At MWC25, Mavenir CEO Pardeep Kohli discussed how AI and Open RAN are transforming telecom networks. AI is playing a key role in reducing operational costs and unlocking new revenue streams by enabling smarter, more efficient network management. Kohli emphasized that operators are now eager to innovate beyond just deploying 5G, looking for AI-driven solutions that enhance network performance and profitability.
On the Open RAN front, Kohli noted a significant shift—every major operator now has a roadmap for adoption. While full-scale implementation may take time, momentum is building, with broader deployments expected by 2027–2028. As a pioneer in network innovation, Mavenir is leading the charge, integrating AI and Open RAN to simplify deployments and accelerate new service rollouts. Want to know how AI and Open RAN will shape the next era of telecom? Watch the full interview now.
Diana Goovaerts:
Pardeep, it's so great to be here with you. So, talk to me a little bit about AI. AI is the big topic at the show. Are you integrating AI into your solutions?
Pardeep Kohli:
Yeah, as you captured, AI is a big thing for this year. Telco networks are quite complex. They need a lot of engineering activities, which are done on a daily basis. And of course, AI helps in making it more efficient in most cases, and also bringing more revenue-generating services for an operator.
So we are working with our customers in two different things. One is how do you actually reduce your overall cost of running the network by using AI? And the second is how do you bring in more customers and more revenue by bringing in services which actually use AI on top of their network? So it's an exciting time, and we are quite eager to work with our customers on these areas.
Diana Goovaerts:
One of the other topics I've heard a lot about at the show is Open RAN. So we've heard some operator announcements about them adopting, but my question for you is are they adopting it fast enough? And if they're not, is there anything we can do to accelerate adoption of Open RAN?
Pardeep Kohli:
So one thing I would say, what has changed positively over the last say year since last MWC is that now every operator has a roadmap to do an Open RAN.
So if you remember a few years ago, there was a doubt of doubt about whether it'll happen or not. Now actually, you can see even our competition, Ericsson Nokia are saying they will do it. Only the Chinese guys, Huawei, have said they won't do it.
But otherwise, even our competition is doing it. All the operators are saying they're going to do it. Now it's only a matter of what's the timing, which matches or when they would do it, and that's really operator by operator.
We do have a good pipeline for this year and next year, but I definitely see it picking up more in like '27, '28. And a lot of European operators are actually timing that timeline, which is not that far. It's 18 months from now or a little bit more than that, but it's not that far. So, we are getting ready for it and I think now everybody has a roadmap to do it.
Diana Goovaerts:
Perfect. So I heard you speaking about the future, about the next 18 months. I want to talk about Mavenir's future really quickly. So talk to me about what the next 12 months look like. What is on your roadmap, and what are you going to focus on?
Pardeep Kohli:
We are a company which likes to do new innovation. We were the first one in doing many things. Actually, you can look at our booth, the first one to do VoLTE, first one to do RCS and Open RAN. And I think we'll be the first one to bring a lot of AI innovation in this space as well.
So we are actually working, and one of that's another, at least in last day and a half, what I've seen is that even now operators are looking forward to do more innovation, because over the last few years has been build the networks, get 5G ready. But now they're saying, "I didn't get much out of it. There's not much revenue coming in. What can I do to more on?"
So that's a big change and we are a company, which is in the right sweet spot. We have all the network components and we have the knowledge and talent to actually bring AI into it. So I definitely see the next 12 months is going to be more on how do we bring more innovation to the network, make it easier to deploy, make it easier to run and add new services onto it.
Diana Goovaerts:
Great. We can't wait to see what you do.
Pardeep Kohli:
Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity.