LIVE FROM M360 APAC, SEOUL: e& group CEO Hatem Dowidar (pictured, right) argued AI enables operators to do much more than streamline customer care and network operations, accelerating innovation by quickly trialling new services.

Dowidar said operators can now experiment like dotcom companies by analysing customer behaviour and making better predictions to link various services. 

The operator has fully automated its sales process using AI and machine vision, which he said allows it to open shops for much longer and customers to buy everything from an accessory to an iPhone.

It recently opened a second automated retail store, with plans to roll out more.

He said its marketing has moved to a segment-of-one concept, analysing each customer’s needs, delivering the service and suggesting what they may need next.

For customer care it is using AI in various ways, mainly chatbots, which are becoming more sophisticated: it developed a voice version using some of the more developed language models it has, he said. 

It has used AI for network optimisation for a long time.

The CEO noted having the right 5G and fibre infrastructure is essential for AI because many of the services rely on data loading, which can only be supported by the latest technologies.