“This is the biggest period of innovation since the internet — but we’re innovating and disrupting faster than ever before. Buckle up.”

It started with a warning.

Not about AI. Not about APIs.

But about the industry itself.

Charles Reed Anderson, analyst, strategist, and telco provocateur, took the CASA25 stage with one of the most unforgettable keynotes of the event. It was fast. It was sharp. It was uncomfortable. And it may have been exactly what this industry needed to hear.

His message?

Telcos have built everything — and monetized nothing.

And unless something changes, they risk repeating the same pattern with AI, APIs, and the next wave of digital disruption.

💔 The Love-Hate Relationship with Telco

Charles kicked off with the line that set the tone:

“All bars, no bucks.”

Telcos have poured billions into infrastructure — from GPRS and 3G to 4G and now 5G. But again and again, the profits went elsewhere:

• GPRS? Blackberry and RAM.
• 3G? Telcos squeezed out short-lived profits from high roaming fees.
• 4G? App stores and OTTs captured the upside.
• NB-IoT? China made it work. The rest, not so much.
• 5G? Hyperscalers are paying peanuts and printing money on the back of it.

“We’ve overhyped the networks, oversimplified the use cases, and underdelivered against the promise.”

Telcos are exceptional at connection. But when it comes to collection — actual monetization — they consistently fall short.

🔍 Innovation ≠ Tech Hype

The heart of Charles’ argument was clear: Tech doesn’t matter unless it solves a real problem.

Innovation isn’t about 5G, AI, or “smart cities.” Those are just enablers.

What matters is the pain point you solve, who you partner with to solve it, and how you monetize it.

He shared a campaign from Singtel during their 5G launch. It tried to explain to everyday consumers the differences between SA and NSA network modes.

“No one cares. They care about what it does for them — not how it works.”

Too often, the industry is still marketing technology instead of value.

🇦🇺 Telstra: A Case Study in (Almost) Getting It Right

Charles pointed to Telstra as an example of what can happen when a telco genuinely commits to innovation:

• They created Muru-D, a startup incubator.
• Rapidly built a leading IoT portfolio in just 12 months.
• Partnered with Microsoft to develop digital twins.
• Launched internal GenAI tools like AskTelstra and one-sentence customer summaries.

For a moment, they had it all: new services, rapid time to market, genuine differentiation.

But over time:

• The startup program was shut down
• Key innovators left the company
• Growth slowed
• Digital twin projects were deprioritized
• Bureaucracy and internal blockers returned

The result? An innovation engine that once led the region is now struggling to maintain momentum.

“Even if you build the right thing — if the culture, buy-in, and skillset aren’t there — it won’t scale.”

🍔 Network APIs, Explained via Cheeseburgers (and FEBO)

Then came the slide no one will forget.

Charles explained the network API ecosystem through a Dutch vending machine cheeseburger — yes, really.

Here’s the breakdown:

• Hungry customer = Business buyer
• FEBO (legendary Dutch fast food wall) = Traditional telco
• Restaurant = Telco with added value services
• Uber Eats = CPaaS platform
• Ingredients = Network APIs
• AI agent = Personal assistant who knows your context and preferences

“If you understand how to get a burger from FEBO, you understand the network API ecosystem.”

The takeaway?

In this new stack, CPaaS vendors are the orchestrators.

Telcos are at risk of being commoditized, unless they start acting like full-stack solution providers — or at least learn to partner with them.

Even worse? Hyperscalers and system integrators are now building their own orchestration layers — their version of Deliveroo — and they’re coming fast.

🤖 GenAI: Hype, Hope, and Hallucination

Instead of riding the AI hype wave, Charles challenged it.

95% of GenAI projects deliver no measurable business impact. 70–88% of digital transformations still fail. Most companies don’t have clean data, robust systems, or the right strategy.

Even more dangerously: GenAI hallucinates.

Charles shared how ChatGPT invented a scandal involving Uber Eats and a racist chatbot. He almost put it in a keynote deck before realizing it was completely fabricated.

“That could have ruined my credibility. Now imagine it’s your company, your brand, your chatbot.”

We’re pushing GenAI into production with no governance, no safeguards, and no real understanding of the risks. The brand risk is real. And it’s rising.

⚠️ The Next Threat: AI-Native Telcos

Charles then sounded the alarm.

MVNOs have already chipped away at traditional telcos — with better CX, sharper brands, and faster operations. But now, AI-native platforms are emerging.

He described a founder who built and sold an MVNE platform, then discovered the power of agentic AI and moved to Silicon Valley to build it all over again — AI-first.

These startups don’t need large teams.

They don’t need legacy systems.

They don’t sell SIMs. They sell outcomes.

And it’s not just the consumer market.

“Imagine AWS launching its own enterprise phone, preloaded with its AI stack, bundled for every developer team worldwide. Who needs a telco?”

We’re on the edge of seeing hyperscalers bypass operators altogether — and telcos may not see it coming until it’s too late.

