LIVE FROM HUAWEI MOBILE BROADBAND FORUM 2016, TOKYO: Data analytics, cloud and artificial intelligence are among the new technologies coming into the mix that BT believes will enable operators to “provide incredible services to our customers”.

“The world is becoming very, very, very software oriented,” Fotis Karonis, managing director of IT and Mobile at BT, observed.

BT (owner of the UK’s largest mobile operator EE) is “investing a lot in analytics”, he noted, stating that this will “absolutely revolutionise the way we work with customers”. By using such capabilities, the operator will be able to understand pain points for customers and act proactively to address issues, rather than taking a more reactive stance.

In a presentation discussing the path to 5G, the executive pointed out the importance of 4G to provide a base for the new technology. “If you don’t have that foundation, the coverage, you can’t build great 5G on top of that,” he said.

And Karonis also talked of the importance in working with vertical markets beyond the usual suspects such as healthcare and automotive, in order to build a sustainable model.

“We need more industries, because it is important to increase the pie of revenue. We can’t just be in an asset investment cycle without getting the appropriate connections with industries so we can grow our revenue as telecommunication operators,” he said.