“On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”

That decades-old meme still holds power—and in some ways, it’s the root problem of digital trust today. At CASA25, Helene Vigue, Identity and Data Director at GSMA, took the stage to talk about how telcos, through initiatives like GSMA Open Gateway, are finally in a position to help solve that problem at scale.

This isn’t about flashy new technology. It’s about enabling real-world trust in a digital world—and it’s where network APIs and mobile identity become not just relevant, but essential.

A World of Identities—and a Crisis of Trust

In a compelling, no-nonsense keynote, Helene walked us through a simple but powerful idea: your phone is the bridge between your physical self and your digital footprint.

“Mobile identity leverages this connection to enable businesses to securely verify customer identities—with minimal friction.”

Why does this matter? Because fraud is exploding. Scams and data breaches are growing faster than digital payments. And as AI evolves, it enables not only better customer service—but also faster, cheaper, scalable fraud attacks.

Meanwhile, regulators are responding with age assurance mandates, stronger compliance rules, and increasing scrutiny on platforms. Enterprises are stuck in the middle—trying to protect users while keeping the customer experience smooth.

This is where telcos come in. By exposing network APIs, they can deliver trusted signals directly from the source—such as SIM swap detection, number verification, and next-gen authentication.

From SMS OTP to Seamless Authentication

For years, we relied on SMS one-time passwords (OTP) to verify identities. But between rising costs, phishing attacks, and poor UX, the industry has outgrown that solution.

Operators are now offering seamless, passwordless authentication, enabled directly via the network. It’s faster (up to 2x), has better completion rates (up to +20%), and is more secure.

Helene highlighted examples like:

• Lydia (Banking) – Using mobile authentication to reduce fraud and total cost of ownership
• Ride-hailing & entertainment platforms – Focusing on speed and user experience
• Telkomsel (Operator) – Pivoting away from legacy A2P SMS by launching number verification APIs to win back enterprise trust

Identity APIs in Action: Fraud Prevention That Works

In Argentina, SIM swap fraud had become a major issue. Local operators responded by tightening internal security and launching a shared SIM swap API—used heavily by banks and payment providers.

A standout example: Movipay, which powers public transport payments. They were suffering from high levels of chargeback fraud, where criminals hijacked accounts, loaded funds, then reclaimed them. By implementing SIM swap monitoring, Movipay reduced this fraud by 80% in six months—while cutting manual review processes significantly.

This is what network APIs should be about: real outcomes, not just tech specs.

Why Partners Are the Missing Link

Helene didn’t sugarcoat the challenges. When asked what has disappointed her most in the Open Gateway initiative, she responded bluntly:

“We are too slow. That’s not a disappointment—that’s expected when you work with operators. What is disappointing is that new markets don’t learn fast enough from others… especially the critical role of partners.”

Too many telcos still try to go it alone. But the winners—those showing real traction—work closely with partners like:

Identity aggregators (combining mobile identity with broader identity stacks) CPaaS providers (scaling APIs across networks) System integrators (embedding identity into enterprise workflows)

Without this ecosystem, even the best APIs will fail to deliver value.

Mobile Identity as the Foundation for Digital Trust

Helene shared a full identity journey—from account creation to authentication, transaction security, and account management—showing where mobile signals can add trust at every stage.

From checking a number’s validity at sign-up, to monitoring SIM swap risk during transactions, to verifying ownership before allowing changes to an account—the network knows. And now, through Open Gateway, that knowledge can be safely shared with enterprises and platforms that need it.

An Open Call to Action

Helene closed with a clear message:

“If you haven’t yet joined the Open Gateway initiative, we really encourage you to do so.”

With over 100 networks launched, 200 APIs certified, and 80% of global connections represented, Open Gateway is more than a promise—it’s a movement.

But to reach full impact, it needs more partners, more adoption, and more success stories.

Final Thought: Telcos, Don’t Waste the Opportunity

Identity might just be the killer app for network APIs.

It delivers compliance, reduces fraud, improves UX, and lowers costs—all while aligning perfectly with telcos’ core strengths: trust, ubiquity, and infrastructure.

But only if they act boldly, partner smartly, and learn from each other.

Because in a world where nobody knows you’re a dog on the internet… mobile identity might just be our best leash on truth.

Recommended Next Step:

👉 Download the Mobile Identity Report from GSMA (if you haven’t already)

At CASA25, Miruna Anastasoaie, a particle physicist turned telco transformation leader at KPN, delivered one of the most refreshing keynotes of the event—not because of dazzling AI demos or grand future visions, but because of her brutally honest, human, and deeply insightful take on what really matters when a telco wants to transform with AI: culture, mindset, and leadership.

If you thought transformation was about plugging in tools or writing slick AI strategies, think again.

From Physics to Telco: A Mindset That Matters

Miruna didn’t come to KPN to maintain the status quo. With a background in astrophysics and a career spanning academia, banking, and telco, she’s seen how hard it is to change large systems from the inside. But she also carries a scientist’s mindset: clear end goals, tolerance for the unknown, and a commitment to iteration.

“In physics, you might know your destination and your first step—but you must relearn at every step. That’s the mindset I brought to KPN.”

And she didn’t come because she thought telco was glamorous. Quite the opposite.

She assumed KPN was too old, too well established, with too much history, a company with deep heritage and complex legacy systems. But when a former colleague pitched her the transformation journey underway, she thought:

“If we can change an operator like KPN, we can do anything.”

The Real Challenge of AI Isn’t Tech—It’s Letting Go

KPN isn’t lacking in tech. It has one of the most complex IT landscapes Miruna has ever seen. But that complexity comes with history—and emotion.

