In this episode of Technology Reseller News’ special series on Telco Days 2025, Doug Green speaks with Damian Mazurek, Chief Innovation Officer at Software Mind, about why the telecom industry is at a historic crossroads – and what it will take for telcos to move from commodity connectivity to AI-era value creators.

Mazurek explains how rapid advances in AI, edge computing, LEO satellites and IoT are converging with generational change, especially Gen Z’s preference for asynchronous, AI-enabled interactions. Traditional voice and human-to-human communication are giving way to data-driven, bot-mediated experiences. “The next generation will not even talk with us – their AI assistants will do it for them,” he notes, predicting a future where AI agents negotiate, schedule, buy, sell and resolve issues on behalf of human users.

To avoid being trapped as low-margin bandwidth providers, Mazurek argues that telcos must evolve from telco to techco, building both an innovation culture and the cloud-native platforms needed to iterate at high speed. He outlines a three-layer framework for AI in the RAN – AI for the run, AI in the run and AI on the run – where AI improves network operations, monetizes unused capacity for AI workloads, and enables new services built on top of programmable, API-driven networks.

Mazurek sees major opportunities in:

• Turning surplus network capacity and distributed edge infrastructure into an “AI grid” that hosts and accelerates AI workloads.
• Leveraging telco data and real-time APIs to power new services and revenue streams.
• Enabling sectors like agriculture, aquaculture and industrial automation with reliable connectivity, low latency and AI-ready infrastructure in previously hard-to-reach locations.
• Delivering proactive, AI-driven customer experiences that match Gen Z expectations for simplicity, personalization and immediacy.

Ultimately, Mazurek believes telcos that embrace cloud-native transformation, programmable networks and AI-driven operations can do far more than survive the coming decade. “They can dominate the market and create new business value,” he says, by building the secure, trusted infrastructure that will underpin AI-to-AI communication at global scale.

To learn more about Software Mind’s telecom innovation initiatives and access resources from Telco Days, visit https://softwaremind.com/.