The telecom industry has spent years building intelligent networks. The next challenge is turning those networks into platforms for growth.
That’s the thinking behind Rakuten Symphony’s theme for DTW Ignite ’26 (June 23-25, Copenhagen): “Advancing telecom operations toward intelligent autonomy.” As operators look beyond connectivity to create new revenue streams, participate in digital ecosystems, and deliver differentiated customer experiences, they need operations that are as intelligent as the networks themselves. Intelligent autonomy is the missing link – helping operators simplify complexity, accelerate service innovation, and unlock new business opportunities at scale.
At DTW Ignite ’26 (Booth #219), we’ll showcase how operators can move closer to intelligent autonomy through live demonstrations spanning:
Our participation in the Catalyst Program is an extension of our hands-on demos. The goal of the Catalyst Program is to develop future technology initiatives using Open APIs, ODA, AI, and automation. There are more than 50 Catalyst projects in process.
Rakuten Symphony is a part of the Hyperconnected Intelligent Network of Trust (HINT) for Supply Chain – Phase III catalyst. The HINT catalyst is focused on building a trusted digital framework for supply-chain collaboration across multiple industries and partners. The project is aimed at improving trust, transparency, and composability across complex ecosystems. You can find this catalyst on display during the show in the Innovation Zone Kiosk: i1.13.
Beyond the demonstration, Rakuten subject matter experts will educate the audience through a series of high-impact partner talks at the booth.
Here are the topics and speakers of these presentations. You can find more details here.
Stop by booth #219 to hear customers and technology experts address key issues in monetizing next-generation networks. These presentations include:
This panel tackles the uncomfortable questions swirling around persistent growth problems: Why is growth so hard? Has telecom over-rotated on cost optimization at the expense of new value creation? What roles do AI, platforms and ecosystem have in unlocking real revenue versus incremental gains?
Featured speaker: Sandeep Arora, SVP and Global Sales Head, Rakuten Symphony
The session will look into how complex, distributed environments across telecom, tower companies, data centers and even EV networks can be designed and operated as a single system that intelligently maps network assets, topology and inventory.
Featured speaker: Altaf Sarguroh, Senior Director of OSS Products and Delivery for Europe, Rakuten Symphony
This panel explores where AI-RAN is delivering measurable value today, how RIC and open architectures are shaping adoption, and what it takes to move from innovation to scaled impact.
Featured speaker: Balmukund Prasad, Senior Director of Solution Architecture, Rakuten Symphony
This discussion explores the balance required to orchestrate multiple AI agents to work together effectively. We’ll discuss where humans should remain in control and what decisions can be automated safely, while governance, guardrails and operating models are optimized to move from experimentation to production.
Featured speaker: Tapas Ranjan, VP, Product Management, Rakuten Symphony
This panel assembles telco leaders prioritizing AI investment to focus on tangible outcomes like revenue, growth, cost efficiency and operational transformation.
Featured speaker: Faiq Khan, SVP and Head of Sales - EMEA, Rakuten Symphony
This session explores the growing gap between technological capability and organizational readiness, and examines what operators, vendors, and industry stakeholders must do to bridge it.
Featured speaker: Vivek Chadha, Global Head of Strategic Sales & Growth, Rakuten Symphony
This panel will cover what the TM Forum certification process reveals about real operational gaps, how the five foundational layers interact and where most implementations break down. It will also discuss why governance and organizational readiness matter as much as architecture, how trust is engineered into autonomous systems incrementally, and what the path forward looks like for operators at different stages of the autonomy journey.
Featured speaker: Ahmed Abdelaziz, VP of Automation and Transformation, Rakuten Symphony.
The session examines how a division of responsibilities supports emerging paradigms such as Open RAN and disaggregated networks, where agility and scalability depend on seamless coordination between software platforms and physical deployment capabilities.
Featured speaker: Khalid El Rumman, Sales Director, Rakuten Symphony
The discussion will examine the operational and technical implications of deploying Massive MIMO at scale, including spectrum efficiency, beamforming optimization, energy consumption, interference management, and the growing computational demands placed on radio access networks.
Featured speaker: Faisal Ghazaleh, VP of Solutions - EMEA, Rakuten Symphony.
Growth remains one of the telecom industry's biggest challenges. To better understand what separates industry leaders from the rest of the market, Rakuten Symphony recently released the 2026 Industry Growth Report. The report examines the strategies, business models, and ecosystem approaches that are helping operators create new revenue streams, deepen customer engagement, and accelerate growth beyond connectivity.
Join Rakuten Symphony at DTW Ignite’26 to take part in the industry movement toward executing on telecom ambitions. Full details available here: https://symphony.rakuten.com/dtw
