What are the hot topics at Network X 2026?
Ai Driven Telecoms
AI-driven telecoms is likely to change the industry in two directions at once: AI will transform how telecom companies operate, while the growth of AI itself will dramatically increase demand for telecom infrastructure.
The predictions are that:
- Networks will become increasingly autonomous
- Network investment will shift towards AI infrastructure
- Fibre becomes even more strategically important
- The economics of data centres and telecoms will become more entwined
- Telcos could become more than connectivity providers
- Telecom infrastructure becomes more attractive to financial investors
How Satellite Technology is shaping the future of telecoms
Satellite technology is becoming a much more important part of telecoms because it is changing the economics of where connectivity can be delivered and who can receive it.
The biggest shift is that satellites are moving from being a specialist technology for remote communications towards becoming an increasingly integrated layer of the wider telecoms network.
Satellites usage in telecoms are:
- Closing the coverage gap
- Transforming mobile connectivity to direct-to-device
- Changing the economics of rural areas
- Bringing about the convergence of networks
- Increasing network resilience
- Becoming another infrastructure asset class
- Increasing competition for traditional telco operators
- Becoming more prominent for IoT
Digital Sovereignty in Telecoms
Digital sovereignty refers to the ability of a nation, organisation or individual to control its own digital future independently. Once a niche policy issue, it is now a central strategic theme shaping the European telecoms industry for the remainder of the 2020s.
Digital sovereignty is concerned less with consumer applications than with who owns, operates and controls the communications infrastructure on which Europe’s economy depends.
Telecoms networks are no longer regarded solely as communications infrastructure. They are increasingly recognised as the foundation for:
- AI deployment
- Critical services
- Government operations
- Industrial automation
- National security
- Economic competitiveness
As a result, telecoms policy is becoming increasingly interconnected with industrial, cloud, AI, cybersecurity and even space policy.