In a groundbreaking move at the Mobile World Congress, Huawei announced the launch of its AI-Centric Network, promising to transform telecom infrastructure. Yang Chaobin, director and CEO of Huawei’s ICT business group, outlined how advanced open-source AI models are making significant changes in the industry. He emphasized that these AI advancements have the potential to impact three major levels: enhancing personalized consumer experiences, facilitating intelligent organizational collaboration, and promoting broader societal inclusion through AI-powered connectivity. However, he also acknowledged the necessity for telecom operators to improve network capabilities in terms of bandwidth, latency, coverage, and operational efficiency to fully leverage these opportunities.
The Four Pillars of Huawei’s AI-Centric Network
Huawei’s AI-Centric Network is built around four core pillars. The first pillar, all-domain connectivity, focuses on using AI for better orchestration of network resources. This includes optimizing routing, bandwidth allocation, and Service Level Agreement (SLA) assurance to support the high-speed services driven by AI. By leveraging AI, the network can dynamically adapt to shifting demands, ensuring that resources are allocated efficiently and effectively, thus enhancing the overall user experience. The second pillar, application-oriented operations and maintenance (O&M), aims to shift from traditional resource-based approaches to application-centric models.
Huawei’s Telecom Foundation plays a significant role in this pillar, enabling predictive and proactive O&M based on application-level awareness. This transition is expected to result in more reliable and efficient network operations, as the AI can predict potential issues and address them before they impact users. Enhanced AI-to-X services form the third pillar, tailoring connectivity to real-time needs such as bandwidth, latency, and reliability. This evolution is designed to support advanced AI interactions beyond personal use, extending to critical sectors like healthcare and education.
New Business Models and Industry Collaboration
The fourth pillar centers around creating new business models. Moving beyond traditional traffic-based monetization, AI-centric networks will empower operators to monetize network performance and user experience, generating new revenue streams. This shift is anticipated to open up various opportunities for telecom operators to innovate and offer unique services that were previously not possible with conventional networks. Yang Chaobin strongly advocated for extensive industry-wide collaboration to maximize the potential of network capabilities, pushing towards a smarter, more connected world.
Huawei’s demonstration of its AI-Centric Network at MWC 2025 provided a glimpse into the potential of accelerated 5G-Advanced adoption, driven by AI’s role in network transformation. The overarching trend is the essential importance of AI in future telecom infrastructure, emphasizing the need for enhanced network functionalities and innovative monetization strategies. The consensus is that AI will play a critical role in shaping the telecom sector, requiring extensive industry collaboration for successful implementation and seizing new opportunities.
Future Considerations and Industry Perspectives
At the Mobile World Congress, Huawei made a significant announcement about its new AI-Centric Network, which aims to revolutionize telecom infrastructure. Yang Chaobin, the director and CEO of Huawei’s ICT business group, described how cutting-edge, open-source AI models are driving remarkable changes within the industry. He highlighted that these AI advancements are poised to enhance three key areas: improving personalized experiences for consumers, enabling smarter organizational collaboration, and fostering greater societal inclusion through AI-driven connectivity.
Chaobin also stressed that for telecom operators to harness these opportunities fully, they must upgrade network capacities, particularly focusing on bandwidth, latency, coverage, and operational efficiency. These improvements are crucial to maximize the potential benefits of AI technologies in telecommunications. By doing so, operators can create a more robust and adaptable network infrastructure that meets the evolving demands of both individual consumers and larger societal needs, paving the way for a more connected future.
