LIVE FROM DTW IGNITE, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK: Mobile executives speaking in the opening keynote raised verification services, providing secure platforms and blocking spam among the prime opportunities for operators in the heavily hyped AI segment.
During the session, CEO of Danish provider Nuuday, Christian Thrane; Vikram Sinha (pictured), president director and CEO of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison; and Jio Platforms CEO Kiran Thomas brought their individual takes on emerging AI revenue opportunities.
Thomas noted his company had identified three areas for “monetisation and value creation” starting in “our own backyard”, where it aims to increase efficiency, up productivity and provide new customer experiences.
He added the foundations, tools and platforms put in place could then become “assets we can offer to the rest of the market, because if they can solve a problem for a large operation such as ours, I’m sure they will be valuable to other enterprises in India and beyond”.
The third area of opportunity identified and branded “the most exciting”, was creating “solutions that would not exist without AI” for issues experienced by specific groups in India, including students and farmers.
He said Jio Platforms’ immediate focus with AI services was to “build adoption, engagement and then use things like a freemium model or ad supported” for revenue.
Thomas stated a major priority with AI was within accessibility, adding the “power of AI” needed to “work for 1.4 billion Indians not just the top of the pyramid”.
United front
Later in the session Thrane and Sinha pointed to the need for industry collaboration to take emerging AI opportunities, referencing recent drives around use of standard protocols.
Thrane pondered if the industry was “taking a role in the AI ecosystem? Are we adding value? Are we capturing value? Or are we just carrying the traffic and optimising our business”, explaining he believes the telecommunications sector has an “opportunity to play a big role”.
Within the consumer segment, he pointed to potential around verification, noting “in the world of AI, trust and integrity is absolutely crucial. AI machines will be able to impersonate people we know, people we love, people we work with”.
Thrane highlighted within networks, operators have abilities to verify and authenticate, including through location and device identification.
“We can monetise trust, but to do that we really need to get behind network APIs,” Thrane added.
Within the enterprise segment, he indicated a need for reliable and secure data for AI applications, with operators “in an incredibly strong position to deliver managed networks, manage data flows and encrypt the data in the cloud so it can be used in a trusted way”.
We have to go all in. We have to get serious
Vikram Sinha, president director and CEO
Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison
In a passionate pitch for chasing opportunities related to AI, Sinha said “we have to go all in. We have to get serious”.
“Now is the time: AI plus connectivity will really make a difference.”
“It is our time to ensure we deliver marvellous experience, hyper-personalisation and in a very frictionless manner”.
Pointing to industry mistakes during the emergence of the app ecosystem, he noted “we were not focusing on building customer trust, we were not focusing on solving real customer problems. The time has come to focus on and get obsessed with real customer problems”.
One opportunity, also alluded to by Thrane, is the issue of spam and scam communications. “All of us are getting impacted. Can we solve the problem? The answer is yes and AI will help us do that,” Sinha said.
Highlighting the potential of the combination of “connectivity plus intelligence”, Sinha argued “this is our growth stage. This is where I believe we have the full right to play and lead”.