Many of the systems in place have been serving the company for 20 or 30 years and were built by people who have grown with KPN during that time. Letting go of those “babies” isn’t just a technical task—it’s personal.

“That’s why, even as a tech nerd, I focus on the cultural side of transformation.”

Changing mindsets is harder than upgrading tools. Because tools can be bought. But to use them well, you need clarity of purpose, leadership courage, and the ability to unlearn.

The AI Illusion: It’s Not About Tools

Miruna challenged a popular misconception head-on:

“Is this really an AI problem? Or is it a mindset problem?”

She described meetings where everyone was focused on “getting the best LLM,” without understanding that an LLM without retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) is just a parrot.

The obsession with new tools misses the point. No tool solves your core issues unless your foundations are solid:

• Clean data
• Clear processes
• Purpose-driven leadership

And perhaps most importantly:

“No supplier can solve our problems for us. Partnerships are important but you still own your problems. And ultimately you solve them from the inside.”

From Use Cases to Scale: Stop Planting Flowers

One of the biggest laughs—and biggest truths—came when Miruna spoke about the focus on use cases when she joined:

“It was like everyone was planting their own flower. But AI needs to work at scale, not in silos.”

Instead of spreading dozens of use cases across departments, she emphasized building shared journeys, connected processes, and interoperable AI systems that can grow with the business.

Use cases aren’t the goal—they’re just the first step. And they shouldn’t distract from the hard work of unification.

Don’t Freeze. Don’t Jump. Walk Forward With Purpose.

Many companies either freeze when faced with AI uncertainty—or jump headfirst into implementation with no structure.

Both are dangerous.

Some people thought they weren’t ready and wanted to cancel. She asked them, “What do we have?” When they listed it out, it was enough to move forward.

Miruna shared how her own team faced this when preparing for a board meeting:

“Delimit the known from the unknown. That’s what makes you strong.”

This mindset—that clarity trumps perfection—is what she calls the “physics of reinvention.” Take the first step. Reassess. Iterate.

Agentic AI Needs Orchestration—Not Chaos

When asked about agentic AI, she warned about another common trap: deploying too many agents too fast without guardrails.

“Ten agents solving a broken coffee machine may just argue with each other.”

Building agentic systems is like building teams—you need clear roles, coordination, and governance.

Throwing more energy at a system doesn’t help if the direction is off. In fact, it creates waste. Smart AI implementation is thoughtful, slow at first, and deeply structured.

Identity First. AI Second.

Perhaps the most powerful moment came near the end:

“Who are you, really? What’s your identity as a company? AI should help you—not define you.”

Too many AI projects start from the tech and forget the soul of the business. KPN, under Miruna’s leadership, is flipping that script.

She spends her time educating, challenging assumptions, and asking the tough cultural questions:

What is KPN’s purpose? What do we want to become? What are we willing to change—and what should remain?

Final Thought: The Hard Work Is Worth It

Transformation isn’t linear. It’s messy. It’s full of false starts and difficult conversations. But as Miruna reminded us:

“If you want impact, you have to do things differently. Not because you know better—but because you’re not afraid to fail and learn.”

And that’s what real AI transformation looks like.

Not plugging in a tool—but shifting a mindset.

Not buying intelligence—but building it—together.

How Radisys & Goshawk Are Bringing Purpose to Telco Innovation

At CASA25, one of the most powerful moments came not from a flashy AI demo or a multi-million-dollar partnership, but from a simple, deeply human story: how a phone call can reconnect people who have been quietly excluded.

Nicolai Schaettgen (Match-Maker Ventures) sat down with Ralph Page (Radisys) and Ian Buxton (Goshawk) to talk about Engage Clarity—a solution built for the one in five people currently affected by hearing loss. That number is set to rise to one in four by 2050. But this wasn’t a story about technology alone. It was about impact, dignity, and connection.

🔊 The Problem: Everyone Deserves to Be Heard—and to Hear Clearly

Imagine this: you’re 80 years old, trying to talk to your doctor. But the phone call doesn’t make sense. It’s muffled. It’s exhausting. So you stop calling. Maybe you even stop getting your prescriptions.

That’s exactly what happened to Ralph’s father.

“He’d say, ‘I can’t hear anything on this stupid phone’,” Ralph recalled. “It wasn’t his fault. It was the phone’s fault.” Eventually, he stopped speaking to the triage nurse and delayed renewing his medicine—because he couldn’t understand the conversation.

This is the real-world cost of hearing loss in a world that still treats phone calls as one-size-fits-all. And it’s just the beginning.

👂 Hearing Loss Is a Spectrum — And So Are the Challenges

You don’t need to wear a hearing aid to have trouble hearing. Hearing issues range from mild and undiagnosed to severe and treated with cochlear implants. And even with hearing aids, which can be expensive, conversations—especially over the phone—can be frustrating and tiring.

As Ian Buxton shared, “My wife has Ménière’s disorder. Even with hearing aids, she struggles. I can ask for the butter at breakfast, and she hears ‘putter.’ It’s not about loudness—it’s about clarity.”

And when clarity is missing, it doesn’t just affect understanding—it affects memory, confidence, and impacts human connection.

🌐 The Solution: Engage Clarity, Delivered Through the Network

Goshawk’s application was built to tackle this head-on. It starts with a 3-minute web-based hearing test, developed with Cambridge and Manchester Universities. This creates a unique audio profile—a fingerprint of how you hear.

Then comes the magic.

