Insights

Future telco performance in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) faces new structural challenges and shifting growth dynamics. Operators across the region are navigating ongoing conflict risks, evolving fintech trends, and changing regulatory environments. The landscape for telecommunications providers is being reshaped by the need to balance core business stability with the adoption of new technologies, such as AI and fibre infrastructure.This analysis covers MEA telecom benchmarks for Q2-2026, exploring revenue, EBITDA, CAPEX intensity, and ARPU performance. It examines how infrastructure-focused B2B segments are absorbing shocks, while fintech growth is slowing and operators are reassessing their involvement in the low-margin transfer business. The report also investigates how owning AI capacity and fibre infrastructure are becoming key drivers of margin and competitive advantage, especially as regulators influence market dynamics for incumbents.<ul><li>Revenue, EBITDA, CAPEX, and ARPU trends for leading MEA telecom operators</li><li>Impact of conflict risk and state resource allocation on sector performance</li><li>Strategic shifts in fintech, B2B infrastructure, and promotional tactics</li></ul>Regional differences are highlighted, with African and Gulf markets deploying distinct promotional strategies—one to manage congestion, the other to protect customer loyalty. The analysis also considers how spectrum and energy allocation are once again shaping the competitive landscape for telecoms in MEA.<blockquote>How are MEA telecom operators adapting their business models and investment priorities in response to persistent conflict risks, regulatory intervention, and the changing economics of fintech and digital infrastructure?</blockquote>

MEA telco performance benchmarks - Summer 2026

Nvidia’s planned acquisition of Hugging Face signals a major shift in the disruptive technology and artificial intelligence landscape. By moving from investor to owner of Hugging Face, Nvidia aims to expand its influence beyond hardware and into the critical software and developer layers of the AI ecosystem. Hugging Face, often called the “GitHub of AI,” serves as a central hub for open models, datasets, and developer tools, connecting millions of users and thousands of companies worldwide.This transaction comes at a pivotal moment as hyperscalers and AI labs accelerate development of proprietary silicon to reduce reliance on Nvidia’s chips. The deal raises important questions about platform neutrality, ongoing support for rival hardware, and the future of open-source AI infrastructure. Regulatory scrutiny is expected across major markets, with concerns focused on competition, innovation, and access to diverse compute architectures.Key areas explored include the strategic context of the acquisition, its impact on technology vendors, competitive responses from chipmakers and cloud providers, and the implications for enterprise AI governance and procurement. The analysis also considers how deeper integration of Nvidia’s software stack—such as CUDA and TensorRT—could shape developer workflows and influence model deployment choices across the industry.<blockquote>Will Hugging Face remain a neutral platform for the global AI community, or will Nvidia’s ownership reshape the balance of power in open-source AI?</blockquote>

Vendor & Deal Briefing: Nvidia's Acquisition of Hugging Face

India's telecom sector is shifting from a pure connectivity business into a platform for digital lifestyle experiences, with over 1.33 billion subscribers, 400 million 5G connections, and monthly data consumption climbing toward 65 GB per user. As operators expand into OTT, fintech, gaming, and cloud services, the quality of the digital customer journey has become as important as network coverage in shaping loyalty, engagement, and revenue.
India's leading operators, including Airtel, Jio, Vi, and BSNL, are compared closely across five distinct customer journey stages: discovery and consideration, onboarding and activation, transactions and usage, servicing and support, and retention and growth. AI-led personalisation, self-KYC onboarding, UPI-based auto-recharge, and gamified loyalty programmes are being used to reduce friction at every stage of that journey.
Operators are also building unified digital ecosystems that bundle broadband, entertainment, banking, and AI assistants behind a single login, while multilingual support extends digital adoption into Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets. Partnerships with global streaming, gaming, and cloud platforms are also expanding the value operators can bundle into a single subscription, while investment in network reliability and customer care automation continues to underpin the broader digital experience across urban and rural circles alike.
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<li>Five customer journey stages from discovery to retention</li>
<li>AI-powered chat support and real-time fraud detection features</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>Which Indian telecom operators are converting connectivity into a genuinely delightful digital lifestyle experience?</blockquote>

Connectivity to Lifestyle - How India's telecom giants are turning connectivity into delightful digital experience

North American banks are moving past isolated AI pilots toward enterprise-wide platforms that combine foundation models, proprietary data, and governance into shared infrastructure for decision-making, customer servicing, wealth management, and back-office operations. AI initiatives across twelve leading institutions &mdash; including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Capital One, and Royal Bank of Canada &mdash; trace how enterprise AI maturity is evolving across the region's banking sector.
Each profile examines a specific business challenge, the AI-powered solution the bank deployed, and the resulting operational impact, covering use cases from contact-centre assistants and advisor productivity tools to enterprise-wide generative AI platforms, coding assistants, and agentic systems capable of coordinating multi-step workflows. North America's concentration of AI talent, research output, and patent activity helps explain why the region has translated this into deeper enterprise AI capability relative to European and Asia-Pacific peers.
Looking forward, what distinguishes banks preparing for the next phase of AI maturity &mdash; where agentic systems begin executing workflows rather than simply assisting employees &mdash; comes into focus, along with what CXOs should prioritize as operating models are redesigned around human-AI collaboration.
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<li>Covers proprietary platforms built in-house for enterprise knowledge retrieval, coding assistance, and workflow automation</li>
<li>Examines how governance, training, and risk controls are being embedded into agentic AI deployment</li>
</ul>

AI Radar: Banks (North America edition)

Artificial intelligence is becoming the operating layer for banking modernization across the Gulf Cooperation Council, as banks shift from isolated pilots and departmental automation toward enterprise-scale intelligence spanning customer servicing, risk, compliance, onboarding, and technology infrastructure. Leading Middle Eastern banks are embedding AI into core operations across the region, part of the ongoing AI Radar series.

