Hello everyone and a warm welcome to Ericsson's opening broadcast of Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona. Now my name is Cecilia Atvall and I'm here together with our president and CEO Börje Ekholm.
Thank you Cecilia. It's great to be here as always.
It is actually and this year we have a new theme for our show. We're talking about entering new horizons and one new horizon that you often talk about is hyperconnectivity and how it places new demands on our networks and how we build for AI. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?
Yeah, I think actually we're facing three really at least three really fundamental forces. Of course, the first one AI. AI is moving into the physical world. It's moving into applications, devices and that will be real time inference at the edge of the network will start to be much more important. I think that's the first trend. The second one is everything will now be connected. We will see massive amounts of sensors, devices to provide data to all the models that we need to that we will need for the future. But I think the third one is actually very important as well. We're starting to see telecom becoming part of national security. It's part of of course of mission critical networks but also of defense networks. So I think we're entering a very new era and it will all be done actually on a 5G standalone network and I think that's really important also to bring up. 5G has so far been mostly deployed in non-standalone form. But as we now move into 5G standalone, we can realize the promise of the architecture, the service-based architecture, the ability to move to the cloud. And so I think we're entering a very exciting era that to me is of course put demands on us. So we have to make sure that we supply the best networks for AI to scale AI to enterprises to public service and to other mission critical applications.
Thank you. What I find really exciting this year is that we have been able to gather a lot of customers and partners and industry associations with us to showcase exactly that. So the commercialization opportunities are real and how we build for all of those use cases that you just mentioned. It's happening right here on the show floor with us.
And not only that, we're also bringing all our customers and partners into panels and seminars to really bring forward the message of how the ecosystem is ready and there to scale with us.
I'm very happy you mentioned the ecosystem and I think that's actually the key now going forward is that we look at the total ecosystem and it's all about actually generating revenues to the whole industry and the whole digital stack. So for me it's less about competing in your own call it horizontal area as it is actually to drive the total revenues. So working with partners is going to get more important going forward. So I'm really excited. I think it's in about half of the number of exhibitions we have here and demos we have. We actually have partners involved.
I think that's a good sign. Another I think important sign is the Aduna joint venture we formed last year to commercialize network APIs is another way to see that the industry starts to come together to work and form ecosystems because ultimately the telco network will be one part, a critical part of the digital stack going forward.
Thank you. And when you talk about strategic partners, one of the partners or customers that you had an opportunity to talk to earlier today was with AT&T and in 2023 when we signed that strategic landmark agreement on open programmable networks. So with that, let's look at the conversation that you had Börje together with John Stankey, CEO of AT&T.
Well, thanks John for joining us at this broadcast. You know, we signed a deal in 2023. As part of that agreement, we'll help you move into a cloud-based architecture to in a way run faster with new services, new revenue streams. It would be interesting to hear you take stock at where we are now, you know, few years into the agreement. Do you see it realizing the promises? Do you see we're moving in the right direction?
We're clearly moving in the right direction. We've made a lot of good progress. But as you know, these things aren't easy. They require a fair amount of operational change. They require mindset change. I think we've done a great job of getting the infrastructure set up and in place. As you know, by the end of this year, we'll have about 70% of our traffic on our network flowing over an open architecture.
But we now need to kind of move on to the next stage, which is how do we become a scaled cloud operator in this environment. How do we take that flexibility that comes with that and start to evolve on it so that we can offer new products and services and operate our infrastructure differently and that's really kind of where we're now starting to move into in that next chapter. And you know, we have a great partnership, we've made some really good progress, got a little bit more work to do.
For sure, and the key really of course costs are an exciting part of any transaction and any operation, but it's also about the new revenues you can drive, right? Are you starting to see something there?
Yeah, we've gotten especially in the enterprise space starting to see those green shoots forming.
