An article by Shanthi Ravindran, Principal Analyst at Appledore Research

It’s time for Futurenet World Asia, this time in its sixth edition in 2026, with over 550 attendees, over 100 speakers/sponsors/exhibitors – a confluence of telco executives, vendors, Industry organisations and analysts, hosted by Singtel, Axiata and Telenor Asia.

As always, it promises to be a rewarding two days, understanding APAC Progress, directing us to the next steps, focusing on future goals, why Autonomy and AI make business sense and how they can help to reduce costs and increase revenues.

This conference comes at a critical juncture as telcos progress towards more open networks that can support dynamically changing customer needs and differentiated services, to monetise the 5G deployments and move on to a new generation of services around AI.

The question that we asked in last year’s conference – Can network automation and AI help create a new normal? This year, we ask – how can this new normal with AI and Autonomy shape the future of operators?

Women in Telco – For the first time at Futurenet Asia, we have a focus on Women in Telco, with an exclusive panel, roundtable and Trailblazer award, also very heartening to  see more women speakers and attendees at FutureNet Asia this year!

APAC Markets have settled after a wave of consolidations and accompanying transformations, giving these operators a better starting point to move into new business and operating models with AI and Autonomy. APAC is a diverse region and as always, it offers lessons for the rest of the world, which this conference showcases, in the way AI and Autonomy can bring benefits to all networks, whether it is a developing market serving large populations or a developed market offering advanced services.

Appledore’s recently published OSS market share report, seen here, indicates how AI and agentic AI are beginning to reshape OSS investments. We see AI reallocating existing budgets toward AIOps, closed-loop assurance, modern domain controllers, data platforms, digital twins and agent-development environments.

Futurenet World Asia 2026 focuses on the AI-Native Telco supported by Autonomy and Agentic AI and the monetisation of these intelligent networks, with new operating models and supporting technologies. The conference agenda includes CxO keynote panels and sharing from many technology leaders from operators around APAC. Key discussions and questions addressed include:

• Re-architecting the AI-native Telco – to be AI-native rather than AI-enabled? AI driven Transformation at scale – how to balance long term vision with rapid technological change?
• Autonomous Networks at scale – How to move to intelligence-driven operations? Across domains? What is the new autonomous operating model?
• Monetisation – New revenues from growth models, from enterprises, developers, 5G and partnerships, AI/Autonomy enabled opportunities beyond connectivity
• Technologies – AI models, Agents and Sovereign AI, Data readiness and Digital twins, Orchestration for Autonomous networks and more
• Critical questions – How does this change our business and operating models? How does AI create value? How to get measurable business impacts? What are the new revenue models enabled by AI? How to build resilient infrastructure?
• Learnings shared from leaders
  • Regional Operators – Singtel, Axiata and Telenor
  • Singapore (Singtel, Starhub, M1, Circles, MyRepublic Broadband), Malaysia (DNB, Telekom Malaysia, CelcomDigi), Indonesia (Telkomsel, Telkom Indonesia, XLSmart), Thailand (True Corp, AIS), Philippines (PLDT, Smart, Globe), Australia (Telstra), Japan (Rakuten Mobile, NTT DOCOMO), India (Vodafone Idea), Sri Lanka (Robi Axiata, Sri Lanka Telecom)
  • Global Operators – Vodafone Business and BT International
  • Vendors – Amdocs, Dell Technologies, Ericsson, Huawei, Mavenir, Oracle Communications, Rakuten Symphony, ServiceNow, Viavi Solutions, Windriver
• Case studies – AIS Thailand, NTT DOCOMO, Singtel, Telstra, XL Smart

Futurenet Awards – with a large number of high-quality entries this time, we have two awards in two Operator/joint category, six in the vendor/joint categories, two in the individual categories – Technology Leader and Women in Telco Trailblazer of the Year!

Appledore is participating in the event once again, as an invited Research Partner. Shanthi Ravindran will chair a Women in Telco Roundtable on Day One, an all-women panel on Day Two – Agentic AI & Data-driven Intelligence – The Telco Playbook for Autonomous Networks and take part in the Closing Analyst Wrap Up at 4:00 PM on Day 2.

Looking forward to meeting you all at Futurenet World Asia, at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, on 22-23 September.