MWC 2026 — Special Report: Challenges and Breakthroughs Shaping the Telecom Industry in the Era of Intelligent Connectivity

LiveMemo Agent is an embedded solution at the heart of Orange’s mobile network, with no app required on the smartphone. As an example of a new service that goes beyond simple connectivity, it combines:

• a trusted generative AI, secured by the Orange network;
• an “agentic” AI designed to interact with the company’s CRM software.

Together with its partner Ringover, a specialist in next‑generation customer experience, Orange demonstrated how LiveMemo:

• automatically generates call summaries;
• suggests action lists;
• updates customer records and opportunities in the CRM (notably Salesforce) with a single click.

💡 For sales teams, technicians, or customer service centers, the impact is immediate: less manual data entry, better traceability, consistent reporting, increased productivity, and a smoother customer experience.

With Network Augmented Facilities, one of the demos illustrating the “Reinvent Connectivity” theme, Orange demonstrates how a network API platform integrated with a digital twin can secure strategic sites such as airports, industrial facilities, and energy infrastructures.

Scenario showcased in Barcelona:

• a 5G surveillance drone detects suspicious behavior at an airport;
• identity, anti‑fraud, and geolocation APIs authenticate the drone and confirm its position;
• from the digital twin, the command center triggers a 4K video stream;
• a Quality‑on‑Demand API dynamically adjusts the QoS to ensure a smooth stream;
• the intervention is coordinated end‑to‑end until the intrusion is neutralized.

This use case relies on an ecosystem of sovereign partners:

• optim.aize, for the aggregation of scientific, AI, and GIS (Geographic Information System) data within the Yaaps decision‑support platform;
• Lynxdrone, for rolling, flying, and floating drones;
• Shabodi, for the Network‑as‑a‑Service layer and network APIs.

Another flagship demonstration: Orange Drone Inspection. Orange deployed a mobile BTS, or GSM base station, at its Orange Gardens site near Paris to stage a live antenna inspection from Barcelona.

On demonstration :

• a drone equipped with an Orange SIM card inspects an antenna in France;
• the video feed is transmitted almost in real time, via 4G/5G, to the exhibition stand;
• an AI platform automates image analysis to detect anomalies;
• a VR simulator lets visitors experience the operator’s perspective.

💡 Applied to other sectors (energy, transport, industry), this model shows how 5G + AI can industrialize asset inspection and predictive maintenance.

With Fiber Detection, Orange illustrates a key shift: using the existing fiber network as a sensor network for infrastructure monitoring.

The solution combines:

• Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) technology from VIAVI, which measures variations in the optical signal to precisely locate disruptions;
• LightSonic’s AI algorithms to detect events (water leaks, vibrations, ground movements);
• Orange’s data processing and AI filters, operating in a secure, non-intrusive environment with full traceability of detection criteria.

On the booth, the demo is intentionally simple and concrete:

• walk or jump on a fibered area;
• tap on a technical cabinet;
• watch the event being detected, located, and instantly displayed on a dashboard.

Immediate use cases:

• detection of water leaks on buried networks;
• monitoring of ground movements to prevent collapses;
• protection of sensitive infrastructures in urban areas.

Along the same lines, Forest Smart Guardian shows how to combine:

• ground sensor data;
• images from autonomous drones;
• weather data;
• mapping and the network’s and AI’s analytical capabilities;

 to detect fires at an early stage and produce risk maps.

For local territories, the benefit is twofold:

• improving prevention and operational response;
• protecting economic activities, infrastructures, and populations in exposed areas.

Under the “Go Beyond Connectivity” theme, Orange highlighted Livebox Store, an application marketplace integrated directly into the Livebox.

What’s new:

• the Livebox, thanks to the prpl OS and local APIs, becomes an open platform for smart orchestration;
• third-party services (energy management, home security, cybersecurity, etc.) can be installed and managed directly from the Livebox.

Together with EDF R&D, Orange showcased a concrete use case:

• a customer equipped with a prpl‑compatible Livebox and a Linky smart meter connected via Wi‑Fi;
• installation of an energy management service in just a few clicks through the Livebox Store;
• monitoring consumption, controlling radiators, and optimizing energy usage.

Another demonstration from Orange’s in‑house Research teams: Family Protection, the first platform that combines AI, cybersecurity, and family support to advise and protect household members against:

• suspicious messages;
• phishing attempts;
• risky content.

Otilia Anton, Director of Orange LiveNet, sums up the link between programmable networks and AI well: “in fact, there’s no AI without APIs.”

At the booth:

• The LiveMemo, Network-Augmented Facilities et Branded Calling demos illustrate how network APIs (voice, identity, anti‑fraud, QoS, location, etc.) give the network an active role in security, trust, real‑time visibility, and the automation of business processes.
• AI agents use these APIs to authenticate, execute workflows, adjust service quality, and orchestrate resources.

Steve Jarrett, Chief AI Officer d’Orange, points out that:

• More than 100,000 Orange employees — over 80% of the workforce — already use the internal AI platform, Live Intelligence;
• This solution is now being offered to B2B customers;
• Innovations such as Max it Easy Talk include African languages (Bambara, Wolof, Lingala, etc.) to make digital services accessible to audiences with low literacy levels.