Case studies span corporate banking advisory at Mashreq Bank, built on a modular architecture connecting dozens of internal and external data APIs; Shari'a-compliant AI advisory at Bahrain Islamic Bank; onboarding and customer intelligence platforms at Saudi Awwal Bank; and enterprise generative AI rollouts across customer service and software engineering at Emirates NBD, including copilots for developers and contact center teams.

Further examples cover enterprise workflow automation at Al Rajhi Bank, in-house risk analytics engines at Kuwait Finance House, wholesale and transaction banking modernization at National Bank of Kuwait, compliance and financial crime monitoring upgrades at Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, predictive operations centers at Bank Muscat, centralized AI governance hubs at First Abu Dhabi Bank and Riyad Bank, and GPU-backed AI infrastructure investment at Commercial Bank of Qatar.

Across these deployments, a common maturity framework distinguishes functional AI use cases from fully integrated operations and transformational, platform-led banking models, drawing out what separates banks still running isolated pilots from those building the shared data, workflow, and compute layers needed to scale AI as a genuine control layer across the enterprise.

<blockquote>What separates GCC banks running isolated AI pilots from those industrializing AI deployment across the enterprise?</blockquote>

AI Radar: Banks (Middle East edition)

This report outlines seven technology pivots set to shape enterprise priorities in 2027, spanning AI-native execution, AI control and sovereignty, workforce reinvention, edge intelligence, post-quantum migration, business value and ecosystem reordering. It examines how organisations are moving from AI adoption towards deeper redesign of workflows, governance, infrastructure and operating models. The report also explores China as a disruptive market force reshaping AI sourcing choices across APAC. Together, these shifts highlight the decisions CXOs must make to balance innovation, control, resilience and measurable business value.

7 Technology Pivots and a Disruptive Market Force in 2027

AI autonomy is rapidly advancing from pilot projects to core enterprise operations, raising urgent questions about AI agent governance, accountability, and commercial discipline at the executive level. As agentic AI systems take on more decision-making power, C-suite leaders face new risks around ownership of outcomes, defining risk thresholds, and ensuring that human oversight remains where it matters most.Drawing on debates from the Twimbit CXO Conclave 2026 in Hong Kong, this analysis examines three real-world dilemmas: governing AI agents before autonomy scales, measuring the true business impact of agentic AI versus vendor claims, and adapting brand and commerce strategies as customer journeys become increasingly mediated by AI agents. The discussion surfaces the need for governance frameworks that are embedded from the outset, linking budgets and vendor accountability directly to business results.<ul><li>AI agent governance and risk management</li><li>Measuring agentic AI impact in business terms</li><li>Brand control and commerce in AI-mediated customer journeys</li></ul><blockquote>How can enterprises ensure that authority, accountability, and value keep pace with the growing autonomy of AI agents?</blockquote>

Autonomy Without Oversight: The New C-Suite Risk

Future telco strategies in the Asia-Pacific region face a turning point as operators balance rising scale with stalled topline growth. This analysis examines the performance of leading APAC telecommunications providers in Q2-2026, covering revenue, EBITDA, capital expenditure, and average revenue per user (ARPU) trends. It investigates how regulatory environments, particularly in China and India, are shaping revenue dynamics and influencing operator decisions.The report explores the impact of diversification efforts, highlighting the divergent outcomes between fintech expansion and riskier enterprise IT ventures. It also assesses the drivers behind margin performance, focusing on the role of acquisition costs and digital business segments. Capital expenditure allocation and its long-term effects on network competitiveness through 2029 are scrutinized, providing insight into the strategic choices that will define market leadership in the coming years.<ul><li>Performance benchmarking of APAC telcos across key financial metrics</li><li>Analysis of regulatory impacts on revenue and ARPU</li><li>Evaluation of diversification into fintech and enterprise IT</li><li>CAPEX trends and their implications for network strategy</li></ul><blockquote>Which investment decisions and structural shifts will determine the competitive landscape for Asia-Pacific telcos through 2029?</blockquote>

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APAC telco performance benchmark - Summer 2026

AI Radar: Banks (Middle East edition)

Connectivity to Lifestyle - How India's telecom giants are turning connectivity into delightful digital experience

MEA telco performance benchmarks - Summer 2026

7 Technology Pivots and a Disruptive Market Force in 2027

MEA telco performance benchmarks - Summer 2026

APAC telco performance benchmark - Summer 2026

7 Technology Pivots and a Disruptive Market Force in 2027

Autonomy Without Oversight: The New C-Suite Risk

Vendor & Deal Briefing: Nvidia's Acquisition of Hugging Face

AI Radar: Banks (North America edition)