Keep pulling the thread on Christel Heydemann.
The European telecommunications market is highly fragmented, with approximately three mobile operators in each of the 27 member states, in contrast to the United States which has only three major operators for the entire country.
The cost per customer to run a mobile network is more expensive in Europe compared to other regions like China due to a lack of scale, with operators like China Mobile serving 1 billion customers versus a typical large European operator serving around 20 million.
Christel Heydemann predicts that there will not be a distinct '6G' hardware generation, but rather a series of continuous, software-based upgrades to existing 5G networks, referred to as '5.5' or '5.6'.
Orange is instructed by European governments not to use Chinese vendors for its 5G network infrastructure in Europe.
Christel Heydemann states that Chinese mobile network technology is cheaper, more advanced, and more energy-efficient than its European counterparts.
Orange Group is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world, serving 290 million customers.
The GSMA has created an observatory to monitor the growth and characteristics of AI-related traffic on telecommunication networks.
The rollout of 5G networks is proceeding much faster in the United States and China than it is in Europe, partly due to the fragmented market structure in Europe.
European competition regulators have prioritized intense competition to keep consumer prices low, which has prevented the formation of large-scale 'European champions' in the telecom sector.
Christel Heydemann believes it will be very difficult to create a single, unified telecom market in Europe due to member states' reluctance to transfer sovereignty over issues like security and spectrum allocation.
Unlike other utility sectors such as energy, water, and food where prices have increased, prices in the telecommunications sector have been deflationary in recent years.
The speed of cybersecurity threats is accelerating as fast as AI is accelerating.