Most telcos use only a small portion of their available network capacity on an average day, but what if telcos could turn this underutilized asset into a new revenue stream? For this episode, I talk with Chris Penrose, NVIDIA’s global vice president of business development for telco, about how the company’s AI-RAN concept is poised to help telcos build efficiency and boost the bottom line. Listen now to hear:

• The goals of NVIDIA’s collaboration on the AI-RAN Alliance [04:25];
• The astonishing results of a NVIDIA-SoftBank AI-RAN field trial—including estimated profit margins of 220% for every AI-RAN server added [06:26];
• The company’s efforts to build a sovereign, foundational LLM for Indonesia [12:12]; and
• How other telcos can start to cash in on their unused network capacity and AI’s potential [14:42].

Links and Resources

• Read about how NVIDIA and SoftBank designed the world's first combined AI and 5G network that runs telecom and AI workloads simultaneously.
• NVIDIA also launched a major initiative in Indonesia to develop sovereign AI capabilities tailored for the nation’s 277 million Indonesian speakers.
• Learn more about the AI-RAN Alliance, a collaboration by NVIDIA and other tech, industry, and academic institutions that aims to use AI to advance RAN technology and mobile networks.
• Ready to see how AI and the public cloud can transform your telco? Give Totogi a call!
• Chris and I both love the Texas food scene, so we were thrilled when the MICHELIN Guide started ranking restaurants in our home state recently. But right out of the gate, it made a HUGE miss by leaving Uchi in Austin off the list. No other place comes close! Chris also has two top dining picks in Dallas: Town Hearth and Gemma, which was a MICHELIN Guide Bib Gourmand pick for 2024.
• Watch this episode on our YouTube channel. 
• You can find the episode transcript here.

Wanna talk AI and public cloud? Telco execs, set up a meeting with our team to learn how to tap the immense business value it can bring. 

Follow DR

• Have an idea for a Telco in 20 podcast guest or topic? Send it in!
• Want to sponsor a podcast? Let us know
• Follow Telco in 20 on X @TelcoIn20
• Follow DR on X @TelcoDR

The Telco in 20 podcast is ranked in the top 5% of all podcasts globally by Listen Notes! 🎉 We've also won a 2024 MarComm Award and Hermes Award, and are recognized as a TeckNexus Top 12 Telco and Tech Podcast, Forrester Top 100 Channel Podcast and Feedspot Top 10 Telecom Podcast.

If you enjoy the podcast, would you leave us a review? It takes you seconds to do in your app and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. And I love reading your feedback and reviews!

This week’s guest

Chris Penrose works across the telco ecosystem to drive the growth of NVIDIA’s hardware and software solutions around the world. He helps to create telco-specific offerings that leverage AI/ML, Gen AI, 5G/6G, edge/cloud computing, and advanced networking. He also works with telcos to create sovereign GenAI factories for their nations. Prior to joining NVIDIA, as the COO of FogHorn, Chris led the go-to-market efforts across business development, technical sales, strategic partnerships, third-party distribution, marketing, advertising and public relations globally. 

Podcast Credits

• Executive Producer and Host: Danielle Rios, TelcoDR
• Senior Producer: Lindsay Grubb, TillCo Media
• Senior Editor/Brand Manager: Alisa Jenkins, Springboard Marketing
• Audio Editor: Andrew Condell
• Supervising Producer: Amanda Avery
• Associate Producer: Kriselda Dionisio
• Music: Dyami Wilson