en.Wedoany.com Reported - In the opening keynote of TM Forum's DTW Ignite 2026 annual conference in Copenhagen, trust emerged as a central theme, with multiple operators elaborating on the critical role of artificial intelligence in the future of the industry.
Pietro Labriola, CEO and General Manager of TIM (Telecom Italia), stated in his keynote that amid growing concerns over digital sovereignty and AI usage, the company is working to build a "trust ecosystem" and aims to position itself as a significant, trustworthy connectivity partner. Labriola emphasized that without connectivity, there is no cloud, and without cloud, there is no AI, but connectivity alone is no longer sufficient. TIM is transitioning from providing connectivity to offering trusted digital infrastructure. He noted that customers are no longer focused solely on connection speed, but are increasingly concerned about how much they can trust the connections and solutions, a trend that has become more important with the rise of AI applications.
TIM currently operates 417 data centers, eight of which are Tier 4. The operator owns a significant backbone network in Italy and is in the process of selling its submarine cable and international infrastructure unit, Sparkle, to a consortium comprising Retelit and the Italian government. TIM itself is currently the target of a €10.8 billion voluntary public takeover offer launched by Poste Italiane, the Italian postal and financial services group. Labriola also shared his perspective on sovereignty, arguing that businesses and governments increasingly want to understand how their data is managed, and that sovereignty is not about isolation but about the need to control things. TIM has positioned itself at the core of Italy's digital sovereignty strategy and earlier this year announced a partnership with Microsoft to drive innovation and digital sovereignty in the country.
Claire Gillies, CEO of BT Group's Consumer business, stated that trust also plays a key role in BT's strategy, particularly in the competitive UK consumer market. She explained that BT's goal is to become "the UK's most trusted national infrastructure provider," rather than just a connectivity provider. Gillies believes that AI will play a critical role in helping BT achieve this goal, not only by reducing operational costs but also by creating unique customer value to drive long-term sustainable growth. She highlighted five customer value opportunities leveraging AI, including AI TV search, call center handling, next best action, self-healing networks, and scam protection. She revealed that BT's AI-powered scam protection has already blocked over 200 million scam messages.
This article is compiled by Wedoany. All AI citations must indicate the source as "Wedoany". If there is any infringement or other issues, please notify us promptly, and we will modify or delete it accordingly. Email: news@wedoany.com
