A recent fireside chat connecting Dubai and Amsterdam brought together Iwan Stella, Head of Strategy and Commercial Management at Ericsson EMEA, and Ferry Grijpink, Partner at McKinsey Company, to examine the forces reshaping global telecommunications and digital infrastructure. The discussion focused on how connectivity has evolved into a strategic national asset, driven by the convergence of 5G, artificial intelligence, and edge computing.
The speakers underscored that recent global disruptions, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic, exposed the true value of robust digital networks. As economies, education systems, and social interactions shifted online almost overnight, countries with resilient connectivity adapted more effectively, while those with weaker networks faced significant disruption. This period reinforced the view that telecom networks are no longer optional utilities but essential infrastructure for national resilience, economic competitiveness, and social continuity.
Attention then turned to the evolution of 5G. While early deployments focused on capacity expansion and fixed wireless access, the technology is now entering a more transformative phase. The next stage centers on enabling real-time, intelligent, and high-performance applications such as autonomous vehicles and drones, large-scale industrial automation, and continuous communication between AI-driven systems. To unlock this value, operators were encouraged to accelerate investment in standalone 5G, network slicing, open APIs, and edge computing, which together form the basis for sustainable monetization and innovation.
