Telefonica used an analyst conference to outline goals for its network to work around consumers, discuss its digital transformation progress, and announce new agreements around robotics and a virtualised private network (VPN) solution.

Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete (pictured), chairman and CEO, explained the operator wants customers to “not only buy capacity or access speed from us: we want to offer our customers a network that they can manage and adapt to their needs, a network with which they can interact and that can learn from them and, therefore, serve them better”.

Telefonica presented details of how it is virtualising its networks ahead of 5G, and how technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain will continue to drive its digital transformation along with that of its corporate customers.

To these customers the operator presented the Enterprise Private Network, a VPN solution developed with Ericsson.

Telefonica also announced a collaboration with mobile robotics engineering company ASTI Mobile Robotics around the digitalisation of the industrial environment processes through the IoT.

Vicente Munoz, chief IoT officer at Telefonica, commented: “Practically all productive industries and sectors rely on IoT to improve their processes, to be more efficient and safe, and to even have better predictability in terms of business needs. At Telefonica we are promoting a change in the productive systems of all industrial sectors, accompanying companies in their journey towards digital transformation”.