Videos
SUSE on AI-Powered Network Optimization and Sustainable 5G Operations
Insights
- AI-powered network optimization can dynamically adjust radio capacity and energy usage based on real-time demand.
- Telecom operators can achieve significant cost and energy savings while improving network efficiency and sustainability.
- Specialized AI models are enabling practical, high-impact use cases that deliver measurable operational value today.
At MWC 2026, Thomas Di Giacomo of SUSE discusses how AI and cloud-native infrastructure are helping telecom operators optimize network performance and reduce operational costs. He explains how specialized AI models can analyze network usage patterns, monitor radio capacity, and automatically adjust power consumption based on real-time demand. The conversation highlights the collaboration between SUSE and Infosys, where cloud-native platforms and AI-driven intelligence work together to automate network optimization and improve resource utilization. Di Giacomo also addresses the industry's challenge of monetizing 5G investments, arguing that reducing operating costs can free up capital for innovation, service improvements, and future growth initiatives. Looking ahead, he sees AI-enabled efficiency gains delivering meaningful financial and sustainability benefits for operators with large-scale network deployments.
Thomas Di Giacomo:
We are bringing Linux cloud-native infrastructure across different telco base stations, let's put it that way. And Infosys runs on top of that platform to actually look at the usage, end user usage, power usage of the different radio network, radio antenna inside the network. Then together with some models — so there's small models, we're not talking about huge LLMs, we're talking about very specialized context-aware models that understand what's happening in different radios and can optimize that and say, well, we don't need to power that radio, there's no one trying to connect to that. Or, oh, it's Mobile World Congress, everybody's there, we need to make sure there's enough capacity to cover the space and the number of people. And so Infosys is providing that intelligence on top of the infrastructure to help operators decide what to do, actually automate that and act. So collect the data, use AI to understand what to do with that, and then give back actions to actually make your savings.
Thomas Di Giacomo:
5G has been and still is mostly an investment for operators, it's not being monetized the way that maybe the industry was thinking a few years ago. Now what we're doing with Infosys and SUSE, we provide a way for operators to at least reduce the amount of investment that they have to make, so that they can get some money back to either save that or invest that into services for their own customers. I mean new innovation around AI, or making their network better, or providing a better quality of service for our customers. So it's net savings. That's the beauty of it.
Samad Masood:
Can you tell us about the quantum of savings that can be made from this?
Thomas Di Giacomo:
So the savings, I mean, the answer, I'm an engineer, so it depends, but it's in the double-digit percentage. So we have pilots, prototypes, and use cases where we see savings of 20%, 30%. I would argue even if it's single-digit percent, we're talking about dozens of millions of costs. So 1% of 10 million is a large amount of money that operators can save or reinvest or use differently. It's also good from an energy sustainability standpoint as well. We don't want to over-consume just for the sake of consuming power.
Samad Masood:
What type of telcos do you think are going to be the first clients for this?
Thomas Di Giacomo:
So the answer is everyone, right? All of them. But probably the bigger you are in terms of 5G aerial coverage, the more you're going to win from that. In SUSE we work very closely with Orange or Deutsche Telekom in Europe, but also globally in the US or in Asia, we're actually looking at having Infosys and SUSE together, a couple of launching operators in all continents in the coming weeks. So the top largest ones are probably the first candidates.
