BARCELONA—What were the main themes that came out of this year’s Mobile World Congress Barcelona? One might categorize them, in general, as a shift toward technological maturity, and from the possible to the practical, across the areas of Open RAN, artificial intelligence and Non-Terrestrial Networks in particular.
In a conversation with Sameh Yamany, corporate CTO of VIAVI Solutions, he affirmed that from VIAVI’s perspective, Open RAN has cleared initial hurdles and is on the move.
“Maturity is not a discussion anymore, I think we are seeing maturity happening,” Yamany told RCR Wireless News on the show floor at MWC Barcelona 2025. “In fact, in our [VIAVI Automated Lab-as-a-Service for Open RAN, or VALOR] lab, where we are doing a lot of testing, I think we are seeing that now, there is a lot of incoming innovation from smaller and mid-sized, and even bigger companies. … I think there is an acceptance in the community right now that the ecosystem is being set up and it’s moving,” Yamany added.
He saw a similar track for 5G Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) technology. Operators have spent the past year striking partnerships and doing testing, with some services already starting to launch and more expected this year. “There is not just a hype discussion, it’s actually a reality,” Yamany said. The technological challenges of NTN are complex, however. He emphasized the importance of being able to generate and run realistic testing scenarios that can do real-time mapping and emulation of satellite constellations, and explore various effects on the radio link, to make sure those services provide sufficient availability and continuity.
AI, meanwhile, was one of the most pervasive themes of the show. “I think it’s table stakes,” Yamany said—but also confirmed that he saw a desire for practical use of AI across the conference. VIAVI, for its part, highlighted how artificial intelligence could be used in new Open RAN deployments and in interference hunting to assist human users. “When you start thinking about how people are talking about AI right now, it is more focused on the practicality of it—how I can really use it to solve real problems that I have today, not things that I need to think about in the future,” he added.
“5G and AI and Open RAN have pushed the boundaries” of innovation, Yamany reflected. Operators start to realize, that while they may like the initial results they are getting, they might have overlooked some fundamental infrastructure to support that innovation long-term. Now they need to fix or rebuild things—which, Yamany pointed out, “is not as sexy” as all the new innovations themselves. Nonetheless, this needs to be done for all of that advancement to come to full realization.