Lyse Brillouet, Executive Vice-President Research Orange,
on her side, points out that:

• Orange ranks 9th in the INPI France ranking ;
• 80% of new inventions incorporate AI;
• 44% of patents concern future networks, 38% AI, and 22% cybersecurity.

Fierce Network summarizes the evolution observed in Barcelona as follows: AI is shifting from network monitoring to serving as the actual “operating system.” It no longer just monitors — it now:

• optimizes the RAN;
• adjusts routing;
• detects and diagnoses faults across multi‑vendor environments.

For example, several companies at the event have already deployed large‑scale platforms in this direction:

• Lumen Technologies uses Blue Planet AI Studio (Ciena) to develop its own AI agents integrated into OSS workflows, paving the way for closed‑loop operations and more autonomous networks.
• Deutsche Telekom and Google Cloud are developing MINDR, a multi‑agent platform designed to proactively diagnose and resolve network incidents, as an extension of the RAN Guardian system.

💡 For businesses, the impact is straightforward: networks that are more predictive, self‑optimizing, and able to self‑correct faster. In practice, this means greater reliability for critical applications such as industry, healthcare, mobility, and logistics.

Ericsson, in its pre‑MWC briefing, positions 5G standalone (SA) as the commercial and architectural bridge toward an AI native 6G.

Key reasons:

• The upcoming explosion of uplink traffic driven by AI glasses, robots, and humanoids;
• The rise of latency as a key commercial parameter;
• The need for network slicing and guaranteed QoS to differentiate service offerings.

Omdia notes that by the end of 2025, only 77 operators had launched 5G SA networks, compared with 253 5G networks in total. According to Vivek Badrinath, CEO of GSMA, there is urgency — as he stated in his opening keynote: “First of all, we must complete the 5G journey.”. Indeed, most operators have yet to make this transition, even though it is a prerequisite for monetizing:

• network APIs,
• private networks,
• edge computing,
• advanced slicing.

💡 Today, only 5G can combine high throughput, ultra‑low latency, and strong reliability for use cases such as autonomous vehicles or industrial robots. For an industrial player, the effective availability of 5G SA in its region is therefore becoming a decisive factor in determining feasibility.

The year 2026 marks the acceleration of identity, location, and network performance APIs, as illustrated by several concrete examples seen in Barcelona:

• Ericsson + Toyota + AECC : : “Quality on Demand” APIs and edge APIs for remote driving and in‑car infotainment.
• Google Cloud + Glide Identity : MagicalAuth, a SIM‑based identity verification solution, currently in beta with Verizon and T‑Mobile US.
• Orange + Shabodi : An API‑driven NaaS (Network‑as‑a‑Service) solution for B2B applications, notably showcased through Network‑Augmented Facilities.

Computer vision is currently the main driver of edge AI, representing nearly 50% of the edge AI market by 2025 according to STL Partners. Physical AI — encompassing robots, vehicles, drones, and autonomous machines — requires local processing, close to the RAN, in order to coordinate, reduce latency, and ensure security
Whether it involves agents, robotics, vision systems, or real time assistance, all these use cases — widely demonstrated during the event — demand processing as close to the field as possible. The numerous demonstrations, including the massive presence of robots, reinforced the idea that connectivity, edge AI, and the control of physical agents now form part of a single continuum.

On the operators’ side, several initiatives are reinforcing this trend:

• Singtel, China Telecom, and others are building AI factories coupled with network edge sites for inference..
• In Europe, the European Edge Continuum initiative and the EURO3C project aim to federate the edge infrastructures of multiple operators (Orange, Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica, TIM, Vodafone, BT, KPN, OVHcloud, and others) to provide a continuum of sovereign services.

Satellite connectivity and Direct‑to‑Device (D2D) services took on a new importance at MWC 2026, as shown by several key developments:

• The rise of Starlink Mobile, which rebranded its D2D offer and is preparing a V2 generation of satellites capable of delivering mobile speeds of up to 150 Mbit/s, with launches expected to begin in 2027.
• The emergence of players such as AST SpaceMobile, Lynk Global, Amazon Leo, which are multiplying partnerships with operators including T‑Mobile US, KDDI, Telus, Deutsche Telekom, and Vodafone.

The figures are striking: according to Cybersecurity Ventures, which estimates the global cost of cybercrime at 10.5 trillion USD per year, that figure — growing at an estimated rate of 15% annually — could reach 15.6 trillion USD by 2029, up from 9.2 trillion USD in 2024.

At the MWC, we saw operators positioning themselves as active defenders of the digital space, rather than merely as simple connectivity providers.

Examples:

• Airtel, Deutsche Telekom, LG Uplus, SK Telecom : voice/SMS scam detection, filtering of suspicious URLs, network-level detection of audio deepfakes, and voice assistants with built-in anti‑fraud alerts.
• Orange’s Branded Calling: displays the verified brand name of the calling company on the smartphone screen to increase trust and conversion rates. The service will be available for all calls to Orange mobile users in France during 2026.

In this context, AI plays a dual role:

• as a weapon for fraudsters (more sophisticated scams, convincing deepfakes);
• and as a defense tool for operators (proactive detection, filtering, and stronger digital identity).