Radisys’ Engage Clarity solution applies that profile to your phone calls in real time. Clarity uses network-based processing—with more compute power and intelligence than any device.

The result? Voice calls that are customised to your hearing, not just louder.

So how does it work?

The user takes the 3-minute test on a telco-branded portal. A flag is set in the operator’s system. All calls are routed through Radisys’ media resource function (MRF). Clarity enhances the voice stream according to the hearing profile. The call is delivered—just clearer.

“It’s as simple as routing a value-added service,” Ralph explained. “The only hard part? Getting the telco website updated so users can sign up!”

🤝 Why Radisys?

Radisys isn’t just another CPaaS vendor. Their Engage Digital Platform is embedded in over 70% of telco IMS networks. That means they can manipulate the media directly inside the operator’s infrastructure—with regulatory compliance and native call handling already in place.

💡 Telcos, Take Note: This Is Inclusion and Innovation

Some operators ask, “How much can I charge for this?” Others see it as a feature for accessibility or wellness packages—bundled with fraud prevention or wellness services.

Either way, Clarity drives both differentiation and inclusion.

As Ralph said, “If I tell my dad this will cost £5 a month and he’ll finally be able to use his phone again, he’ll say yes without hesitation. The real blocker isn’t the customer—it’s whether the operator wants to charge for it.”

And beyond consumers, the enterprise use cases are compelling:

Contact centres: Improve agent hearing clarity, especially for older workers.

Employee wellness: Help staff with hearing challenges stay connected and productive.

Banking & retail: Keep experienced customer-facing employees after sudden hearing loss.

“This isn’t just a disability fix,” Ian added. “It’s about keeping people engaged—at work, with family, with life.”

🧪 Proof It Works: Clinical Trials & Real-World Results

Engage Clarity isn’t just a good idea—it’s a validated solution. Trials conducted with the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing showed significant improvement in comprehension across mild, moderate, and severe hearing loss categories.

Additional clinical work with university partners backs up its effectiveness—and showcases how telco infrastructure can be used for real impact.

🫂 A Telco That Connects Everyone

Ian closed with a reminder of why this all matters:

“A telco is about connecting people. Sharing information. Sharing love. And if that’s broken—if people quietly stop using the service—then we’ve failed. But if we can fix that? We’ve done something truly meaningful.”

✅ Ready to Launch

Engage Clarity is telco-grade, clinically proven, and easy to deploy. And with Radisys expertise in media handling, it’s already integrated into the heart of the telco network.

All that’s needed now is the will to act.

Whether you’re a telco executive, enterprise leader, or policymaker—the opportunity is clear. Let’s stop leaving people behind.

🔗 Get Involved

Radisys and Goshawk Communications are actively seeking operator partners and enterprise allies to scale Engage Clarity across regions and platforms!

At CASA25, Mike Mills, Managing Director for Service Providers at Gamma, took the stage with one clear message: Voice isn’t dead—it’s booming. And if you’re serious about intelligent engagement, customer experience, or real CPaaS revenue, you can’t afford to ignore it.

Gamma doesn’t just talk about voice—they carry over 1.6 billion voice minutes a month into cloud platforms, work with 80% of Gartner Magic Quadrant CPaaS vendors, and deliver services in 50+ countries. With a 15-year track record of powering everything from SIP trunking to modern CX platforms, Gamma is a partner that knows the market—and the regulatory maze—better than most.

The Gamma Lens: CPaaS Is at an Inflection Point

Mike offered a brutally honest assessment: compliance, fraud, and market complexity are getting worse—but the opportunity is only getting bigger. With CPaaS still seeing 11% CAGR growth even in worst-case forecasts (versus ~2% in traditional telco), the fundamentals are strong.

The big challenge? Most CPaaS players are either messaging-first or voice-first—rarely both. That leaves a major opportunity for those who can unify channels, deliver customer outcomes, and scale across borders.

3 Real-World Use Cases That Deliver Results

Let’s cut through the hype. These aren’t concepts—they’re hard business cases showing how Gamma helps CPaaS providers grow revenue, reduce compliance costs, and go to market faster.

1. Localization at Scale – 93% Revenue Growth

A global CPaaS provider needed to win big in the UK. Gamma helped them localize fully—from regulatory compliance to infrastructure—without downtime.

• Results: 93% revenue growth in 2 years
• Over 120,000 concurrent channels
• 150 million+ minutes per month—in a single geography

Lesson: Want to win globally? Deliver locally.

2. Global Reach, Zero Compliance Headaches

Another CPaaS player wanted to expand fast—30 countries, no compliance risk, and minimal operational overhead.

• Solution: Gamma’s unique regulatory contracting model, where Gamma takes on the local regulatory burden
• Results: $250K in annualized compliance cost savings
• Fully compliant, risk-free operations
• Enabled rapid global expansion without hiring local teams

Lesson: Focus on your platform and growth. Let Gamma handle the telco headaches.

3. Monetizing CPaaS + UCaaS for the End Customer

This one’s a game changer. A CPaaS vendor and their partner needed to integrate their platform with a UCaaS solution across multiple countries—seamlessly.

• Solution: Gamma helped package, deploy, and support the integrated offer
• Results: $350K in additional revenue 1,100 users migrated from legacy systems
• Deployed across 8 countries
• Full integration with existing infrastructure

Lesson: Bridging CPaaS, UCaaS, and customer infrastructure isn’t just possible—it’s profitable.

Strategic Focus: Voice, AI & Regulation

Gamma is investing £10 million over 5 years into supporting CPaaS partners. Why?

