The Great Convergence

How AI Will Reshape Telecom’s Future  

By Hazem Metwally

(This article originally appeared in Telecom Review Africa)

When some of my friends moved to the GCC in the 1990s, a phone call meant that something urgent is required. Each minute, costing few dollars, was carefully rationed. The ritual of those calls, families gathering around one single phone, passing the handset from person to person – shaped my early understanding of how technology could bridge vast distances, yet also highlighted its limitations.

Fast forward to decades later, as my nephews pursue life abroad, technology has rewritten the rules of family separation. I am now spontaneously invited to family video calls, sharing everything from morning coffee moments to evening family dinners. What was once an orchestrated monthly event has transformed into seamless, much more accessible connection – the thousands of miles between us reduced to mere pixels on a screen that fits in our pocket.

Today we stand at the threshold of an even more profound transformation. Consider how the smartphone evolved from a simple communications tool into the digital command center of modern life. Each day, billions of people navigate their lives through these devices, conducting business, connecting with family, and managing their daily activities. 

We're now approaching an equally momentous transformation, one that will reshape the entire telecommunications infrastructure that powers our connected world. 

This isn't a question of if, 

but when, and the pace at which 

service providers adapt will determine their role in this new era.

The AI Imperative

Every conference, every boardroom meeting, every strategic discussion today inevitably turns to artificial intelligence. And to be frank, the breakthrough of language models and generative AI has earned this technology its well-deserved fame and hype. It has been evolving in research labs and tech companies for decades. What's different now is that we've reached a historic inflection point where computational power, data availability, and algorithmic sophistication have converged to make AI not just viable, but indispensable.

For telcos, this convergence represents more than just another technology wave, it can fundamentally transform how value is created and delivered. The core mission of service providers has always been about customization of enterprise solutions for businesses, mass personalization for consumers. AI now offers unprecedented capabilities to fulfill this mission at a scale previously unimaginable.

Yet here's the critical insight; success in this new era won't come from simply adopting AI because it's trendy...

It is easy to fall into the hyper experimentation trap by launching countless proofs-of-concept, spreading resources thin across numerous initiatives, chasing every AI possibility. 

The landscape is evolving at an accelerating pace, and service providers face crucial strategic choices. Should resources flow toward operational AI that drives efficiency, toward predictive systems that enhance customer insights? Or toward products that redefine what's possible? Most companies don’t have the luxury of pursuing all these paths simultaneously – and that's why strategic choice matters more than ever.

The winners in this space will be those who approach AI with precision, making deliberate choices about where and how to deploy this transformative technology. The wisest approach starts with a deep understanding of current customer pain points and opportunities, the associated resources, and the business strategy. AI decisions should be taken with a clear view of these factors. Only then can players make deliberate choices about how AI can transform their service delivery in meaningful ways.

While the world examines with profound questions about AI's impact on human creativity, computational sustainability, and ethical boundaries, telcos face a more immediate imperative. The clock is ticking on critical decisions that will shape our future. The luxury of pursuing every opportunity simultaneously exists for very few, if any, organizations. 

The true test of leadership in this era will be choosing where not to play, as much as where to place your bets.

The Legacy Challenge: Transforming Telco DNA

For decades, telcos have operated from a position of unique strength. Armed with spectrum licenses and infrastructure, they satisfied one of humanity's most fundamental needs: connection. As smartphones consolidated cameras, maps, entertainment systems, and communication tools into a single device, we found ourselves at the center of an expanding digital universe. Our strategies were similar and remarkably straightforward – "just do it." With guaranteed demand and regulatory frameworks, success largely depended on efficient resource allocation, vendor management, smart pricing and good execution.

But this era of relative simplicity is ending. The telco landscape demands a delicate balance between preserving the reliability that built the industry and embracing the agility needed for future innovation.

It is about fundamentally reimagining what a telco can be. 

