ABOUT 5G BLITZ WEEK
5G is at a turning point. With Communication Service Providers (CSPs) having made significant investments in 5G infrastructure, the opportunities and promises are now beginning to be realized. With 5G advanced scheduled for this year, defining 5G use cases, such as autonomous driving vehicles and high-precision locations are set to become a reality. Tune in on-demand to delve into today's most critical 5G conversations and gain insights into what the future holds for this transformative technology in the years ahead.
AGENDA
MONDAY, MARCH 25
11:00 AM – 12:15 PM ET
Delivering the 5G Promise with 5G Advanced
5G Advanced, as detailed in 3GPP’s Release 18 this year, describes the next iteration of 5G connectivity that is set to transform the entire ecosystem. Enabling use cases from extended reality to high-precision location, 5G Advanced will deliver the richest capabilities via the integration of AI and ML in the core and the RAN. 5G Advanced is poised to have massive implications for massive IoT in addition to various other industries. Could the original 5G promise be defined in its next iteration? How will 5G Advanced disrupt the industry and what can we expect in the coming years?
11:00 AM - 11:15 AM ET Keynote | Speaker: Alan Loh, Innovation & Solutions Executive General Manager, Zain KSA
11:15 AM - 11:30 AM ET Partner Keynote | Speaker: Reiner Stuhlfauth, Wireless Technology Manager, Rohde & Schwarz USA
11:30 AM - 12:15 PM ET Panel Discussion | Moderator: Sylwia Kechiche, Senior Director, Industry Analysis, Opensignal / Panelist: Peter Jarich, Head of GSMA Intelligence, GSMA Intelligence, Narothum Saxena, Member of the NGMN Alliance Board & VP, Technology Strategy and Architecture, USCellular / Sébastien Faye, 6G Technology & Innovation Line Manager, Luxembourg Institute of Science & Technology / Adnan Khan, Technology and Market Development Director, Anritsu
AGENDA
MONDAY, MARCH 25
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM ET
5G Densification – The Role of Neutral Hosts, Small Cells & Beyond.
In the four years of commercial 5G rollout, confidence in its performance is growing. An article published by 5G Americas predicts that approximately 6.8 billion people will have a 5G connection by the end of 2027 and estimates that 267 commercial 5G deployments are currently deployed, a number expected to grow. Pivotal to the continued success of 5G is due to its availability, and to continue the upwards momentum, it is pivotal that CSPs densify their networks so that 5G is available in urban, suburban, and rural areas. Challenging to the overall 5G densification strategy is the significant CAPEX investments needed by private and public sectors to achieve ubiquitous connectivity, and with a general CAPEX reduction currently taking place, how can CSPs achieve their densification goals? Neutral Hosts and Small Cells offer two options. How can CSPs work with neutral hosts or deploy small cells to densify their networks? Is a combination of both an adequate solution? And what other possibilities can CSPs utilize to define their 5G densification strategy?
1:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET Keynote | Speaker: Alejandro Minetti, Mobile RF Design Manager, Telecom Argentina
1:15 PM - 2:00 PM ET Panel Discussion | Moderator: Prakash Sangam, Founder and Principal, Tantra Analyst LLC / Panelists: Simon Fletcher, Chief Strategy Officer, Small Cell Forum / Ari Pouttu, 6G Flagship Vice-Director/6GESS Program Vice-Director, University of Oulu
AGENDA
TUESDAY, MARCH 26
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM ET
Driving Growth with Open RAN
Fierce Wireless has been reporting on Open RAN (ORAN) since the movement began. In an absence of large-scale deployments, we put to speakers during our 2023 ORAN Summit whether the ORAN hype had begun to plateau. However, with AT&T recently announcing their partnership with Ericsson to deploy its first commercial ORAN network and for 70% of all wireless traffic to be over ORAN networks by 2026, it appears the momentum is back. We all know that network openness and disaggregation allow CSPs to generate cost savings in their network, and with this first commercial deployment of an ORAN network, what will this means for the telco industry? Join this session to learn how commercial deployments of ORAN networks can drive growth for the industry and what we can expect next.