• Voice remains the #1 channel for real-time customer experience. Whether it’s a frustrated airline passenger or your in-laws still clinging to TDM, voice matters.
• AI is accelerating voice growth, not replacing it. 60% of Gamma’s recent growth came from CPaaS or CX platforms—often driven by AI-assisted workflows.
• Compliance is complex and costly—but also a competitive differentiator. Gamma builds solutions that enterprise customers trust.

As Mike said:

“If it’s not good enough to put a large enterprise on it, we generally don’t want to do it.”

Gamma’s View on Global Strategy: Local First, Telco-Grade Always

Gamma’s recent acquisitions—PlayTell, Starface, and others—show a calculated expansion into cloud-friendly and high-growth regions like Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. Their strategy is clear:

• Run the core network at scale
• Offer enablement layers to CPaaS players
• Adapt go-to-market locally
• Win either at the application, enablement, or network layer

Final Word: Voice Is the New Growth Engine

Gamma doesn’t see voice as legacy—it sees it as the foundation of modern, intelligent engagement. With real use cases, global reach, and a deep understanding of compliance and scale, Gamma is doubling down on helping CPaaS players succeed.

“It’s complicated. It’s getting more complex. But it’s not going anywhere.”

At CASA25, that’s not just a trend. It’s a strategy—and one Gamma is clearly ready to lead.

Jonathan Bean and Rob Kurver Close Day 1 of CASA25 with a Fireside Chat on What’s Next for Communications

As Day 1 of CASA25 came to a close, the tone shifted from urgency to opportunity. In a fast-paced fireside chat, Jonathan Bean, CMO of Sinch, joined Rob Kurver, Founding Partner of the CPaaS Acceleration Alliance, to reflect on the day’s discussions and project what’s next for the communications industry.

Spoiler alert: it’s big.

💡 Glass Half Full

Jonathan opened with a challenge to the room: let’s stop being cynical.

In an industry often obsessed with what’s broken, it’s easy to forget what’s been built. “When I joined CPaaS six years ago from the software world,” Jonathan shared, “the total ecosystem profits were around $200 million. Today? Billions. That’s a 10X increase.”

The takeaway: progress has happened. But we haven’t talked nearly enough about the customer—the real people and businesses benefiting from this transformation. “On my way here, almost every touchpoint was powered by one of our platforms. We’re already creating intelligent experiences, and that momentum is only increasing.”

🧠 A New Act: CPaaS 3.0 and Agentic AI

The conversation quickly moved to the next act. Inspired by CPaaSAA’s narrative of CPaaS 1.0 (SMS), CPaaS 2.0 (multi-channel), and CPaaS 3.0 (intelligent engagement), Jonathan made it clear: “We’re entering a new phase—one shaped by AI and orchestration.”

But this isn’t about fear. “For some players, it’ll be disruptive,” he admitted. “But for others, it’s a chance to create even more value across the ecosystem. AI, especially agentic AI, will radically shift how we think about engagement. We’re already seeing LLMs interact with our APIs in fascinating ways.”

Instead of treating AI as a threat, it’s time to build bridges—to become the infrastructure layer for AI-native companies. Or as Jonathan put it, “Our biggest customers may not even exist yet—they’re being founded right now.”

🧱 From Aggregation to Orchestration

For the past decade, CPaaS players helped companies aggregate access to messaging, voice, video, and email channels. But the future lies in orchestration—guiding meaningful customer journeys across these channels with intelligence baked in.

The goal? “Outcomes, not APIs.”

Sinch and others in the space are shifting from being mere pipelines to becoming engagement platforms, where developers, startups, and enterprises can build customer experiences that adapt, learn, and deliver.

This aligns strongly with the CASA25 theme of Intelligent Engagement—moving beyond just messaging to full-stack, AI-enhanced customer interaction.

🧑‍🚀 New Customers, New Mindsets

One of Jonathan’s most compelling points came when discussing the startups entering the space: “They’re vibe-coding apps on the weekend and just want their app to send an SMS or email. They don’t understand telco legacy. They don’t care. But we can onboard them through email, and then guide them into the world of messaging and regulation.”

In other words: onboard simple, then educate.

This generation doesn’t want to learn how to navigate telco red tape. They want platforms that work—fast. And whoever solves that friction stands to win their loyalty, and their volume.

🌐 Ecosystem Thinking

In closing, both Rob and Jonathan emphasized partnerships and ecosystem alignment. The day had started with warnings—about disruption, about AI, about the death of telcos—but it ended with hope.

As Jonathan put it, “Each of the partners we’ve had on stage today has a huge future. It all comes down to agility and customer centricity. Sure, we face headwinds—but the opportunity is so much bigger.”

TL;DR: The Future is Not a Threat—It’s an Invitation.

This isn’t about resisting change. It’s about accelerating it—together. CPaaS players like Sinch, alongside telcos, AI startups, and enterprise partners, are laying the foundation for a new infrastructure: Intelligent Engagement at scale.

Aggregation was Act 1. Orchestration is Act 2. And with agentic AI, the curtain’s rising on Act 3.

Let’s make sure we all have a role to play.

Adnan Saleem’s CASA25 talk shows how voice can be telcos’ most powerful AI opportunity—built directly into the IMS core, no apps required.

For decades, voice in telecom was the sleeping giant. Outside of a few quality-of-life upgrades—from narrowband to wideband audio—it remained largely unchanged. Until now.