The baseline for customer expectations is shifting dramatically. AI-powered experiences are, and will be, reshaping what users expect from every interaction. And the same baseline will apply to the provision of connectivity in all its flavors, let alone technology solutions and services. 

That subtle call for urgency needs to be translated 

to products and services roadmaps, sooner rather than later.

This challenge is particularly complex for telcos because of their dual nature. On one side, they must maintain the robust, reliable infrastructure that powers our connected world – the "legacy DNA" that ensures five-nines reliability. On the other, they must develop the capability to innovate and deploy new services at the speed of asset light tech companies. It is about learning to sprint and maintain stability simultaneously, and I see the recent digital transformation as a good warm up. 

One good approach could be the "strategic delayering”; creating distinct vehicles for innovation that can move at varying speeds and different payback horizons, all while maintaining the core operating values of reliability.

Each vehicle/element would stand on its own merits, with an eye kept on metrics for value creation and synergy. A kind of dance between the art of creating tech ecosystems and the discipline of obeying realistic business fundamentals. Calling it a dance is just a poetic way of describing real world healthy friction.

At e& Egypt, we're putting this strategy into action. Rather than merely bundling new services into our core telecommunications offering, we've created focused plays that can move at the pace their respective markets demand. Our recently launched e& Fintech and Digital Lifestyle subsidiary exemplifies this approach; a strategic response to evolving customer needs, encompassing everything from digital payments through e& Cash to comprehensive payments solutions with SuperPay and entertainment solutions with Twist. 

What makes our approach particularly powerful is how it allows for different innovation velocities. Our Erada for Microfinance vertical requires a deep understanding of Egypt's local communities and well considered risk management. Its deliberate pace contrasts with our digital entertainment platform, which always has to evolve rapidly to keep pace with changing consumer preferences in TV, music, and gaming.

An exciting manifestation of our strategy is our super app initiative, a digital ecosystem that brings together our loyalty platform, lifestyle services, and financial solutions in one seamless interface. It represents our bold bet on the future of digital engagement.

We've learned that success in this transformation requires more than just organizational restructuring. Each of our ventures operates with its own metrics for success, its own timeline for value creation, and its own approach to customer engagement. Yet they all benefit from the robust foundation of our infrastructure and brand trust – a perfect example of how legacy strength can be leveraged for future innovation.

This customer-centric approach, 

rather than a technology-first mindset, 

will distinguish the winners in telco's next chapter.

The Courage to Keep Learning

In my many years within the ICT sector, I've noticed a pattern. The moment a company starts saying "we know our business well" is often the moment they begin their slide towards irrelevance.

It's a lesson we at e& Egypt take to heart. The truth is, in this rapidly evolving landscape, none of us can afford to stop being students.

Every morning, our teams face new challenges that didn't exist yesterday. Whether it's building cloud infrastructure, strengthening network security or adopting the new methods of AI computing, we are constantly learning, evolving and innovating. Each experience builds our expertise and makes our solutions even stronger. That's precisely how we grow.

Our commitment to "do more" is simple, it is about making technology work better for people's real needs. In Egypt's dynamic market, this means different things to different people. For some, it is the reliable mobile banking that saves hours of waiting in line. For others, it is stable internet that keeps their business running. These everyday uses of our services keep us focused on what matters: making things work, making them better, and making them matter in people's daily lives.

Looking ahead, I'm both excited and honestly a bit awed by the challenges we face. Building tomorrow's digital infrastructure while maintaining the trust of millions isn't easy. It requires us to be both bold and careful, innovative and reliable. We need to move fast while ensuring we don't break the essential services people depend on.

The future of tech telco is not just about having the latest technology or the biggest network. It's about having the courage to keep learning, to admit what we don't know, and to face each new challenge with fresh eyes. Being part of this transformation is a privilege that comes with great responsibility.

We don't have all the answers. But we're committed to asking the right questions, to learning from our experiences, and to doing more – not just for our business, but for every person who relies on us to connect, grow, and thrive in this great convergence.