Industry associations the GSMA and TM Forum agreed a collaboration to aid adoption of practical AI systems across a range of use cases within the telecoms industry.

In a joint statement, GSMA director of AI initiatives Louis Powell and TM Forum EVP products and services Andy Tiller explained the organisations would work together to help create open AI models and frameworks able to meet the industry’s very specific needs.

“Networks underpin the cloud, device and edge capabilities on which AI depends,” the two argued.

“Yet telcos themselves have not fully captured the value of AI within their own operations”. 

“If the industry is to accelerate towards more autonomous, AI-native networks, it must align on shared assets, common standards and practical implementation pathways”.

The organisations address complementary areas towards the common goal. The GSMA is working on relevant models and agentic systems through the Open Telco AI initiative and TM Forum is focusing on frameworks and standards to align the industry and ensure interoperability.

They labelled the collaboration as being “about connecting the AI stack end-to-end, combining shared models, common frameworks and practical deployment pathways, with the trust required for critical network environments”.

Problem
Explaining the rationale for the closer ties between the organisations, Powell and Tiller argued adoption of AI is more complex in telecoms than other industries, but is a board-level priority in many organisations.

Among the difficulties cited is the multi-vendor nature of network architecture, with fragmented, siloed data and “very little tolerance for error”.

They also noted frontier AI models are not designed for operators and have not been trained on industry-specific data, leaving deployments limited to areas outside of the network layer such as customer experience.

Data published by GSMA Intelligence noted 16% of AI deployments target network use cases, despite networks accounting for 34% of opex.

The organisations believe the telecoms industry needs to “align to solve these challenges for itself, building AI approaches that reflect the complexity, economics and operational realities of the industry”.

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LIVE FROM MWC SHANGHAI 2026: Vivek Badrinath, director general of the GSMA (pictured), spotlighted humanoid robotics, the low-altitude economy and autonomous vehicles as three of the most promising markets emerging from Asia’s mobile ecosystem, as he underlined the importance of telco infrastructure in powering the continent’s future.

Badrinath declared the mobile industry had moved on from connecting people and businesses and now has a new opportunity “to connect and coordinate intelligent systems at scale”.

“Systems that sense, decide and act in the real world across our cities, infrastructure and economies.”

The first of his three big opportunities for Asia, robotics and embodied AI, is showcased by how robots are moving from production laboratories to the real economy.

“They are moving into our factories, our restaurants, our airports and, one day, our homes. And while the applications differ across sectors, they all depend on the same foundation: advanced connectivity.”

Badrinath highlighted demonstrations on show at MWC Shanghai this week including the Robot Football Challenge, along with recent Chinese operator developments as signs of the progress.

“In hospitality, China Mobile is developing robots that support order collection, preparation and delivery. In sectors like aviation and logistics, China Telecom is working with AgiBot on a new Robotics-as-a-Service model. And in chemical industries, China Unicom is showing how robots can inspect, diagnose and respond to hazards, taking on tasks that are too dangerous for humans alone.”

Low-altitude economy
The GSMA boss also picked up on a new layer of mobility emerging quickly in China, drones, UAVs and other low-altitude services.

He stated there are more than 3 million registered drones in China, with thousands in the air at any one time during peak periods.

In 2025, total flight time surpassed 45 million hours, a 70% increase on 2024.

“And with that scale comes a new set of opportunities: China Mobile, for example, is employing drones for site inspections in remote facilities, like power stations, solar farms and railways. At the same time, China Telecom is using them to monitor air quality and detect pollution in Nanjing. And China Unicom is advancing delivery use cases, including blood supply transport to hospitals in Anyang.”

“But with these developments also come new responsibilities. All three operators are building platforms to help monitor airspace, identify risks and support safer operations. What we are seeing is a new frontier of economic activity. And its success will depend on secure, intelligent and uninterrupted connectivity.”

On the road
The third area piquing Badrinath’s interest is how vehicles have become intelligent, software-defined platforms aware of their surroundings and connected to the world around them.

He said Chinese operators are driving this shift: “China Mobile is building an AI ecosystem that connects user devices, vehicles and smart home environments. China Telecom is integrating non-terrestrial networks into vehicles to support remote maintenance and emergency connectivity. And China Unicom is pioneering Vehicle-to-Everything capabilities, enabling hazard detection and vehicle-to-vehicle communications.”

“All of this points to a future where our vehicles are no longer standalone products, but vital parts of our connected world.”

Best yet to come
He issued a call to action that the future would not be built by operators alone.

“It will require continued collaboration between mobile operators, technology companies, industry partners and governments.”

“If we get that collaboration right, I’m confident the most transformative applications are still to come.”

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LIVE FROM MWC SHANGHAI 2026: The world’s largest mobile market now boasts the majority of its connections running over 5G, with the technology powering 55% of all connections since the end of last year.

The GSMA’s Mobile Economy China 2026 report – released on the eve of the show this week – predicts 5G will account for 61% of connections in the country by the end of this year and 88% by 2030.

The performance of 5G in China so far means the nation already accounts for over 40% of global 5G connections.

China surpassed 1 billion 5G connections in 2024, highlighting the rapid adoption of the technology since its launch five years ago.

“The influence of national policy should help sustain 5G’s momentum in China,” notes the report. “The Chinese government has made 5G a national priority as part of broader goals targeting digital transformation and making the economy internationally competitive. Such goals are directly integrated into the agendas and corporate strategies of operators and network vendors, boosting the supply side of the 5G market.”

The report adds that with 5G services now firmly established, the focus of Chinese operators and vendors is shifting to 5G-Advanced.

It claims 5G-Advanced is now commercialised across more than 330 mainland cities, surpassing 30 million users.

“China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom have all conducted early trials and deployments of the technology, focusing on unlocking new applications in areas such as autonomous vehicles, drones and extended reality (XR).”

Economic impact
As always, the latest GSMA report was keen to talk up mobile’s boost to China’s economy, driving growth across industries, creating jobs and boosting gross domestic product (GDP).

Mobile technologies and services now generate around 6.2% of China’s GDP – a contribution that amounts to $1.2 trillion of economic value added. By 2030, the report states this will rise to approximately $2 trillion, equivalent to 8.3% of GDP.

“Much of this will be driven by the improvements in productivity and efficiency brought about by the continued expansion of mobile services and the growing adoption of digital technologies, including 5G, IoT and AI.”

Usage gap
Surprisingly, there remains work to be done on ensuring everyone that lives within reach of a mobile network can access services. In fact, despite 91% internet connectivity across the country, a usage gap of 18% remains, representing millions of people yet to benefit fully from China’s digital economy. This approximate 250 million people not using mobile internet is mostly from the youngest and oldest age groups.

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