11:00 AM - 11:15 AM Fireside Chat | Moderator: Stefan Pongratz, Vice President, RAN and Telecom Capex, Dell'Oro Group / Speaker: Marc Rouanne, Executive VP and Chief Network Officer, Dish Wireless
11:15 AM - 12:00 PM Panel Discussions | Moderator: Monica Paolini, Principal, Senza Fili / Panelists: Simona Marinova, Solution Architect, Bell Canada, / Mike Irizarry, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, USCellular / Geoff Hollingworth, Chief Marketing Officer, Rakuten Symphony
AGENDA
TUESDAY, MARCH 26
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM ET
5G Monetization Strategies – The Role of Automation
Autonomous networking has been a hot topic for a while. Due to its ability to drive efficiency and agility in the network, end-to-end automation is seen as a promising way to generate cost savings in the network. Join this session to learn the latest on network automation. What role will AI and Generative AI play in driving automation? What has been achieved so far and how can challenges such as integration and security be addressed?
1:00 PM - 1:15 PM Fireside Chat | Moderator: Chris Pearson, President, 5G Americas / Speaker: Azita Arvani, Former CEO Raktuen Symphony North America, Board Member, Entrepreneur, AGI
1:15 PM - 2:00 PM Panel Discussion | Moderator: Dave Bolan, Research Director, Mobile Core Network and MEC, Dell’Oro Group / Panelists: Eugina Jordan, CMO, Telecom Infra Project (TIP) / Alexis Koalla, Director Operations Strategy & Transformation, Orange / Azita Arvani, Former CEO Raktuen Symphony North America, Board Member, Entrepreneur, AGI
AGENDA
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27
11:00 AM – 11:45 AM ET
5G Monetization Strategies – Expanding Revenue Streams with Open APIs
Open network application programming interfaces (Open APIs) allow third-party developers to build applications and services on an operator, or operators 5G network. Open APIs are cited to be a significant opportunity for CSPs to capitalize on their 5G networks whether it be from charging for access, revenue sharing with the developers or by charging a premium directly to the consumer for the product or service enabled via the open API. Either way, STL Partners predicts network APIs are predicted to be reach of a value of $20bn in the coming years. With such promise, what needs to be done to maximize network APIs? How can CSPs work with one another to enable the open interface to drive this opportunity? What are the common challenges and how can they be overcome?
11:00 AM - 11:15 AM Fireside Chat | Moderator: Elizabeth Coyne, Editor in Chief, Fierce Network, Questex / Speaker: Stephanie Ormston, Assistant Vice President, Digital Services Integration, AT&T
11:15 AM - 11:30 AM Fireside Chat | Moderator: Monica Alleven, Executive Editor, Questex / Speaker: Jennifer Accosta, Global Head of Media and Telecommunications and North America Head of Enterprise Technology, J.P.Morgan
11:30 AM - 11:45 AM Fireside Chat | Moderator: Patrick Lopez, CEO, Core Analysis / Speaker: Ranny Haiby, CTO, Networking, Edge, & Access, Linux Foundation
AGENDA
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27
11:45 AM – 12:00 PM ET
5G Monetization Strategies – Enterprise Networks
Enterprise 5G is cited as one of the most profitable 5G avenues CSPs can take to monetize their 5G investments, with Markets&Markets predicting its value to exceed $10.9bn by 2027. Taking advantage of 5G technology, the enterprise will see considerable value in the form of cost-savings delivered by automation in addition to the discovery of potential revenue streams. For CSPs to capitalize on this opportunity, they first must understand the specific motivations and objectives of each enterprise, particularly for those who may have already invested in private 4G LTE. Join this session as we explore success in Enterprise 5G deployments as well as we discuss what the outlook is like for enterprise 5G deployments in the coming years.
1:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET Fireside Chat | Moderator: Roy Chua, Principal, AvidThink / Speaker: Payam Khaghan, Head of Sales, Vodafone Americas
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