The connectivity landscape is undergoing a rapid shift as customer expectations for seamless, intelligent and secure digital experiences continue to rise. Traditional service models are struggling to keep pace, particularly as the industry moves beyond incremental upgrades towards more dynamic and responsive forms of connectivity. Non-human traffic, driven by agentic AI and machine-to-machine communication, is rapidly reshaping connectivity requirements. At the same time, the emergence of new service demands is placing pressure on operators and technology providers to rethink how value is created and delivered. 

Meeting this challenge increasingly depends on the effective integration of hardware, software and data across a wider and more diverse ecosystem. Innovation is now driven as much by platform owners and third-party developers as by operators, with APIs and shared architectures emerging as critical enablers. Yet while collaboration is essential for unlocking scalable innovation, it must be balanced against commercial differentiation, competitive pressures and divergent strategic priorities. 

This tension continues to slow the adoption of new models, even as the need for them intensifies. This Financial Times event held in partnership with Bain & Company, on the sidelines of MWC Barcelona, will explore how organisations across the connectivity ecosystem are using platforms, APIs and data-led capabilities to accelerate service innovation. Senior leaders will discuss emerging collaboration models and the strategic choices needed to balance innovation with competitive differentiation, offering clarity on the opportunities shaping the next generation of connected services.

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