So, we see manufacturing is an interesting place. Factory floor assistance and help. Hybrid networks, public private are actually starting to have some benefit. We've shown we can walk into a factory floor, move equipment around in a more effective fashion, get inventory moving, drive some improvements in operations productions. As a result of that, we're starting to see where slicing is coming into play big time. Some interesting applications popping up. Some of the sports venues that we work with and what we have with some of our clients that have distributed operations where you're trying to record a lot of action over a large area. Starting to put slicing in place so that cameras that are out there picking up all the content can operate effectively, not have to put in a bunch of fixed infrastructure. Gives our customers a lot of flexibility when we do that.
So, we're starting to see that happen. And I also would tell you if you think about the consumer market, let's not underestimate just the efficiency that's come in, the spectral use of 5G and what that's been able to do to take fixed applications both in backup and enterprise and what we've been able to do for primary broadband access in the consumer space that is in fact driving new revenue streams.
Yeah. No, and the exciting part and you highlight that is actually the move to a cloud-native infrastructure. It will allow us to get new services faster and I know you're doing a lot here in moving to 5G SA standalone. I think it's a critical move. You get the cloud-based service-based architecture that's really going to be needed for these new type of services. So, how do you see the industry moving here towards 5G standalone fast enough? Do we need to move faster? What can we do?
Well, in the US, I could say we're all on the cusp of that occurring. And everybody's in a little bit different stage of maturity. Whether we've gotten here fast enough, you can always debate. I think the important part is I think we're past the tipping point.
So, now that the infrastructure is in place, I think we're going to start seeing the applications break on this in a more effective way. And as you said earlier, when we get to cloud native and we start getting to the separation of the hardware and software and what we put out there, that gives us a lot more flexibility as to how we go and iterate on these things. And that's when I said we have to shift our culture and our dynamic around that. Moving from maybe an internally driven engineering culture where we think about technology for technology's sake to one where at least at AT&T we're trying to understand what the customer needs coming back in and then shape our execution around that. I see that starting to take form and actually get some benefits out of that.
Yeah, that's really interesting. But I think also we if we take a step back to look now we see in a way telecommunications connectivity is starting to form an even more important part of the digital stack and I do believe we can start to talk about the digital stack almost as a national security question and trust in that digital stack will be critical. I know you've done a lot of work and a lot of thinking on the security of the stack. How should we, what can you share of what you've learned and what should we go in that direction?
Well, first of all, I think the fact that we're doing what we're doing where we're really going into the core and modernizing so many elements of the infrastructure that opens up an opportunity. The reality is we'd assembled so many different components of the network over a period of time, all coming from a different generation and really a different state-of-the-art in what security was at that time that those components were built and manufactured. So, the fact that we're now at this point where we're kind of doing a fresh start in key elements, it allows us to apply capabilities like a zero trust mindset, constant authentication and validation. And really when you think about what we're trying to do in a software operating model that we're working on with your company, the fact that we have this consistent fabric across our entire network allows us to begin to apply software into how we examine security. And I think given how fast things are moving right now, if you're not in that software flexible environment moving forward, there's no way you keep up with the bad guys. And so I think this fresh start being able to apply the newer concepts that we've all learned over the last couple of years and then having the flexibility of using a software operations model is going to be a big step in the right direction for us.
I think you're absolutely right. In reality, the bad guys have an easier task than we do. They can choose just one point and get access. We need to protect for everyone. That's correct.
So we really need to keep that up. But moving on to another area, you know 6G I think is exciting and everybody talks about it as we'll integrate connectivity, AI, 6G into one intelligent fabric that really can see intent, it can do real-time adjustments of the services we offer, but reality is we can actually do this already in 5G, and 5G not 5G non-standalone but when you migrate to 5G standalone. We can actually do that.
And I do think here that's a little bit overlooked. Many focus now on 6G only. That's important of course, but we really need to roll out 5G because I do see as AI moves into the physical world, call it physical AI, we see new applications, new devices, all of that will actually be served by 5G standalone networks the next few years.
Totally agree. And if we're really smart about how we do cloud native and we bring those things forward and we begin to get more effective at separating hardware and software, there's no reason why there shouldn't be a more elegant evolution into the next generation of technology. And to your point, there's a lot we can do in 5G today that can bring capabilities of when we think about next generation back into current platform. And when we have the driver or the need because of a particular geography or group of customers that ultimately need to go to hardware upgrades to get the capabilities they need, do that on a more targeted and specific basis. And I think if as an industry we become more focused on that and carry that forward, we're all going to be better for it because to your point earlier, you get to time revenues and investment more carefully with each other. And I think we all need that.
