At Gitex Africa 2024, Andriy Zhylenko, CEO of PortaOne, set the stage for a transformative future in the telecom industry. During the event he met with TechAfrica News to discuss how Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) can evolve beyond traditional connectivity services.
In the interview, the experienced telecom industry veteran proposes that new software advancements are blurring the lines between telecom and non-telecom services. That’s creating an opportunity for MVNOs to transition into business productivity providers: using these new tools to create innovative and integrated solutions that unite business communications with business management.
We observe this shift not only with MVNOs but across the entire telecom industry… Telecom operators need to embrace this change or risk becoming obsolete if they continue only selling SIM cards or connectivity. Today, it’s crucial to offer customers value beyond basic services. This could be through business productivity tools that enhance sales or customer loyalty, or new services tailored to sectors like agriculture IoT.
Andriy Zhylenko, CEO of PortaOne
PortaOne has already embraced OpenAI and other artificial intelligence tools, recently announcing new solutions and integrations that leverage AI capabilities to offer services such as voice-to-text transcription, summarization, automated voice and text responses, and more. While Andriy Zhylenko views human decision-making as the critical center of any operational system, AI still has a significant role to play in making those systems as efficient as possible. “AI’s role is to efficiently execute these decisions and turn them into effective software systems or data workflows,” he says.”
Watch the full interview above, read it here, or find it on the PortaOne YouTube channel.
