Telenor Pakistan: Harnessing the Power of AI

“There will be a multifaced impact of AI on our business; the strategic direction is to harness the potential of the innovations to benefit business and customers alike,” said Awais Vohra, CTO at Telenor Pakistan, highlighting the pivotal role of AI in their current operations and future development in an interview with ZTE Technologies. He also discussed what makes them unique in the market, as well as their approaches to 5G, energy consumption, and OPEX. Telenor Pakistan is the country's third largest mobile operator, offering voice and data services primarily to prepaid customers.

Could you walk us through your journey, including when your career first began and how you became CTO at a brand like Telenor?

I started my professional career in 2000 with Siemens as an engineer. I joined my current employer, Telenor Pakistan, before the commercial launch in 2004, where I worked in different areas within the company. At the beginning of 2013, I went to Telenor Denmark, where I headed the core network. At the end of 2014, I came back to Telenor Pakistan and took over as Director Operations. That was the start of the working relationship with ZTE as ZTE was the supplier of network equipment and Managed Service partner. In 2018 I left Telenor Pakistan and joined Jazz as Vice President Operations, before coming back and joining Telenor again in 2020. In October 2021, I was appointed as the CTO.

What makes Telenor Pakistan truly unique as an operator in the highly-competitive market?

Pakistan is a very competitive market. The average revenue per user is around one dollar. At Telenor Pakistan, we run a very lean and efficient organization. For a network of over 13,000 cell sites spread over a vast geography, there are less than 1,000 employees. In terms of network operations, we also take a lot of pride in having the most efficient operations within the country and in Telenor group.

Pakistan is prepared to roll out 5G, which promises significant changes. How will Telenor Pakistan leverage this paradigm shift?

Pakistan is a country which is going through the digitalization journey. We have seen a big shift, especially in urban areas, that was accelerated post COVID. There is a need to have high-speed internet access across the country beyond urban centers to accelerate this journey. The new spectrum and technological evolution to high-speed, high-capacity networks will be a step forward in accelerating the digitalization. In this era, access to broadband and high-speed networks is fundamental for socio-economic development. We hope that government and regulator see the potential of high-speed networks in accelerating the socio-economic development of the country and the terms and conditions offered for new spectrum are reflective of government’s ambitions of socio-economic development.

AI and large language models (LLMs) are transforming every aspect of life. Could you give us some insights how how they will impact the telecom sector? And what's your strategy towards AI?

AI is not only going to transform telecoms but all spheres of life. It's very important that we start taking AI as an enabler and take early positions that will help establish a strong foundation for the time to come. AI is poised to change customer interaction, customer offerings, customer communications and how the networks are operated—these are some of the examples. And all this is on the back of LLMs, human-like reasoning and decision-making. It is of paramount importance we remain at the cutting edge and not lag.

How would you utilize AI specifically?

Telenor Pakistan is using multiple AI use cases in Networks and IT to enhance operational aspects and efficiency. We are developing new use cases to automate tasks, improve customer interactions and optimize network through advanced data analytics. Additionally, AI use cases in finance will help with fraud control, prevention, and management.

Power is a major challenge in Pakistan. What actions are you taking to improve energy efficiency, and which solutions have caught your attention?

Telenor Pakistan is one of the most efficient operators in the country. We have invested heavily in solar power, with 23% of our network already solar powered. Energy prices are quite high, and energy efficiency is one of the criteria for any new purchase of equipment. Telenor Pakistan has invested in AI to help us get the maximum efficiency in energy.

Telenor is also a signatory of COP29. We have the target to reduce our power consumption to half of the 2019 level. There are programs we are running for energy efficiency that are contributing towards achieving this goal.

Telenor Pakistan and ZTE have cooperated for over 10 years in diverse areas. How is this partnership progressing, and what's next for it?

The partnership began in 2012 and since then it has been progressing well. ZTE is the major supplier of Telenor Pakistan’s radio network, CORE VNFs, IP and transmission networks. For over a decade, ZTE has been a trusted partner. ZTE has good technology roadmaps, providing opportunities for strategic partnership in future.

As CTO, balancing network performance and operational costs is a significant challenge. What approaches are you implementing to create an OPEX-efficient operating model?

That is very important. As I said earlier, we rely on partners like ZTE to come up with solutions that are customer-centric and efficient. And future product roadmaps are well aligned.