Yeah. Yeah. That's one of the issues for the industry as a whole, right? It's all about how do we actually form the ecosystem around the industry and that's why tying it back to the digital stack, it's really an important element and I think here we as an industry can do better and we're excited to partner with you of course to drive industry revenues as well.
Really totally agree. So I see you have a pin on it. 1876 was an important year. How well you will celebrate 1776 also as an important year. But it actually links our two companies. So it's interesting, your founder Bell had his patent on March 7 and we're almost at March 7 now.
So he took the first step on a journey of telecommunication. Our founder, Lars Magnus Ericsson, founded Ericsson in the same year, over 150 years ago.
And I think together we've shaped the world a bit. You have clearly shaped telecommunications. I think Ericsson has been a key driver of the wireless miracle, 9 billion subscribers globally now. It's truly a world-changing technology. But it would be interesting to hear if you look back over the 150 years. I know you haven't been part of all of them.
Some might argue that by the way I look, but [laughter]
I'm not so sure about that. But I would be interesting to hear some of the key decisions AT&T has taken over these years and how it's shaped your current strategy.
Yeah, I think about two things. One, you must have done something right if you've been around for 150 years. And I think our company should take some pride in that.
Um I do think longevity is a noble characteristic in many ways. And so with that though, you can't have the hubris to say, well therefore the next 10 years is guaranteed just because I've been here 150. And if you want to make sure that you make the most out of what's coming, I don't think it's much different for your business and ours where you start with a foundation of some things you do well. You build some capabilities that become a foundation of the company that you rely on, you keep going back to, and you want to make sure you have that seed stock or those fundamental building blocks that you can carry forward, but at the same time, you don't want to keep running the same play you're running for too long. So the second thing I think that you have to think about is when do you disconnect from the model you're in or the product you're in and you take those foundational capabilities and carry them forward to whatever the next generation is. And I suspect right now our companies have done that multiple times. We, you know, we're a company that was rooted in fixed wireline technologies. And you think about mobile creating nearly 80% of our operating profit contribution today. But now you and I are in a situation where there's a massive change in front of us driven by AI. And if we're not getting ready to disconnect from that which we came from and think about what this next 10 years has in store, there may not be 160 years, right?
I agree. I like what you said there because that's the way I think. The 150 only gives me a license to exist.
It's what I do in the future that actually matters. So we should celebrate this as the first day of the next 150 years.
And that's what we should focus on, not what we have achieved in the past. But coming back to that, what do you think we should do differently as Ericsson and think about over the next two or three years?
I think collectively it's what we alluded to earlier, our ability to evolve into the cloud-native hyperscaled environment that we're in. Having that agility and flexibility that comes back to both our business models is inherent in that. And then thinking about how do we engineer the product we're selling in a way that's going to be servicing what AI needs. And so I start thinking about the dynamics of how important the upstream becomes in our networks. I think about the reality that when we talk about things like network slicing, we are going to have discrete service sets that are necessary for unique applications and unique capabilities of AI that are things we've never seen before. And we're all going to need to adjust to that. But it's going to require a far more agile set of infrastructure. It's going to require us to think a little bit differently about how we engineer to make that effective. We're going to have to get to a really dynamic real-time model. And as you said earlier, we're gonna have to step our game up on security.
Because the agility that we want and we want to bring into our business model is the same agility that those who want to do harm to our business model are going to have. In order to counter that, we're going to have to use the best that's available.
Yeah. So, let's take that with us as we move forward. Thank you for joining us, John, and have a good rest of the Mobile World Congress. I hope it's a great successful one for you and it's really good to be here. Thanks Börje.
