregation, there’s a lack of deployment action. RtBrick added: “The industry’s appetite to modernise is overwhelming: 91% are willing to invest in disaggregation, and 94% plan to deploy within five years, with 90% saying their organisation needs to focus efforts on deploying disaggregation sooner than currently planned. However, execution continues to trail ambition. Only one in twenty leaders has confirmed they’re ‘in deployment’ today, while 49% remain stuck in early-stage ‘exploration’, and 38% are still ‘in planning’.” For more on the takeaways from RtBrick’s survey, read this press release that suggests why network operators are struggling to adopt disaggregated systems.   

It looks like Türkiye’s three mobile network operators will not have to wait too much longer to get their hands on 5G-enabling radio frequencies. Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, the nation’s Transport and Infrastructure Minister, has announced plans to launch a 5G frequency tender in October, with initial services set to be available in 2026. Turkcell, Turk Telekom and Vodafone Turkey are all expected to take part in the tender, the conditions for which are expected to be announced this month. However, Uraloğlu has already indicated that a total of 400MHz frequencies in the 700MHz and 3.5GHz bands will be made available. According to Reuters, a presidential decree published on Türkiye’s official gazette on 16 August said the tender will include 11 frequency packages across the two bands, with individual package values ranging from $50m to $425m. The decree set the minimum price for the available frequency packages at $2.13bn. The news agency added that the tender will also see the government roll over existing mobile network licences, which are currently set to expire in 2029. Operators will be required to pay 5% of their yearly revenues to roll over the licences, Reuters noted. Uraloğlu said the aim is to expand 5G across the entire country within a few years. The minister added that the tender comes after “repeated and lengthy consultations” with the three operators. He also noted that the government has studied 5G implementations globally, particularly in Europe. In Türkiye, 5G has already been tested in facilities such as sports stadiums and Istanbul airport. 

Nokia has wasted no time in passing on the news that its core networks portfolio is ranked number one for competitiveness in Omdia’s “Market Landscape: Core Vendors – 2025” report. The annual report assesses the strengths of core vendors, including Enea, Ericsson, Huawei, IPLOOK, Mavenir, NEC, Nokia, Oracle, Samsung, Viettel, and ZTE. Nokia said it achieved top scores in the categories of cloud-native readiness, automation, core as a service, number of 5G standalone (SA) core deals with operators, and core portfolio breadth. As noted by Roberto Kompany, principal analyst of mobile infrastructure at Omdia, Nokia has “demonstrated exceptional capabilities across its core networks portfolio, particularly in areas that are crucial for CSPs’ future success”. Nokia said 125 operators have now selected its 5G SA core, and 54 had launched live services as of the second quarter of 2025. The Finnish vendor is of course not the only one to trumpet analyst recognition of its core platform credentials. Ericsson issued its own release recently to boast it had achieved “top ranking in business performance, and placing second in the other dimension analysed, portfolio breadth and competitiveness”. Kompany said the Swedish vendor “leads the market in business performance with a strong presence in 5G core deals and a robust portfolio that excels in cloud-native readiness, automation, and AI-driven analytics, positioning it as the top choice for CSPs in 2025”. 

AirHopAI is the latest company to join the AI-RAN Alliance, which now has 109 members. The industry group was launched in late February 2024 by 12 companies, including Japan’s SoftBank Corp, T-Mobile US, Ericsson, Nokia and Nvidia, with a mission to promote the potential of AI for RAN, AI and RAN, and AI on RAN (you can find out what these terms mean in this article). Some 98 companies have since joined the (now 11) founders, though not many are network operators (most are vendors, research labs and academic institutions). Vodafone Group joined in July, and Turkcell is also a member. Alex Jinsung Choi, chair of the AI-RAN Alliance and principal fellow at SoftBank Corp’s Research Institute of Advanced Technology, noted: “AirHopAI’s proven expertise deploying AI-powered applications in large-scale networks will be instrumental in helping us further the future of autonomous RAN systems.” Anand Parikh, CEO of AirHopAI, added: “AI for RAN is critical to fulfilling the promise of autonomous networks and the AI-RAN Alliance is working to make this a reality.”

– The staff, TelecomTV