At CASA25, Adnan Saleem, CTO of Software & Cloud Solutions at Radisys, took the stage with a bold message: Voice is back, and it’s becoming the new frontier of AI innovation inside telecom networks. More importantly, it’s becoming a new revenue stream—right inside the IMS core—without the need for new apps, new devices, or developer ecosystems.

These are telco-native, AI-powered voice experiences and solutions. And they change everything.

The Opportunity Telcos Have Been Waiting For

We often talk about 5G, APIs, or edge compute as revenue enablers. But Radisys is doing something radically pragmatic: turning the 1 trillion voice minutes flowing through telco networks every month into high-value, intelligent services.

Let that sink in. One trillion voice minutes per month, globally, over traditional operator networks—not OTT. These calls already run through IMS cores, where Radisys’ Engage platform lives. That’s where AI meets voice, and telcos meet new monetization.

And it’s not theoretical. Five Tier-1 operators are already deploying or commercializing Radisys’ AI-powered use cases today.

AI-Powered Voice Without the Friction

Radisys’ approach is radically simple and refreshingly telco-centric:

• No app downloads
• No smartphone upgrade
• No change in behavior
• Mobile or fixed line

If you have a phone and a number, you’re in.

Everything is embedded in the network. The user just dials, picks up, or lets their personal AI assistant take over. AI is no longer tied to apps. It’s part of your core telco service.

Use Cases That Speak for Themselves

The Engage platform enables a full stack of AI-powered voice services before, during, and after the call:

📞 Before the Call

• Caller identification & branding
• AI call screening with summaries (without answering)
• AI virtual assistant answers the call on your behalf

🎙️ During the Call

• Live transcription and summarization
• Fraud detection and real-time whisper alerts
• Virtual AI assistants (personalized, eg Juno) that join, take notes, schedule meetings
• Real-time language translation across 100+ languages

📝 After the Call

• Transcripts, summaries, and action items delivered via SMS or email or other channels
• Agentic AI actions (like scheduling follow-ups, setting alerts or reminders)

These aren’t future concepts. They’re running in the IMS core, on real operator networks, today.

Meet “Juno”: Your Personal Assistant on Any Phone

The most compelling demonstration? The telco-native personal assistant.

Subscribers can talk to a private, AI-powered assistant over a standard voice call—just like calling a friend. Juno listens, knows the user’s preferences, understands context (from past calls, emails, documents), and takes actions: scheduling meetings, finding information, dialing contacts, providing suggestions when asked, or joining ongoing calls to take notes.

This is agentic AI, not ChatGPT with a phone number. It’s secure, sovereign, and subscriber-controlled. No data leaves the network unless the user wants it to.

Why This Matters for Telcos

Most telco innovations today require ecosystem-building, heavy IT, or new consumer behaviors. Radisys offers a refreshing alternative:

• It leverages infrastructure telcos already own.
• It creates differentiated, high-margin voice services.
• It works across all phones—even low-end devices.
• It gives telcos control and visibility, not Big Tech.

More importantly, it flips the script on voice. From being a declining utility to becoming the core channel for AI-powered services.

Fraud Detection: A Killer Use Case

One standout example is fraud detection.

Imagine receiving a suspicious call—“This is the Bank of Canada, we need your details.” Radisys’ AI listens, detects red flags, and whispers a warning in your ear. “Proceed with caution—potential fraud detected.”

Better yet, it automatically logs, transcribes, and reports the event—regionally tuned to local fraud trends. This is real-time protection at scale, with models trained for each market and updated continuously.

Why Radisys?

Radisys has quietly powered real-time media infrastructure for over 180 global operators. With more than 15 years of deployment experience, they’re already embedded where it matters: in the media layer of the IMS core.

Their heritage makes them a rare breed: a partner that understands real-time, IMS, telco-grade reliability, and AI. Combine that with a platform like Engage, and you get telco-native innovation without the integration headache.

This isn’t CPaaS or over-the-top voice automation. This is native telco AI voice, built for scale, built for privacy, and ready for monetization.

The Bottom Line

Radisys didn’t just bring voice back—they brought it forward.

With AI running directly in the network, telcos have a clear path to:

✅ Launch revenue-generating services fast

✅ Differentiate with in-network AI experiences

✅ Compete without giving up control to third-party apps

✅ Serve every user, regardless of device

It’s time to stop thinking of voice as legacy. With Radisys, voice becomes the OS of intelligent engagement—no app store required.

At CASA25, Boris Maric, Commercial Excellence Officer at Infobip, took the stage with a bold statement: “Conversations are becoming the operating system of customer experience.”

Not the interface. Not the channel. The operating system.

It’s a radical reframing—but one that cuts straight to the heart of what Intelligent Engagement really means in this next era.

And Infobip isn’t just theorizing. They’re building. Testing. Scaling. Pivoting. Because for Boris and the team, it’s clear: if we don’t evolve from messaging to orchestration, someone else will.

From Channels to Conversations to Orchestration

Infobip’s journey is grounded in a simple but powerful insight: conversations are now the homepage of CX.

What used to be done across websites, apps, and disconnected touchpoints is now collapsing into a single thread—literally. One WhatsApp conversation. One RCS flow. One smart agent that knows what you need before you ask.

It’s the convergence of three forces:

• Conversational Messaging Boom – Already embedded in our daily lives.
• Messaging Channels Becoming Super Apps – Seamless, in-channel discovery, action, and support.
• The Rise of Agentic AI – Moving from assistive to autonomous engagement.

This shift means the interface shrinks and the backend complexity explodes. If you’re doing it right, the customer sees a single, simple thread. Behind it: orchestration, personalization, security, failover, and real-time data—powered by a blend of CPaaS infrastructure and generative AI.

