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The business shifts focus towards agentic AI and sovereign infrastructure, in line with the GSMA
MWC 2026 was filled with AI messaging, which isn’t any shock. This time round nonetheless, issues appear to be shifting a bit — from idea to one thing a bit extra concrete. In a dialog with RCR Wi-fi Principal Analyst Sean Kinney, GSMA Intelligence Head Peter Jarich painted an image of an business that’s lastly crossed over from the “artwork of the potential” to the “artwork of the sensible.” The way in which Jarich sees it, the AI dialog at MWC has crystallized into three distinct lanes — agentic AI, sovereign AI, and AI-RAN. The hazard, as he notes, is that the business is pouring its vitality into the flashiest factor — AI-RAN — whereas neglecting the stuff that’s already producing actual returns, like agentic AI, AI utilized to core community operations, and sovereign AI deployments.
Agentic AI strikes from idea to deployment
Solely a 12 months in the past, the telecom business’s tackle AI brokers was, generously, aspirational. Jarich recalled how the dialog went again then. “You’d hear some tech execs describe AI brokers like drunk interns and it’s type of you recognize, does it present up? Sure or no, perhaps. If it does present up, do you actually know what it’s doing? Does it know what it’s doing? Can it inform you what it’s doing? Would you belief it with something?”
Quick ahead to MWC 2026 and the image appears to be like utterly completely different, in line with the GSMA. The agentic AI summit was packed, and operators weren’t pitching hypotheticals anymore. They had been sharing what they’d discovered from precise deployments. Kinney, who was on the summit, put it merely: “this was all very a lot the artwork of the sensible, not the artwork of the potential.” Jarich backed that up: “We’ve had a 12 months of learnings and so during the last 12 months folks form of figured how you can put it to make use of.”
Based on Jarich, although, the fascinating half isn’t essentially the tech itself — it’s about all the things surrounding the tech. He drew a pointy line between two basically completely different postures towards AI adoption. “Take an current enterprise course of and the way do you layer AI on prime of it to make it higher?” versus “What can AI do and what would I do beginning with AI and constructing on prime of AI versus layering AI on prime of what I’m doing.”
That first strategy, which mainly entails bolting AI onto current workflows, will get you effectivity enhancements. There’s nothing unsuitable with that, nevertheless it’s incremental. The second strategy, nonetheless, entails designing completely new processes and providers, round AI. “There’s going to be a world of distinction if you hear right here’s what I’m doing and the way do I make it higher versus how do I construct one thing new on prime of AI, how do I rethink, create new providers,” Jarich stated.
He additionally acknowledged a extra uncomfortable dynamic enjoying out at some corporations, the place dramatic workforce reductions are getting used primarily as a forcing operate to set off that deeper organizational rethink. “Generally if you hear these massive issues the place you’ve received folks going I’m going to chop half my employees, they’re doing that as a result of they wish to power that operate. As soon as I lower half my employees, everybody’s going to need to go oh I now have to rethink all the things we do.” He was fast so as to add the caveat: “I’m not saying that’s one of the best concept, I positively don’t suggest it to my boss. Don’t eliminate half my employees.” However the broader level stands — extracting actual worth from agentic AI calls for a real rethinking of how operations and providers are constructed, not simply headcount optimization.
Sovereign AI as a geopolitical alternative
Whereas agentic AI is basically an organizational readiness problem, sovereign AI is rooted in geopolitical actuality. Jarich flagged it as certainly one of MWC 2026’s standout themes, describing a rising push by governments worldwide to take possession of their AI and cloud infrastructure stacks. “How do governments wish to deploy not simply AI however cloud providers, compute providers. Plenty of them have wished to determine how they put them to make use of for their very own functions, perhaps develop language fashions people won’t, develop their very own communities, ship providers for governments,” he defined. “We additionally need to admit given the place we’re with geopolitical conditions, they wish to have some extra management over their very own destinies on that facet of issues.”
The examples are already stacking up. France is a very placing case. “A number of weeks in the past France determined that going ahead 2027 and past authorities businesses gained’t have the ability to use the coms options, like Groups, Zoom, they’ll want to make use of an in-country developed answer,” Jarich famous. Then, weeks later, France directed {that a} government-built client well being information platform be migrated off Microsoft Azure. “I have a look at these as simply examples of how governments are excited about what sovereign means,” he stated.
