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Speaking at DTW in Copenhagen, Vikram Sinha, CEO of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH), called on operators to go ‘all in’ on AI transformation
As was to be expected, the topic of AI dominated discussions on the opening day of DTW this year. Numerous operators took to the stage to exhort the technologies potential to transform the telecoms world and help telcos return to growth. Chief among these AI cheerleaders was IOH CEO Vikram Sinha, who said telcos should be embracing the new technology as much as possible.
“AI is not the metaverse – it’s real today,” said Sinha. “We have to go all in. We have to get serious. We need to see how we can make 12-15% growth the norm for telcos,” he said.
Sinha explained how IOH’s AI strategy revolved around turning the network and its wealth of data into a ‘product factory’ for consumer AI use cases.
“We want to solve customer problems and we want to be with them on that journey,” he said, adding that IOH was targeting use cases across the consumer value chain.
“AI has to be for all. It cannot be only for high end customers,” he said. “We have been working on creating a product on SMS – this would touch everyone. Similarly, you can have an [AI] personal tutor. Everyone can have a personal nurse, and farmers and have AI support. If our customers start seeing a product which is helping their daily life better, that is solving their problem, the respect for you will go up. Your ARPU will really go up.”
In-house AI capabilities
IOH has been positioning itself as an AI company for a number of years now, seeing the emerging technology as a key driver of revenue growth on their journey from telco to techco. Earlier this year, the company launched a Sovereign AI Factory, powered by Sahabat-AI, a 70-billion parameter large language model that operates in Indonesian and five additional local languages. This, IOH says, will allow GenAI services to be delivered to all Indonesians, not only those that speak English. This large language model (LLM) will form the basis of numerous IOH products, expanding on their ability to create AI use cases in-house.
With digital sovereignty of ever increasing importance, being able to create these products independently and with local partners is a growing focus.
“We have created a vertical Chief Product Officer,” said Sinha. “Telco never had a product team[…] but in three years time you’ll need to have product capabilities to make sure that you don’t outsource everything.”
But while many of AI-driven use cases are already in development, both by IOH and other telcos, few are currently commercially available at scale. For Sinha, part of the challenge lies in how telcos frame these AI use cases in discussions with customers.
“Don’t talk about POC [Proof of Concept], talk about Proof of Value,” said Sinha. “Once customers talk about value, we’ll have a flywheel effect.”
“Progress is better than perfect,” he added.
A platform for AI innovation
Speaking on stage alongside Sinha, Danish telco Nuuday’s CEO Christian Thrane took a different approach to AI use cases, noting that a telcos size and the size of its target market would impact its ability to develop AI use cases alone.
“For us, it’s a lot more about creating the platform and working with partners,” he said. “I always say to partners, we’re a small market, one of the most advanced markets globally, so come and test it out.”
Perhaps more importantly, Thrane highlighted the importance of collaboration across the telco industry, working together to create solutions that only telcos can provide.
“It’s almost impossible to think about the role of AI and not be a bit nervous at times right? I think the purpose is right there, staring in our face. It’s about stepping into it and not trying to outsmart each other as an industry […] really leaning into what can we do together quickly and to make sure that AI models rely on trusted, reliable data for the customers in a private way.”
“Five years from now, if we haven’t done this right. We’re toast,” Thrane concluded.
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