Ahead of DTW Ignite 2026 in Copenhagen, Executive Editor Tara Neal speaks with Ryan O'Hanlon, VP of Sales and Marketing at MDS Global on how cloud-native BSS platforms can help operators remain agile, reduce complexity, and unlock new revenue streams in an increasingly interconnected telecom landscape.

In this episode, Ryan also discusses how:

- Composable BSS is becoming a critical enabler of digital telco growth, as many operators are struggling with fragmented "Frankenstein" BSS environments

- Future telco revenues will come from diversified connectivity offerings, including API monetization, Network-as-a-Service, private networks, IoT services, and eSIM

- eSIM is reshaping customer onboarding and digital experiences, but operators still need to improve orchestration and activation processes to deliver seamless user journeys

- MDS Global's strategy centers on creating a unified commercial and operational layer, bringing together connectivity management and BSS capabilities to provide a single source of truth

Learn more at: www.mdsglobal.com

In this episode of The Fast Mode Podcasts, Executive Editor Tara Neal speaks with Susan White, AVP of Strategy of Netcracker following the company's win of the OSS & Automation Leader title at the The Fast Mode Awards.

In this episode, Susan discusses how:

- Challenges around widespread closed-loop automation remain, with organizational structure, data quality, inventory accuracy, and AI governance continuing to slow progress

- Agentic AI is set to radically transform network operations, eventually autonomously detecting, diagnosing, and resolving network issues

- Netcracker's Domain Automation links network operations directly to business outcomes, enabling operators to understand not just faults, but also the affected customers, services, SLAs, and revenue impact.

- The company's Blueprint approach accelerates automation deployment, enabling operators to replicate proven automation frameworks across multiple network domains and significantly reduce implementation times

- Low Earth Orbit satellite networks are emerging as a major growth area for domain automation, driven by increasing complexity, stringent SLA requirements, and the convergence of 5G and NTN

Ahead of DTW Ignite 2026 in Copenhagen, The Fast Mode's Executive Editor Tara Neal sat down with Vasanth Raju, Head of AI Products at Rakuten, to discuss how leading digital organizations are moving beyond AI experimentation to deliver measurable business outcomes.

In this episode, Vasanth explores how:

- Telcos are at a crossroads, with declining ARPU despite growing data usage, forcing operators to rethink their business models and how AI can create measurable value

- AI should not be treated as a bolt-on feature, and must be built into products and operations from the ground up to deliver scalable business outcomes

- Rakuten is deploying AI at scale across its ecosystem, expecting over US$29 million in cost savings from AI-powered customer service tools in 2026 alone

- Competitive advantage comes from a strong data foundation—unified data, a single customer identity, and breaking down silos enable AI to deliver meaningful results

- AI must be viewed as an amplifier, and the real differentiator is its ecosystem, loyalty loop, and unique customer data that connect services and drive higher customer value