The large image: It hasn’t been the simplest time for 5G. The expertise that was presupposed to revolutionize our world hasn’t fairly met its lofty expectations. As a substitute, we have seen modest enhancements in cellular obtain speeds and a brand new option to entry broadband web. Good to have, to make sure, however far lower than the overhyped predictions.
T-Cellular lately hosted the corporate’s Capital Markets Day, the place they displayed a good effort to reignite pleasure round 5G and what it may well do to boost each our private {and professional} lives. The corporate made it clear that it intends to remain forward of the newest technological developments to solidify its place because the expertise chief amongst main service suppliers. Not surprisingly, a lot of its focus is on AI.
What was shocking, although, have been the sorts of initiatives the corporate is pursuing and the partnerships it is forming for these AI efforts.
Each OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang joined T-Cellular CEO Mike Sievert onstage (individually) to debate these intriguing new initiatives.
The partnership with OpenAI entails a brand new customer support platform T-Cellular is creating known as Intent:CX, scheduled for launch subsequent 12 months. Described as an “intent-driven AI decisioning platform,” Intent:CX makes use of OpenAI’s platform and GPT basis fashions to investigate T-Cellular’s huge cache of buyer utilization information for insights.
Whereas this sounds much like different GenAI-powered customer support options, T-Cellular claims Intent:CX will make the most of OpenAI’s newest reasoning-based fashions (just like the new o1) to transcend typical assist capabilities and allow autonomous actions. The aim will not be solely to supply higher and extra personalised assist, but additionally to make ideas or carry out automated actions on the shopper’s behalf. T-Cellular believes this might scale back assist calls by 75%, whereas concurrently enhancing assist high quality – a daring goal.
From a enterprise perspective, T-Cellular expects this to cut back the necessity for assist personnel, third-party name facilities, and retail shops whereas nonetheless enhancing buyer satisfaction and retention. If profitable, this is able to be a main instance of the cost-saving potential of AI, a subject many firms are discussing. Nevertheless, contemplating how notoriously unhealthy buyer assist usually is for service suppliers, attaining this will likely be no straightforward feat.
There are additionally questions on how keen prospects will likely be to just accept AI-powered assist, even with human involvement. If the service is delivered seamlessly with out most prospects noticing, the influence might be fairly optimistic. T-Cellular even advised its work might function a blueprint for different industries with massive buyer assist operations trying to leverage AI.
The partnership with Nvidia, which additionally entails community infrastructure distributors Ericsson and Nokia, focuses on creating an AI RAN Innovation Middle at T-Cellular’s headquarters in Bellevue, WA. This facility will function a supercomputer outfitted with Nvidia GPUs working Nvidia’s Aerial software program, related to Ericsson and Nokia community gear. The middle will discover how AI can improve T-Cellular’s RAN (Radio Entry Community).
Nvidia’s Aerial software program has two key features: enhancing RAN efficiency, which is central to all cellular networks, and working AI workloads – each RAN-related and completely separate – from inside these cellular networks. Paired with Ericsson and Nokia {hardware}, the Aerial platform goals to assist telcos like T-Cellular optimize community site visitors, enhancing pace, capability, and effectivity at a decrease price per bit. This optimization is a giant win for carriers.
However this Nvidia tech has been round for a number of years now. In actual fact, I first wrote about it in June 2021 (see “Nvidia’s Aerial Brings GPUs to AI on 5G“). From these early days, it is at all times been an intriguing and doubtlessly impactful expertise for 2 causes. First, any efforts at optimizing and enhancing RAN efficiency lets cellular carriers like T-Cellular enhance the pace, capability, and effectivity of their networks, letting them carry extra indicators at a decrease price per bit. By coaching AI fashions about how the radio indicators are propagated and feeding it a steady real-time stream of knowledge from the community, Aerial can mechanically optimize community site visitors for the absolute best throughput. That is a giant win for community carriers like T-Cellular.
Second, whereas cellular carriers have lengthy talked about their need to carry extra computing capabilities into their community and keep away from being little greater than dumb pipes, their real-world success on this entrance has been restricted. By integrating GPU computing capabilities into their networks, nevertheless – and basically changing into AI-as-a-service suppliers – that is a way more compelling story for telco operators to inform. It additionally presents a extra life like potential for T-Cellular to generate new revenues from these “good pipes.”
The issue, up till now, has been that Nvidia hasn’t been capable of persuade any of the foremost US or European carriers to make the numerous funding required to combine Aerial expertise into their networks. Nevertheless, with this new announcement, it is clear that’s about to alter. Whereas T-Cellular hasn’t supplied an official timeline for transferring the expertise from the lab to full deployment throughout its community, the trail ahead has been outlined, and the expectation is that we’ll start seeing a few of these advantages beginning subsequent 12 months.
Whereas this in-network AI computing information is vital by itself, it is much more attention-grabbing when considered within the context of final week’s large announcement from Ericsson together with most of the world’s largest cellular community suppliers, together with T-Cellular, Verizon, AT&T, and plenty of extra (see my newest Forbes article entitled “Ericsson and Telcos Bringing Intelligence to Mobile Networks” for extra particulars).
In case you missed it, the principle takeaway is that after years of discussing the best way to make networks an clever useful resource for cellular builders, much like computing and storage, the telco business’s largest gamers are lastly taking motion. By leveraging the GSMA’s Open Gateway initiative and the CAMARA open-source community APIs, Ericsson managed to carry collectively main cellular suppliers from around the globe to assist a brand new three way partnership (identify nonetheless TBD) geared toward creating, supporting, and monetizing a world suite of community APIs.
Along with T-Cellular’s latest bulletins, this means that an organization like T-Cellular might finally supply each the APIs and the computing infrastructure essential to run them inside its community, creating thrilling new income alternatives. Whereas many particulars nonetheless must be ironed out to make this a actuality, it is clear that, after a interval of comparatively few attention-grabbing developments, T-Cellular and its companions are working to inject some pleasure again into the world of 5G.
Bob O’Donnell is the president and chief analyst of TECHnalysis Research, LLC, a market analysis agency that gives strategic consulting and market analysis providers to the expertise business {and professional} monetary neighborhood. You possibly can observe Bob on Twitter @bobodtech
