From manual to magical: Paving the way to 6G

Name: Innovate Asia
Start: 2026-11-17T08:00:00+09:00
End: 2026-11-19T17:00:00+09:00
Location: Centara Grand at CentralWorld

November 18, 2026

13:45-15:30

Impact stage

Autonomous Networks

Autonomous operations

Session overview: Autonomous Networks are both changing network operations and accelerating service innovation while laying the foundations for the AI-native 6G era. Discover how leading operators are using real-time network intelligence, AI and automation to deliver differentiated services today, while building the operational, architectural and organizational capabilities needed for the next generation of networks.

13:45 – 14:00
Accelerating towards 6G: From connectivity infrastructure to guaranteed digital services

Why autonomous networks, AI-native operations and real-time intelligence are essential to move from connectivity KPIs to assured customer outcomes.
How operators can balance today’s commercial priorities with the long-term need to control data, orchestration, AI and service assurance.
Which milestones should be prioritized, including 5G-Advanced, cloud-native operations, end-to-end observability, governed automation and open network APIs.
How these foundations can transform connectivity into measurable, guaranteed digital services and new business opportunities.

David Soldani, Senior Vice President of Next Generation Advanced Research, Rakuten Mobile

14:00 –14:15
Creating services at software speed

Demonstrating how AI-powered orchestration and composable service platforms are enabling operators to design, launch and evolve new digital services in days rather than months
Exploring how autonomous fulfilment, assurance and lifecycle management reduce operational overhead while enabling rapid experimentation with new consumer and enterprise offerings
Examining how Network-as-a-Service, open APIs and programmable network capabilities are creating new partnership opportunities across cloud providers, developers and industry ecosystems
Looking ahead to how autonomous networks will support dynamic pricing, personalised service bundles and real-time commercial innovation driven by customer intent and network context

Yoshijiro Shibano, General Manager, Radio Access Network Development Department, KDDI

14:15 – 14:30
From SDN to AI: Building the foundation for autonomous networks

Network programmability as an essential foundation for autonomous networks, enabling abstraction, observability, and intent-based control across IP and optical domains.
How SDN, digital twins, streaming telemetry, and AI complement one another to enable closed-loop automation and higher levels of network autonomy
Identifying a practical roadmap for CSPs to evolve from traditional automation to AI-native autonomous operations, using standards-based, programmable architectures

Anuradha Udunuwara, Senior Engineer & Tech Lead, Sri Lanka Telecom

14:30 – 14:45
From Automation to Autonomy: Agentic AI for Next-Generation Network Lifecycle

Transforming telecommunications operations from manual to rule-based automation towards autonomous decision-making
Evolution from automation to AI agents
Multi-agent collaboration across all pillars in the telecommunications division
Autonomous fault diagnosis and resolution

Hibatul Azizi Hisyam Ng, Solution Architect and Design, TM Technology Services

14:45 – 15:00
Smarter networks, smaller footprint: Delivering measurable sustainability through autonomous operations

How AI-powered operational intelligence is enabling continuous optimization of network resources, dynamically balancing energy consumption, capacity and customer experience across nationwide 5G networks
Using AN to reduce power consumption, improving asset utilisation and supporting ambitious carbon reduction targets without compromising network performance
How predictive traffic analysis, intelligent sleep modes and real-time workload orchestration help match network resources more closely to customer demand throughout the day
Achieving reductions in energy consumption, operating costs and carbon emissions, while supporting long-term sustainability and business resilience

A M Anisur Rahaman, Head of Technology Strategy and Transformation, Grameenphone

15:00 – 15:15
Programmable autonomy: Building networks that adapt in real time

Designing programmable, intent-aware network architectures to enable autonomous adaptation to changing traffic patterns, customer expectations and service requirements without increased complexity
Support differentiated connectivity experiences across consumer, enterprise and mission-critical services
Advocating ecosystem collaboration to deploy autonomous capabilities incrementally while maintaining interoperability across different environments
How programmable networks can underpin new revenue opportunities through dynamic service creation, premium connectivity and AI-native network capabilities

15:15 - 15:30
Digital twins: Creating a living model of the network

Using digital twins to model complex network behavior, validate operational changes and identify service impacts before they occur in the live environment
How high-fidelity digital twins enable faster testing, safer software upgrades and more accurate capacity planning while significantly reducing operational risk
Using real-time synchronization between physical and virtual networks to support predictive operations, continuous optimization and autonomous change management
Detailing measurable operational improvements through simulation-driven operations, including reduced change failures, faster deployment cycles and improved network resilience

Please note: All topics and timings are provisional and may be subject to change.