Northern Africa OTF 2026: HUAWEI Joins Operators to Launch Northern Africa Digital Operation Transformation Pioneer Club 2.0

[Barcelona, Spain, March 5, 2026] During MWC Barcelona 2026, Huawei Northern Africa OTF (Operations Transformation Forum) 2026 was successfully held. With the theme “Unified Entry & All Intelligent Operations Ignite New Growth” the event gathered over 100 representatives from governments, operators, and industry organizations to discuss the digital and intelligent transformation of African operator and share best practices.

During the event, Huawei and African operators jointly launched the “Northern Africa Digital Operation Transformation Pioneer Club 2.0,” marking a new phase in the region’s digital transformation of the telecom industry.

HUAWEI and Operators Launch the Northern Africa Digital Operation Transformation Pioneer Club 2.0

Lucas Lu, Vice President of Huawei Global Technical Service, delivered the opening speech, highlighting that as AI becomes an omnipresent core driver, the telecom industry is entering a new era of intelligence, where operators must reshape value creation, user experience, and business models through digital intelligent services and AI-enabled end-to-end operations.

Aaron Boasman, Vice President of TM Forum, mentioned that AI is transforming operators from "traffic pipes" to "intelligent platforms". The first to integrate AI into network operations, customer care, and MM scenarios will be able to turn cost centers into profit engines and user entry points into ecosystem entry points.

Eric Yuan, President of Huawei Northern Africa Delivery & Service, highlighted that Huawei has designed the E.B.O.I-driven (Entry, Business, Operations, and Infrastructure) digital and intelligent transformation solution for Africa operators, aiming to reshape future business models in the AI/5G era. Leveraging AI, Huawei enhances networks, improves user experience, innovates O&M, and enriches digital life scenarios. By creating Super App and AI unified entry points, Huawei supports operators to seize opportunities and achieve win-win success.

Yin Shaochun, Deputy General Manager of China Unicom Marketing Department, noted in his keynote speech that, driven by the wave of large-scale AI models and the rapid advancement of computing power, China Unicom is actively transforming toward cloud and AI-powered services. This transformation is not merely an expansion of business scope — it represents a strategic shift to unlock new growth engines in the intelligent era. Services such as Cloud AI Phone and Tone, the smart home terminal, have become key pillars of this transition, serving as critical vehicles for China Unicom’s evolution from a traditional connectivity provider to a comprehensive computing power service provider. In the age of artificial intelligence, China Unicom is leveraging its strong in-house R&D capabilities and deep human-centric values to build an open and collaborative ecosystem. By doing so, the company is reshaping its competitive advantages for the AI era.

Bruk Adhana, Chief Mobile Money Business Officer at Ethio telecom, highlighted telebirr as Ethiopia’s flagship mobile money service. This trusted gateway allows users to send money, pay for utilities, access micro-credit, micro-savings, and engage in government services or merchant payments. Beyond a payment  platform, telebirr has evolved into a national digital ecosystem impacting daily life for customers, merchants, and agents. By integrating financial services, commerce, and telecom capabilities, it is accelerating digital financial inclusion and reducing transaction friction. Ultimately, telebirr serves as a key catalyst for Ethiopia’s digital economic transformation, aligning with the company’s Next Horizon digital & beyond 2028 and National Digital 2030 strategy.

Lassaad Ben Dhieb, Chairman & CEO of TUNISIE TELECOM GROUP, stated that Tunisia Telecom will step into the Full High-Speed Era in 2025 through Fiber and 5G, empowering their digital operations to support their B2C business success, aiming to build the Digital Foundation of Tunisia, enabling the country’s digitalization.

Chris Meng, President of Huawei Northern Africa ICT Marketing & Solution Sales, and CXOs from several leading operators discussed the impact of AI on network operations and maintenance. Experts agreed that for operators, AI is not just an IT technology but a strategic imperative: starting with cost reduction and efficiency improvements, then leveraging AI for data monetization, and ultimately evolving towards an ecosystem model. By building AI Agents, operators can create a super entry for digital and intelligent living, offering users a rich array of digital and intelligent services and a new level of experience.

Lucas Lu and Jim Liu joined forces with BENIDIR AMIR, CMO of Algeria Telecom; Hicham Ennoure, Vice CEO of Gabon Moov Money; Lassaad Ben Dhieb; and Bruk Adhana to launch the ‘Northern Africa Digital Operation Transformation Pioneer Club 2.0.’ The initiative aims to leverage industry best practices and bring together operator leaders and experts to accelerate digital and intelligent transformation across Africa.

Jim Liu, President of Huawei Northern Africa Carrier Business, delivered the closing speech. Jim emphasized that AI-driven unified entry and end-to-end intelligent operations are no longer experimental—they are operational imperatives, enabling telecom operators to accelerate transformation, create new value, and ignite growth across Africa.

MWC Barcelona 2026 will be held from March 2 to March 5 in Barcelona, Spain. During the event, Huawei will showcase its latest products and solutions at stand 1H50 in Fira Gran Via Hall 1.

The era of agentic networks is now approaching fast, and the commercial adoption of 5G-A at scale is gaining speed. Huawei is actively working with carriers and partners around the world to unleash the full potential of 5G-A and pave the way for the evolution to 6G. We are also creating AI-Centric Network solutions to enable intelligent services, networks, and network elements (NEs), speeding up the large-scale deployment of level-4 autonomous networks (AN L4), and using AI to upgrade our core business. Together with other industry players, we will create leading value-driven networks and AI computing backbones for a fully intelligent future.

For more information, please visit: https://carrier.huawei.com/en/minisite/events/mwc2026/