Trust. Guide. Act.

Boris introduced a simple but compelling model: Trust, Guide, Act.

It’s not about “blasting messages.” It’s about embedding value inside a conversation.

• Trust is the entry point—built through verification, branding, and secure network APIs.
• Guidance comes through rich UI elements: suggested replies, contextual content, personalized flows.
• Action is the goal: a purchase, a booking, a service interaction, all within one seamless journey.

And when all three align? “The interface shrinks.” One thread. One customer. One intelligent engagement.

From Use Cases to Agentic Workflows

Infobip’s current focus includes:

• Smart chatbots and AI assistants
• AI-supported call center flows
• Fraud detection and prevention (leveraging network APIs)
• End-to-end campaign orchestration

But Boris emphasized a critical next step: evolving from isolated use cases to agentic workflows.

This means AI doesn’t just support the flow—it becomes the flow. Taking action, triggering transactions, orchestrating across systems.

In a world where AI eats SaaS, that shift becomes existential.

The Hard Truth: CPaaS Must Change

Boris didn’t shy away from the elephant in the room. Growth is slowing. Margins are under pressure. AI isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a disruptor.

AI is disintermediating SaaS, allowing enterprises to build more in-house.

Ecosystems are gaining power, simplifying procurement and increasing stickiness.

Messaging is commoditizing, and unless CPaaS evolves, it risks being relegated to the plumbing.

To lead in this new landscape, CPaaS providers must:

• Control the omnichannel orchestration layer
• Extract and leverage the value of first-party and contextual data
• Accelerate Network API adoption with telcos
• Build AI-native, agentic solutions that drive outcomes

In Boris’s words: “We need to take the orchestration part and lead the entire industry.”

Redefining CPaaS: Three Layers of Intelligent Engagement

Infobip’s framework to navigate this shift breaks CPaaS into three interconnected layers:

• Trust Layer – Network APIs and telco-grade infrastructure
• Omnichannel Layer – Preferred channels, failover scenarios, and real-time adaptability
• Action Layer – AI and agentic systems that execute, decide, and perform tasks autonomously

The future? Not just richer conversations, but conversational operating systems—fully integrated, intelligent, and outcome-driven.

What’s Holding Us Back?

Despite the vision, there are friction points. Boris didn’t sugarcoat them:

• Slower telco alignment on Network APIs
• Regional fragmentation in operator models
• Lack of orchestration maturity across the stack
• CPaaS industry inertia: stuck in “messaging” while others build full-stack solutions

But there’s a path forward.

Start with use cases that work.

Build them with startups and risk-takers, not just enterprises.

Orchestrate across channels, data, and AI—and make it seamless.

Final Word: This Is the AI Opportunity

Infobip sees two key accelerants ahead:

Agentic AI – to drive real-time, autonomous action CPaaS as the orchestrator – leading enterprise and telco transformation

And Boris left us with this clear call to action:

“We sit on a ton of data. We already have the infrastructure. The next battle is orchestration. If we win that, we win the future.”

Watch this space. The future of customer experience is being rebuilt—one intelligent conversation at a time.

At CASA25’s now-infamous Fight Club session, the rules were simple:

Don’t talk CPaaS. Talk customers. Talk outcomes. Talk impact.

And Vonage’s Marc Marchal de Corny did exactly that.

In a punchy, practical session, Marc showed what happens when we stop obsessing over technology—and start focusing on what users actually need. From fighting fraud to speeding up onboarding, the message was clear: real-world use cases, measured by real-world results, are what drive adoption. Everything else is noise.

From the First SMS to Today’s Identity Crisis

Marc started with a throwback: the first SMS in 1992. Since then, we’ve created amazing apps, connected billions of devices… yet we’re still authenticating users the same way—via SMS and one-time codes.

But the world has changed.

Fraud is now a $10 trillion industry.

Threats like synthetic identity fraud, social engineering, and OTP interception are everywhere. Yet many businesses still rely on the same outdated flows.

It’s time for something better.

Enter Network APIs: Invisible, Instant, Secure

Vonage’s answer? Network APIs, embedded within their Verify platform. These APIs work silently in the background—using mobile network data to authenticate users without them ever leaving the app, typing a code, or even noticing.

Two standout use cases showed the power of this approach.

Use Case 1: Sumeria (formerly Lydia) – Reducing Fraud, Not UX

Sumeria is France’s leading neobank. Like Revolut, they rely heavily on phone numbers as identity. But that made them vulnerable to account takeover attacks—and created friction in the onboarding process.

What they needed:

✅ Stronger security

✅ Seamless UX

✅ Lower drop-off rates

What Vonage delivered:

• 🔐 99% reduction in account takeover fraud
• 🚀 22% drop in sign-up abandonment
• ⚡ 3–5x faster user authentication
• 📱 6 million users verified via silent authentication

Crucially, this wasn’t just about swapping SMS for a new API. It was about rethinking the experience, eliminating interruptions, and restoring trust at scale.

Use Case 2: Cabify – Don’t Make Me Wait

For Cabify (the Uber of Latin America and Southern Europe), the challenge wasn’t fraud—it was speed. Travelers arriving at airports needed a ride now, and any delay in sign-up meant lost customers.

With Vonage’s network API-powered flow, Cabify:

• 🕐 Reduced onboarding time by 50%
• 🔐 Decreased OTP sharing and fake accounts
• 📈 Increased sign-up completions
• 🌍 Reached 50M+ users globally

Fast, secure, and invisible—the authentication just happened, in seconds.

