As we move into autumn, that means one thing: CCS Insight’s Predictions event is back! With just a week to go, the team is putting the final touches to our online event, and I was lucky enough to get a preview of day two so that I could give you a rundown of what to expect (if you missed our sneak peek at day one, see Predictions Preview: What Next for AI and Regulation?).
The second day of Predictions for 2025 and Beyond begins with a discussion between Kester Mann and Ian Fogg about topics including 5G, Open RAN and operators’ future financial strategies, which will be crucial to the future of connectivity.
Kester serves up some thoughts on consolidation in the telecom market, as in the past year, we’ve seen several mergers including the tie-up in Spain between MasMovil and Orange. Reflecting on these mergers, Kester sees something bigger coming on the horizon.
Ian brings up 6G, which, despite the underwhelming roll-out of 5G in some areas, is becoming a hotter topic by the year. Ian believes that some broader assumptions about 6G are misplaced, and that we’ll see a surprise as the technology is developed. Kester and Ian also discuss Airbnb, with a thought-provoking prediction that will get you thinking about how you stay connected on your next holiday.
My colleague Luke Pearce follows, looking at the world of private mobile networks. He’ll share some eye-opening figures about the potential of this sector — don’t miss this presentation, sign up here. Luke also touches on RedCap technology and how we’re on the cusp of exciting growth in this area, which will help businesses meet their growing connectivity needs.
RedCap will also be valuable for fixed wireless access (FWA). In the past year, CCS Insight has invested heavily in our research into FWA, and Vaishali Purohit has been leading our efforts here. She explains the FWA market, examines how it might disrupt traditional broadband services and offers projections for how the market will develop worldwide.
After this, Kester returns with an interview with Marc Allera, CEO of EE, on the upper floors of BT’s headquarters at One Braham. This setting provides a stunning backdrop to a discussion that begins with Marc outlining EE’s strategy for 5G standalone, which the operator launched recently.
Kester and Marc also chatted about everyone’s favourite technology — AI — and how it’s affecting and influencing decisions in the telecom industry. The conversation then turns to concerns about technology use by young children, a topic addressed in some of our predictions and something EE has also been looking at closely by issuing advice against selling smartphones to under-11s. Marc gives a couple of predictions of his own as we get to hear how the CEO of a major network sees the telecom market unfolding in the next few years.
We then turn our attention to another area seeing big change: the intersection of health and tech. Kane McKenna explores how this is developing with the introduction of AI, and how wearable devices will evolve beyond tracking simple health metrics. He outlines a particularly interesting and important prediction about how wearables could help prevent serious crimes.
Continuing the health theme, Maria Bell discusses the major change we’ve seen in the workplace in the past five years, mainly because of Covid-19. She outlines how the transformation is continuing with generative AI and will go even further by being used to benefit employees’ health.
Maria also talks about the reasons why employees are returning to the office as a result of the drawbacks of working from home. Her prediction about this topic is fascinating and would definitely make my early Monday morning meetings feel like I’m in Star Wars.
We then have our final interview of Predictions as our CEO Geoff Blabber sits down with Stefan Streit, Chief Marketing Officer at TCL Europe. They talk about TCL’s Nxtpaper initiative, which came about from trying to benefit the lives of younger children. It’s great to see both TCL and EE putting children’s safety and health at the heart of their work.
They also look at other standout features, notably the “switch on to switch off” function that TCL has introduced to improve reading on its devices. As someone who has set a target to read a certain number of books a year, I believe these features would benefit many people — including myself, as I’m only a third of the way to my target.
To wrap up the two-day event, Geoff and chief analyst Ben Wood recap some of their favourite predictions from this year’s batch, bringing up key insights that will provoke deeper reflection and conversation about the future of the digital world.
Predictions for 2025 and Beyond starts on 8 October at 10 AM (BST), with day two available from 10 AM (BST) on 9 October. So, with less than a week to go, make sure to sign up and block out your calendar, as Predictions is back!
Register here.
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