It was great to listen to that conversation with John Stankey. Yeah, I thought it was really good and the way he also highlighted the need of 5G standalone and the cloud-based architecture that we will get, how important that will be as we now move into the physical AI with much more differentiated connectivity, much lower latency, higher uplink demands, etc. I think that was really interesting. The other part that I think we also need to bring with us as Ericsson and the rest of the industry is actually the focus on security. 5G standalone will be part of national infrastructure and as such a critical piece when we think about national security. So here we all play a role but most important it's always great to see John and AT&T as a critical part for us in our ecosystem.
Thank you. Another global leader in driving forward differentiated connectivity is Singtel. Earlier today, you had the opportunity to talk to Singtel's group CEO Yuen Kuan Moon about how they are a global frontrunner in differentiated connectivity and how they are driving also all of the services on top of the network. So let's listen to the conversation with Mr. Moon.
So Moon, thank you for joining us. It's always a pleasure to see you.
Well, thank you for having me. It's always good to be back here at Barcelona and having a chat with you. I think we have an exciting week ahead of us. So it should be really good. I hope at least.
But we are and I think our industry it's a bit at a strategic inflection point. AI of course a big topic. So far it's been really focused on data centers, large language models, the semiconductors going into it. But I think we're starting to see a big shift here. We're moving into the physical AI. And here connectivity matters. And in reality it's all going to have to be based on 5G standalone because that's the only thing that can offer the guaranteed connectivity, the uplink you need, the low latency you're going to need and possibly also the security you will need. The best effort connectivity 4G, 5G non-standalone as well as Wi-Fi will simply not be good enough. I think this actually puts the telecom industry at a really good spot and a really important spot for scaling AI and the steps you have taken in Singapore and through the Singtel group of actually migrating towards 5G standalone is really a critical step but it would be interesting to hear kind of your thoughts behind that would be a rather bold move and early move into a 5G standalone own architecture.
Yeah, thanks Börje. I think you're absolutely right. In fact, Singtel's 5G journey started four, five years ago and I think if you recall, we were engaging Ericsson which was our partner and said, 'Oh, we need to roll out 5G' and everyone was saying how do we monetize 5G? What's the best way? What's the special feature? What's the secret weapon of 5G versus 4G? And obviously you know the standalone network was the special ingredient on 5G but unfortunately the world roll out a lot of NSA instead of SA. So we really didn't bring out the strength of 5G actually but we were fortunate in Singapore because the as a country we decided that we have to go SA from day one. So that decision taken together with the regulator actually have put Singapore I would say ahead of many other countries in terms of the ability to benefit from the SA network. And of course Singtel we embraced it at first we were not reluctantly doing it because it's a huge cost huge investment but since we have done it and Singapore being a small country we could cover the whole country very quickly with a SA network then Singapore or Singtel becomes the test bed for the world of deploying SA network.
And initially we created slices together with Ericsson and pushed it and said oh what can we do with a slice it's always talking about oh enterprise enterprise solution but it's not easy because you got to convince the client the enterprises you got to convince the users why do you need that slice but over the years we have tested the slice initially with static slice and then now more recently with dynamic slices that you can actually shape the network. Yeah. And I would say a critical turning point was that probably about 2 years ago when we decided that we will dedicate even spectrum onto the 5G SA network and when we make that decision then we are really able to differentiate ourselves from the rest of our competition and bring out the full value of the SA slice. So now we have got dedicated slice for the security agencies, we got dedicated slice for factories, we got dedicated slice for the airport, we got dedicated slice for the seaport. So it's really bringing the 5G SA network to its fullest potential and more recently we even started with slicing for applications and we have even tested low latency with gaming. So I think all this bodes well for the real benefit and usage of the 5G as a network.
I think it's really interesting because you were bold in taking the step very early but it also shows there is a lot of lessons that have to go in here. But what I see, I think it's all about building the ecosystem and that's a bit what you are doing. We're trying to do it with Aduna, for example, to establish network APIs as users, but you're also changing the way you monetize the network now. And I think that's interesting with Singapore because it is, as you said, it's a bit of a test bed, not only for Singtel, we like to think of it actually for the rest of the world and the industry. And I think what you have done there with new monetization, new type of use cases have actually attracted industry-wide interest. We see a lot of customers wanting to come to see you. But can you share a bit what kind of thoughts went into when you took the step, what you're starting to see as results and what do you think that could mean for the industry going forward?