For telecom operators, this opens issues up a bit. Telcos carry a degree of belief, they know native regulatory environments inside and outside, and so they already function inside nationwide boundaries. However Kinney pushed on whether or not this chance has an expiration date — whether or not hyperscalers may ultimately muscle into these markets and type out the regulatory panorama themselves. Jarich conceded the window gained’t be open indefinitely however challenged the belief that hyperscalers will blanket each market: “It’s unclear if hyperscalers can go into each market, proper? So I believe some markets positively, some workloads sure, however not essentially all of them and that can rely market by market.”
Geography is the vital variable right here. Sovereign AI isn’t strictly a Western European phenomenon. “The worth of those sovereign options aren’t simply going to be a price to a Germany or a UK or a South Korea but in addition to a Pakistan or a Kyrgyzstan or a Somalia or markets the place the hyperscalers could not see the chance or the worth and even when they do, they’re most likely not going to go and develop language fashions for all these international locations,” Jarich stated.
The AI-RAN definition downside
AI-RAN was nonetheless the large matter at MWC 2026. The anticipated gamers dropped a wave of bulletins. However peel again the press releases and issues get muddier quick. The business, Jarich argued, can’t even decide on a standard definition of what AI-RAN really is — and that confusion is an actual drag on coherent progress.
“For an Ericsson, who did a bunch of bulletins earlier than the present, for them a few of AI-RAN is likely to be I’m going to place AI in my radios to enhance radio efficiency. And you could possibly inform like from a number of the analysts that I used to be speaking to, they’re form of like wait, once I assume AI-RAN that’s not what NVIDIA was speaking about, proper?” Jarich stated. “However it’s nonetheless utilizing AI in your RAN, it’s simply not utilizing AI processors to run baseband. It’s good as a result of it exhibits the alternative ways you’ll be able to apply AI. It’s dangerous as a result of I believe it doesn’t make it straightforward for telcos to completely wrap their head round it.”
However the greater concern, in Jarich’s view, is what all of the AI-RAN hype is drowning out. “What there aren’t questions on is how I can apply AI within the core, proper? As a result of there’s plenty of core community workloads that you just already can apply and individuals are making use of AI to that may generate revenues, enhance providers, lower OpEx,” he stated. “I believe as a lot as AI-RAN is form of attractive and it’s all the eye, form of wish to see a bit bit extra consideration to the AI within the core as a result of it’s right here now, and we will do that whereas we’re determining the remainder.”
Sustainability and 6G sensing
Outdoors the three fundamental AI lanes, Jarich referred to as out two areas he felt deserved much more airtime than MWC 2026 gave them.
On the sustainability entrance, the dialog has narrowed in ways in which clearly frustrate him. Inexperienced community discussions confirmed up on the present, however they had been wrapped up by way of OpEx discount not by way of sustainability. Jarich pointed to the GSMA Intelligence’s Inexperienced Community Index, which has grown from six taking part operators at launch to 24 this 12 months, as an try to push the body wider. “We’d been taking a look at like vitality effectivity for telcos for some time, proper? And saying that’s one a part of the story however you even have to have a look at energy like information middle energy effectivity use of renewables. In addition to similar to precise community efficiency as a result of I can run a brilliant energy-efficient community which doesn’t ship a lot by way of efficiency.” Operator curiosity is clearly there; the business’s public framing simply hasn’t caught up but.
On 6G, Jarich was genuinely shocked that Built-in Sensing and Communications (ISAC) didn’t command extra of the highlight. He famous that at a 3GPP 6G assembly in Korea shortly after final 12 months’s MWC, ISAC and precision positioning ranked among the many prime precedence areas for each operators and distributors. At this 12 months’s present, GSMA Intelligence hosted a roundtable on the subject and “the curiosity was simply off the charts.” What makes ISAC stand aside from plenty of 6G conversations is that it’s not only a 5G use case ready for extra bandwidth — it “feels positively new,” as Jarich put it.