Why Isn’t Everyone Doing This (Yet)?

An audience member nailed the big question:

If the benefits are this obvious, why aren’t all enterprises using this already?

Marc’s answer was honest:

“The use cases have always been there. What’s been missing is the operators’ ability—or willingness—to deliver at scale.”

But let’s be clear—this is not just a supply-side issue.

Even when the APIs are available, adoption takes time. Because switching is not just a technical decision—it’s a strategic transformation. It means:

• Updating customer journeys
• Rethinking identity models
• Aligning with compliance and legal
• Getting buy-in from risk, procurement, and CX teams
• Proving ROI to business stakeholders

And that means we, as an industry, have to do more than just ship APIs.

We need to:

• Talk benefits, not backend systems
• Explain outcomes, not architectures
• Guide customers through the entire change journey—not just integration

From CPaaS to Intelligent Engagement

What Marc gave us wasn’t a product pitch. It was a live case study in intelligent engagement.

It’s not about replacing SMS. It’s not about voice vs. data. It’s not even about CPaaS.

It’s about delivering value faster—for both the business and the end user.

Whether it’s signing up for a neobank, hailing a cab, or verifying identity across channels, the winning strategy is always the same:

• Invisible tech.
• Seamless UX.
• Measurable results.

That’s intelligent engagement in action.

And that’s what the future of this industry needs more of.

Final Word: It’s Time to Work Together

If we want network APIs—and intelligent engagement more broadly—to go mainstream, we need a new playbook.

It’s not enough to build great tools.

We need to embed them into outcomes.

To work across teams, not just tech stacks.

And to support customers every step of the way, from idea to implementation.

Because in the end, it’s not about what we can build.

It’s about what users actually need.

And that’s where the real fight is.

At CASA25, Vonage’s new CMO Neelam Sandhu took the stage to deliver the first industry keynote—and reframed the room’s expectations from the very start.

Yes, the talk touched on network APIs, CPaaS, and 5G. But more than that, it was a wake-up call: the telecom industry needs to stop selling features and start delivering outcomes. It needs to stop defining itself by what it connects—and start defining itself by what it enables.

This, Neelam explained, is where Intelligent Engagement begins: not as a tool or a trend, but as a way of thinking about how mobile networks can finally fulfill their potential in the digital economy. The same way cloud computing reshaped every industry over the past 20 years, mobile networks could reshape the next 20. If, that is, the industry can think—and act—like a platform.

1. What Cloud Did for Digital, Mobile Can Do Next

Neelam drew a powerful analogy between the rise of cloud and the untapped potential of mobile networks. Cloud computing didn’t succeed because it was technically clever. It succeeded because it unlocked new value—speed, flexibility, scale—for every business model it touched.

Today, mobile networks have that same potential. The building blocks are ready:

• 5G is now deployed in over 80% of high-income countries
• Programmable network APIs are being exposed
• Cloud and AI have matured enough to bring intelligence into the network layer

“The cloud unlocked AI. Now cloud and AI can unlock the network,” Neelam said.

It’s not a metaphor. It’s a market signal. The mobile network is ready to become the next digital platform. And just like cloud, that platform needs an abstraction layer—a way for developers, startups, and enterprises to build on top of it without needing to understand how it works under the hood.

That’s where Vonage, Ericsson, and Aduna come in.

2. Vonage’s New Role: The Abstraction Layer for the Network

Vonage, under Neelam’s leadership, is no longer positioning itself as just another CPaaS player. It’s now the interface—the business-facing layer—for a full-stack platform that spans from physical network to digital engagement.

Vonage’s tech stack includes:

• UCaaS: foundational communication channels
• CCaaS / vertical engagement platforms: tailored to industries like healthcare, retail, and finance
• CPaaS & APIs: the programmable glue
• Network APIs: the new addition—connecting directly into Ericsson-enabled mobile network functions

In short: Vonage is helping turn networks into platforms, just as AWS turned servers into services.

And the key to unlocking this platform value isn’t jargon—it’s storytelling, use cases, and real-world outcomes.

3. From CPaaS to Outcomes

Neelam was candid: “If I say CPaaS on stage, I should have to put a coin in a jar.”

That’s because the CPaaS label no longer captures what the industry needs. It’s not about enabling programmable messaging—it’s about designing communication journeys that adapt to context, intent, and industry needs.

Whether that’s a first responder securely transmitting diagnostics from an ambulance, or a bank proactively engaging a customer before fraud occurs, the focus is shifting:

🛑 From APIs

✅ To orchestration

🛑 From features

✅ To outcomes

This is where Intelligent Engagement becomes more than a marketing term—it becomes the north star.

4. Aduna and the Role of Aggregation

One of the most important enablers of this transformation is Aduna, the global telco joint venture built to standardize and simplify access to network APIs.

Aduna is already:

• Live in 17 countries
• Working with 37 telco partners
• Supporting 23+ APIs across network and comms layers

Much like cloud providers created standardized, scalable compute and storage APIs, Aduna is doing the same for telco capabilities like quality-on-demand, location, number verification, and more.

Neelam’s message was clear: fragmentation kills adoption. Aggregation creates markets.

And if we’re serious about making the network the next digital platform, developers need a trusted, unified interface to build on. That’s what Aduna delivers.

5. AI: Woven In, Not Bolted On

When asked about AI’s role in all this, Neelam made a key distinction:

“AI isn’t the headline. It’s a pillar.”

