By Nik Willetts, CEO, TM Forum
We're standing at an inflection point. The telecom industry faces a fundamental choice: evolve into AI-native operators capable of competing in an era of sovereign AI and hyper-personalized services - or get left behind by organizations that will. It's digital Darwinism.
Revenue growth is stubbornly flat for most operators while complexity spirals upward. AI pilots multiply, yet P&L impact remains elusive. Meanwhile, customers, whether consumers or enterprises, expect the kind of intelligent, frictionless experiences that only truly autonomous operations can deliver at scale.
The gap between those who execute and those who deliberate is widening fast. And it's not a technology gap anymore. It comes down to people, execution and trust. How do you build agents that you trust to run a regulated business, make decisions at scale and stand behind the outcomes?
From vision to action
The conversations I'm having with our global membership – including communications service providers (CSPs), hyperscalers, vendors, and systems integrators – show that decision makers are done with theoretical discussions. They need to see what's working at scale, who's solved specific problems, and how to adapt those solutions for their own organization and customer market.
One CTIO recently said, "I don't have budget for more experiments. I need proven frameworks, real case studies, and access to the teams who've actually deployed this, at scale." Another said, "Show me the path from autonomous network pilot to dark NOC. I need to see the business case, the skills gap we'll face, and the governance model that makes it sustainable."
These are the kinds of challenge that will determine survival and growth. And collaboration is the only way to move fast and safely enough to stay in the race.
When theory stops and delivery starts
That's why, when 5,000 industry leaders from 100 countries unite at DTW Ignite in Copenhagen, it’s not just another conference with AI-generated slides, demos and polite networking. The entire event, like the Forum behind it, is designed to move the industry from conversation to action by bringing proven solutions to solve real challenges, with hands-on support from genuine experts.
For almost forty years, TM Forum has harnessed the power of collaborative problem-solving. We bring diversity of thought under one roof to solve common challenges because we've learned something fundamental: operators who collaborate move faster than those who don't. When China Mobile and Telefónica share what's working in their networks, everyone can de-risk their own implementation. When Verizon, BT Group, and Deutsche Telekom share their approaches to composable IT architectures, the entire industry compresses months of trial and error into actionable patterns.
The winners aren't the ones with the biggest budgets. They’re the ones who move fastest by learning from each other, adopting proven frameworks, and refusing to reinvent what's already been solved.
DTW Ignite is where innovation happens. This June in Copenhagen, join industry leaders who've chosen execution over deliberation. See what's working at scale, meet the teams who've deployed it, and build your roadmap to AI-Native with the people walking the talk.
The AI-native era won't wait, and neither can you. See you in Copenhagen!