🧭 What Now? Five Urgent Moves for Telcos

Charles left the crowd with five immediate takeaways. These weren’t buzzwords. They were a survival guide:

• Benchmark differently. Stop copying slow-moving incumbents. Watch E& (Etisalat) and STC — they’re pushing the boundaries with real deployments.
• Watch the AI-native players. Look beyond telco. See how AI-native startups are reshaping ERP, customer service, retail, and CX. That wave is headed for you.
• Track real innovation hubs. Europe isn’t the hotspot. The Middle East is where it’s happening now. Subscribe to Middle East AI News. It’s where the future is being built.
• Train your people properly. No more half-measures. Deep AI fluency is now a basic requirement. It’ll save time, reduce OPEX, and attract better talent.
• Solve problems, not just sell tech. Every new product, platform, or partnership must start with this question: Who are we solving for, what problem, with whom, and how do we monetize?

🎤 “Buckle Up.”

Charles didn’t offer a tidy ending.

He didn’t say “everything will be okay.”

He ended with this:

“You’re either part of the disruption… or you’re in its way.”

And if you’re in telco, cloud communications, or CPaaS, this was your wake-up call.

The AI era is not coming. It’s already here.

The question is whether your organization — your culture, your partners, your mindset — is ready.

🎥 Watch the Replay

💡 Want help navigating the AI, CPaaS, or Network API wave?

That’s what CASA is all about: not just talk — but real use cases, real change, and real outcomes.

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.

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, we are looking beyond the buzz to focus on the building blocks that will shape the future of programmable communications. One of the most important of those building blocks is vCon—a new open standard for representing conversations.

Why does this matter? Because as AI begins to transform communications, it needs structure. Large language models are powerful, but without a consistent way to capture and exchange conversational data, they struggle to deliver enterprise-grade results. vCon provides exactly that: a standardized “container” for conversations, whether voice, chat, or video.

The Power of a Definition

Last week, we published a guest blog by Thomas Howe, one of the driving forces behind the vCon standard and the vCon Foundation. In his blog, The Power of a Definition, Thomas explained how having a shared definition of what a conversation is can unlock an ecosystem of AI-driven innovation.

At CASA25, Thomas will take the stage for a keynote session to explain why vCons matter, and why they are a cornerstone for agentic AI in communications. His talk sets the tone for a series of deeper dives:

Panel discussions will explore real-world use cases, from customer engagement to compliance and regulatory requirements. A hands-on workshop will give a small group of participants the chance to dig deeper into the standard and its practical implications.

The vCon Foundation and CPaaSAA members are already working together to turn this definition into impact. That means moving from theory to practice—building AI-ready communications that enterprises, service providers, and telcos can trust.

In short: vCon is the missing link. It connects the messy, human side of conversations with the structured, machine-readable world AI needs to thrive.

At CASA25, you’ll hear directly from Thomas and other pioneers shaping this future. Join us in Amsterdam this September to be part of the conversation—and to help shape what comes next!

Over the past decade, programmable communications have evolved in waves—each bringing us closer to the vision of truly intelligent, adaptive, and trusted engagement.

Wave 1: CPaaS – The Programmable Foundation

Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) unlocked the ability to integrate voice, messaging, and video directly into applications. For developers and enterprises alike, CPaaS was the first step toward agility—moving away from siloed systems and into programmable, API-driven engagement.

Wave 2: Network APIs – Opening the Telco Core

With initiatives like GSMA Open Gateway, telcos have begun exposing valuable network capabilities—such as Quality on Demand, SIM swap detection, location verification, and identity checks—through standard APIs. This step added a new dimension: trusted, network-level context that CPaaS alone could not provide.

Wave 3: vCons – Structuring the Conversation

Virtual Conversations (vCons) emerged as a shared format for capturing, storing, and sharing interactions across platforms. For the first time, multimodal engagement data (voice, video, messaging, metadata) could be standardized—making it easier to analyze, train AI models, and create consistent experiences across channels.

Wave 4: AI APIs – Context + Intelligence at Scale

The next leap is already here: AI APIs, especially those powered or enriched by telco assets. AI APIs are not just about large language models—they are about combining context (via network APIs), structure (via vCons), and programmability (via CPaaS) to create truly intelligent engagement.

This is where agentic AI comes into play—AI systems that don’t just respond, but act, orchestrate, and decide across multiple systems. Imagine:

An AI customer assistant enriched with real-time network identity checks. A proactive service bot that shifts channels based on QoS triggers. An enterprise agent that combines vCon conversation history with AI-driven sentiment and network data to personalize every interaction.

Why Telco AI APIs Matter

Telcos have unique data, infrastructure, and trust advantages:

Local presence and regulatory compliance. Low-latency edge compute for real-time AI. Verified identity and secure network paths.

When telcos expose AI capabilities as APIs—either homegrown or in partnership with hyperscalers—they can play a central role in the AI engagement layer.

Shaping the Ecosystem at CASA25

At CASA25, we’ll be exploring this convergence head-on:

CPaaS providers bringing orchestration and reach. Telcos exposing network APIs and AI services. vCon innovators ensuring conversation data is clean and portable. AI leaders pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in real-time engagement.

This is not just technology evolution—it’s ecosystem orchestration. Together, we can define the frameworks, playbooks, and demonstrations that show the world what Intelligent Engagement really looks like.

The question is no longer if this will happen. The question is who will lead it.