ITU Telecom blog

With over 5 billion mobile users worldwide today and 700 million more expected to connect by 2020, the mobile revolution and digital economy are having a profound effect on our daily lives. Forward-looking policies and regulation will enable countries to reap the most benefit from this digital transformation. As this revolution picks up speed, new technologies such as the Internet …

What is the most important thing that smart cities and smart banking have in common? Both need (and have managed to acquire) plenty of data to become smart. Without data to test how good your models are, nobody can learn and become smart. Smart cities hold the key to improving access to finance for SMEs and unbanked individuals. Not only …

Looking back a few decades and focusing on the previous generations of mobile systems, we can identify one common denominator which has led to success – global standardization. Without open global standards, it would not have been possible to get the global reach and the economy of scale that have made it possible for a large part of the global …

The creation of Arcep in 1997 marked the end of an era: the era of State control over communications infrastructures in France. But let us not misunderstand: public authorities did not withdraw but rather reinvented themselves. Relinquishing none of its ambitions for the telecoms networks that are so vital to the life of the nation, the State was able to …

On the 27th of September, I’m moderating a panel discussion at the ITU World 2017 conference in Busan, South Korea, on the theme of “The transformation of telecom operators: reinventing telcos.” This is a topic we’ve heard discussed for at least the last 10 years in various forms, yet we still seem to be at or near the starting point. …

What makes the world’s top executives cringe? From our latest C-suite survey covering responses from 5,247 business leaders from 21 industries it is clear that it is the “Uber syndrome.” They expressed their fear that a competitor with a completely different business model enters their industry and flattens them. Seventy-six percent of communications service provider (CSP) executives expect more competition …

ulalaLAB is a startup company that envisions a world where happiness is driven by technology. With our goal of accelerating the transition into the smart future, we’ve set our mission to guide connected technology in the right direction by focusing on problems that need to be solved. And by doing so, we aim to change lives and improve industries around …

Between September 25th and 29th I will be attending ITU Telecom World 2017 in Busan (South Korea), and speaking at the session on “When connectivity is not enough: driving meaningful digital inclusion”. This is a great opportunity to discuss the design of a sustainable digital agenda for the development of the digital economy in Latin America. Learning from the experience …

In the movie The Terminator, directed by James Cameron and released 33 years ago, artificial intelligence or AI was already showcased. One of the scenes shows how the AI robotic killer, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, welded the damaged parts of his body together in a motel room. A cleaner passing by noticed the smell and asked if there was a …

What is the challenge? As we are enjoying a fantastic summer, we are all frustrated when we plan to meet friends in the city centre and end up in a traffic jam. When we finally reach the centre, we look for a terrace to benefit from another sunny day, but the experience is not optimal: the constant flow of cars …