Rather than pushing AI as a buzzword, Vonage is embedding it across its stack:

• In smarter routing
• In real-time personalization
• In predictive engagement logic
• In tools that make human and machine agents work better together

Just like cloud became essential infrastructure, AI is becoming embedded intelligence. What matters now is how well it integrates into the communication fabric—and how much it improves the experience, not just the efficiency.

6. The Cultural Shift: From Telco to Tech

Beyond the technology, Neelam called for a mindset shift.

“We need to stop thinking like telcos. We need to start thinking like tech companies.”

This means:

• Partnering across traditional boundaries
• Moving faster
• Building ecosystems, not just selling capabilities
• Speaking in use cases, not layers
• Seeing communications as an enabler of digital transformation, not just another service line

It also means being bold—possibly acquiring AI startups, reshaping business models, or experimenting with monetization strategies that look more like cloud marketplaces than telecom pricing sheets.

Final Reflection:

Neelam’s keynote didn’t just explain where Vonage is heading—it outlined the path for the entire industry.

The next era of growth won’t be led by those with the most APIs, or the most telco partners. It will be led by those who understand what all this technology is actually for—creating meaningful, trusted, real-time engagement between people and brands, machines and moments.

That’s the real transformation. That’s the new standard.

At CASA25, amid the intense discussions on network APIs, GTM models, and CPaaS monetization, one panel stood out for its mix of raw honesty, technical depth, and forward-looking pragmatism: Agentic AI — Consent, Identity & Trust.

Moderated with humor and curiosity by Kyle Nel of Sandbox Industries, this panel cut through the AI hype and tackled the hard questions: What really makes AI “agentic”? How do enterprises get started without getting lost? And how do we prepare humans — not just machines — for the agentic era?

Here are the highlights and takeaways from the session featuring:

• Kyle Nel (Sandbox) – Moderator, venture investor, AI outsider-turned-ally
• Adnan Saleem (Radisys) – CTO of Software & Cloud Solutions
• Mark Castleman (Intel) – Ecosystem lead for AI and deep tech
• Olaf Wallaart (CM.com) – Lead Data Scientist, Agentic AI platform
• Remco Magielse (GLBNXT) – Startup founder tackling the “proof of concept to scale” gap

🔁 From AI Hype to Agentic Reality

Kyle opened the discussion with a simple question: “Who here is actually using agentic AI?” A few hands went up — but more had used AI in their personal lives. As he noted, the consumer world is once again leading the enterprise, signaling what’s to come.

But as Olaf Wallaart pointed out, most organizations are still trying to figure out the basics — how to write a proper prompt. The magic agent that handles everything on its own? “It doesn’t exist,” said Castleman. “You need a hundred agents, each tuned to a specific outcome, with checkpoints along the way. It’s a recipe — not a single ingredient.”

Agentic AI isn’t just a smarter chatbot. It’s the orchestration of intelligent agents capable of executing tasks, calling APIs, and interacting with other systems. But the infrastructure of most businesses — especially telcos — is still too fragmented, siloed, and legacy-heavy to support this at scale.

🎯 Where to Start: Low Complexity, High Impact

Remco’s team uses a simple framework to assess use cases: map complexity vs. impact. The goal? Find the “wow” moments — high-impact wins that are easy to implement and explain on a single slide.

“You don’t want safe,” he said. “You want something that gets people to go: Whoa, this changes how we work.”

Adnan echoed the point: “Don’t aim for sci-fi agents yet. Start with low-hanging fruit that improves productivity, then build from there.” Internal tools — like secure ChatGPT-style assistants — are often the best starting point.

🧠 AI Literacy Is the New Digital Literacy

The panel agreed that a huge part of the challenge is human, not technical. We’ve spent decades teaching people to write short keyword queries. Now, we must teach them to write long, rich prompts — to treat machines like collaborators, not search engines.

Olaf shared how CM.com formed an internal AI team tasked with helping every department identify their top problems — then co-create solutions. “They become like a beacon of AI, promoting ideas, showing what’s possible, and building internal momentum.”

Training helps. Practice is better. And curiosity is the ultimate success signal.

“Curious people engage deeply,” said Castleman. “Transactional ones don’t. Look across your org — who’s asking better questions? Those are your early adopters.”

⚙️ Infrastructure, ROI, and the Spaghetti Stack

Agentic AI reveals the cracks in enterprise systems. Legacy platforms, dirty data, and siloed infrastructure become instantly visible when you try to automate tasks end-to-end.

🤝 Telcos: From Dumb Pipes to Agentic Enablers

The final part of the panel tackled the telco opportunity. As Castleman put it bluntly: “In the old app era, telcos lost because they tried to figure out the apps instead of enabling them. This time, they need to expose all the little levers and let the agents go wild.”

Agentic AI breaks apps down into atomic functions. Telcos and CPaaS players sit on a goldmine of these functions — but they must make them available as APIs that agents can trigger.

Identity, trust, and consent become key. As Olaf noted, telco networks have something unique: reliable identity. That’s a massive asset in an era where bots can imitate humans — and vice versa.

🧪 Final Words: It’s About Agency — Not Just AI

The last round of the panel shifted from tech to philosophy.

“If done right, AI gives us back our agency,” said Olaf. “We get to build quickly without begging for budget. We get to focus on what’s fun and impactful.”

AI might reduce cost. But the panel’s message was clear: it’s about productivity, creativity, and revenue growth — not just optimization.

And it’s about people. Give them tools. Train them. Let the curious ones lead.

Because in the end, agentic AI isn’t just software. It’s a shift in how we work, build, and think.