Well, I think like you said, it is a journey because customers, enterprise customers specifically, has a long cycle to win them over and you need to show to them that what you are proposing from a technology front actually works. So we did multi-year trials with the same clients to prove certain application that works. And when that is done then the commitment comes and then the PO comes and then when you start to monetize the slice you realize that it's actually back to the original principle that you can actually sell the network in a different manner beyond just bits and bites. So now our clients enterprise customers are asking for security that sits on top of the slice and they are also experimenting low latency for very unique applications. So that's really the enterprise side.
But many operators in the world will ask enterprise is still a small fraction of the consumer space. So what do you do with the consumer? And this is where again at the second half of last year 2025 we actually took another bold step in creating a big slice for our premium consumer customer and that is another envelope we are pushing to see whether consumers segment is prepared to pay a premium for a consumer slice and the initial indication tells us that actually consumers are willing if you are able to show the differentiation and we are already seeing a lower churn rate for that segment of a customer which is priced higher than the rest of the market. So I think the more we experiment with 5G SA, the more confidence we're going to have and especially when your customer respond to it, we're going to get the reinforcement that we are doing the right thing for our customers.
No, and here the convergence of I call it AI and telco will probably be increasingly important. We've seen all the investments in data centers etc. But we need to see investments in telco networks. Now, how do you see consumers thinking about AI? Do you start to see them actually appreciating AI, wanting to use AI?
Well again similar to the 5G SA network I believe the adopters of AI
Will be from enterprise first and that's where again having a 5G network will be necessary if not critical for enabling AI. Of course, Singtel today we are already invested into data center, we are already invested into GPU as a service for sovereign AI. That's the initial infrastructure investment that everyone will argue that they can do too, but what many cannot do is actually the connectivity part, which is what the telco comes back to. This is talking about again traditional submarine cables, fiber, but beyond that, now as you move into again back to the mobile network on the 5G SA network, you come to the network comes to bear when we move from agentic AI to physical AI. When you have to control drones, robots, UAVs, you need a 5G SA network, you need a slice, you need a low latency network, you need a network that is closer to the edge. So this is where having the experiment on the slice earlier on purely for connectivity now will come to bear in the AI world. We are already experimenting. I mean, our low latency slice that we started with gaming is just to prove that latency can be brought down if you have the slice. And now you layer that low latency onto drones, robots and UAV. You already have a proven tested low latency network that can support such applications. So I think we will have a big role to play on the physical AI when this goes to scale. What you say in effect is really, yeah, data centers, we need all that infrastructure built out, but the next phase we'll actually need telecommunications. I think that's a really exciting part. But maybe tie it back and close the loop. Do you see what do you see of the industry? What do you see we need to do as Ericsson the next 12, 18, 24 months to work with you better?
I think that certainly a shift in innovation pushing the telco world. I think if you look at all the use cases of 5G SA slices, they come from enterprise. If you look at all the gen AI deployment, mass applications, it's all B2B. So I think as a telco and as a partner of telco like Ericsson, you need to start to move into understanding the enterprise space, what's required to support telco to serve enterprises. And if I look at global trend, everyone is projecting that B2B business is going to grow and B2C at best is going to stagnate if not decline. So the future growth is actually in the enterprise space. How are we going to capture it? How are we going to pivot? We are fortunate in Singtel in Singapore, we are getting close to parity between consumer and enterprise, but many other telcos are not at that stage yet. So we will have to see how to push and support our enterprise customer. And that's where I would love to appeal to Ericsson to say partner, come and partner with us, look at creating solutions and innovations for different enterprise clients, different government agencies. And I think we are just scratching the surface here. So if we do this well, there's a lot of opportunity for us.
Thanks Moon. I really share your excitement about the future. We have a couple of challenges, but challenges is just one side. The other side is opportunities and I think we should capture them. So thanks for coming and thanks for joining me.
