MWC 2025: Telco CEOs Explain How Europe will Find its Edge
The European networking market is perhaps not as advanced as other parts of the world, with companies left eager for investment.
Investment into infrastructure is lagging behind other regions, with the transition to 5G networks - which is central to enabling emerging technologies like AI and IoT - requiring significant expenditure amid an increasingly complex regulatory landscape.
“Europe is at a crossroads in its development of the digital infrastructure that its businesses and citizens will need to succeed. It is concerning to see it falling further and further behind other large markets around the world.”
Likewise, the GSMA has stated that the telecommunications sector overall requires immediate reform in order to maintain its global competitive position.
In order to tackle these challenges, leading CEOs and industry trailblazers from Vodafone, Orange, Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica sat down at MWC Barcelona 2025 to explore how the industry can put Europe back in the fast lane and support operators to improve networks for all.
Telefónica CEO: Encouraging investment
“It is not usual to be in an industry where the operators are saying ‘please let us invest’...” explains Emilio Gayo, new CEO of Telefónica.
“We operate in a fragmented market, the future is not written - we have all the conditions to become an even more advanced market and change the way we do things.”
He adds: “We need to make decisions and take risks to enact change.”
Margherita Della Valle: ‘Europe is lagging’
“As telcos our first job is to connect everyone wherever they are,” Margherita Della Valle, CEO of Vodafone, explains. “It’s not just about 5G, it’s all the way from subsea cables to satellites.
“Europe is not winning the global race, Europe is a laggard in the 5G era - we are not falling behind an increasing number of low and middle-income countries and it’s in our hands to change that.
“We need to work on two fronts - we need to flex our innovation muscles and then be able to scale that innovation with the right environment for investment.
“It has to be a priority in Europe to find more opportunities to create scale - the future is in our hands as Europeans.”
Orange CEO: The role of the operator in the AI landscape
“AI is everywhere, but we have to realise it is only just starting,” shares Christel Heydemann, CEO of Orange Group. “AI will not just be about LLMs - the revolution is going to be very different, it must be at the Edge.
“We are just scratching the surface - the barrier to AI is going to be lower and it will be the first real test case of 5G applications, but the question is how to monetise that.
“We need to invest and create capacity to create scale - we need to ensure there is a European ecosystem that can better benefit from more investment.”
Deutsche Telekom’s Tim Höttges: Removing uncertainties
“We need the reform of competition policies to consolidate our activities,” says Tim Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom. “We should build a European single market.
“We have to reduce the regulatory burdens - we need an initiative to cut the bureaucracy and cut uncertainties of the investment environment.”
Mobile Magazine has been on the ground at MWC Barcelona 2025. For more exclusive videos and interviews, please check out our website, or our sister publications - Technology Magazine and AI Magazine.
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