Opening keynotes: The future, faster.

Headliners/Keynotes

08:45 - 08:55
Welcome: DTW Ignite Host
Aaron Boasman-Patel, Vice President, Innovation, TM Forum

08:55 - 09:25
CIO panel: Re-invent IT for AI, velocity and growth 

• Strategic imperative: Re-invent IT to move faster, operate AI-ready, and unlock sustainable growth
• Speed and intelligence as advantage: Why CIOs must redesign IT to deliver faster decisions, automation, and responsiveness without disrupting operations
• From legacy drag to AI-ready platform: How leaders are simplifying and modernising IT to support AI-native operations at scale
• Efficiency with confidence: Cutting complexity and cost while increasing agility through automation and modular platforms
• IT as a growth engine: Enabling new services, ecosystem partnerships, and B2B2X models with resilient, future-ready IT 

Moderated by Willie Stegmann, Executive Vice President, Composable IT & Ecosystems, TM Forum
Antonietta Mastroianni, CIO, e& UAE
Chen Hong, CIO, Singtel
Scott Petty, CTO, Vodafone
Charles Molapisi, Group Chief Technology & Information Officer, MTN Group

09:25 - 09:45
Fireside chat: Reimagining experience in telecom: Modernizing CRM and billing in the AI era 
Moderated by Mark Newman, Chief Analyst, TM Forum
Gil Rosen, CMO, Amdocs
Anna Maria Blengino, CIO, Sunrise

09:45 - 10:15
Fireside chat: The future network - designing for an AI-native world 

• Embedding AI into the network is not enough: How ready are today’s architectures, data models, and platforms to support AI at scale? 
• Re-imagining the network with AI at its core, not as an add-on, and what it really takes to move from fundamentals to production
• Transforming operating models to enable AI-driven networks, including what must change across processes, skills, and decision-making to move at speed
• Moving beyond programmed networks to intent-driven autonomy, and the strategic shifts required across organisation, talent, and investment models
• Planning networks for a future defined by uncertainty, where adaptability, standards, and automation matter more than prediction

Moderated by: Camille Mendler, Research Director, Telco B2B, Omdia
George Glass, CTO, TM Forum
Ankur Kapoor, EVP, Chief Network Officer, T-Mobile
Kim Krogh Andersen, Group Executive, Network, Product & Technology, Telstra

10:15 - 10:30
Keynote: AI-native learning: How telcos can prepare the next generation for an AI world

• As telcos evolve into digital infrastructure companies, their role in the AI era is no longer limited to connectivity, cloud, compute and networks. They also have an opportunity to help societies build the human capacity needed to use AI responsibly and productively
• Veemal will share how MT is developing mytGPT, an AI-native learning platform designed to support teachers and students as they prepare for an AI-driven future
• Drawing from live school pilots, localisation efforts and an agile deployment model, Veemal will explore how a telco can move beyond being an infrastructure provider to becoming a trusted enabler of national AI adoption
• The session will offer a practical view of sovereign AI in action: building locally relevant tools, learning from empirical feedback, adapting deployment responsibly, and designing platforms that can evolve into agents, MCP servers and personalised learning companions. It is a case study in how telcos can create demand for AI by helping the next generation learn with AI, not merely about AI

Veemal Gungadin, CEO, Mauritius Telecom

10:30
Closing remarks 

Timings are provisional only and may be subject to change.