At the Huawei-hosted Mobile AI Industry Summit during MWC Barcelona 2026, industry leaders and telecommunications professionals delved into the future of AI and its integration with 5G-Advanced networks, or 5G-A. The discussions focused on key aspects of service intelligence, network intelligence, and the in-depth intelligence of network elements (NE). These are foundational pillars for effectively integrating AI into 5G-Advanced networks.
Significantly, industry bodies such as GSMA, ITU-T, and TM Forum are working towards developing AI-centric standards, predominantly the AI-MOS, and net autonomy evaluation models. This is to ensure that service experiences remain consistent and reliable as networks evolve. Attendees underlined the need to accelerate the deployment of 5G-A and the establishment of high-capacity, multidimensional networks with GigaUplink capabilities. This is alongside introducing wireless intelligent agents to foster single-domain autonomy.
At the summit, Richard Liu of Huawei highlighted how AI is pushing the mobile industry towards what he termed the “agentic internet era.” He emphasized that embedding intelligence across various service layers could boost operational efficiency and create novel revenue channels for operators.
During the event, Huawei showcased its U6GHz portfolio designed to expand bandwidth and coverage. These solutions aim to support multidimensional networks featuring large bandwidth, broad coverage, and minimized latency, paving the way for future 6G advancements.
The convergence of AI and 5G-A is gathering momentum across the industry. Organizations are collaborating to create standards that enhance user experiences and establish autonomous networks. At the summit, several operators shared progress updates on network construction and autonomous solutions targeting wide-scale commercial uses.
Huawei outlined two primary development paths for AI and 5G-A convergence. The first includes enhancing network capabilities using GigaGreen and GigaUplink technologies, focusing on uplink performance, capacity, and latency enhancements. The other involves augmenting network intelligence through automation. This involves building integrated hardware-software platforms, featuring digitalized sites and network agents, fostering higher autonomy levels.
The Chinese vendor further depicted the application of intent-based interfaces. These interfaces facilitate natural language-driven connectivity requests and end-to-end automatic operations and maintenance across networks. Such approaches aim to streamline operations and improve efficiency as AI applications impose new demands on mobile infrastructure.
