For almost 30 years, the World Communication Awards (WCAs) has celebrated excellence throughout the global telecoms industry. From innovative technological breakthroughs to passionate community support, the WCAs shines a light on the organisations and individuals building our digital future.

The WCAs 2026 shortlist below represents a selection of some of the telecoms sector’s most exciting developments this year. Congratulations to all shortlisted companies.

The winners of the WCAs will be revealed at the World Communication Awards Ceremony on the 25 November at the Grand Connaught Rooms, London.

Book your place to attend the black-tie gala dinner and join the finalists here

5G Award

Airtel and Ericsson, Cloud-Native 5G SA Charging & Policy Platform

Deutsche Telekom and Mavenir, Energy efficient 5G Core

Jio Platforms Ltd., JPLs TelOS AI Suite and JioAirFiber

KT, Evolution of public safety communications through 5G SA

Spark and Ericsson, 5G+ in New Zealand

AI Innovation Award

AIS Thailand and Huawei, AIdriven-intelligent operations solution

Amdocs

AsiaInfo Technologies, AISWare Ontology Platform

China Mobile & Huawei, ICNMaster

Jio Platforms Ltd., JioBrain

Mobileum VoiceShield

Netcracker Technology

Rakuten Symphony, Rakuten AI for Telecom

Telenor AI Factory powered by Red Hat OpenShift AI

VOX Solutions, CLARA AI

Best Digital Transformation Programme

Airtel and Ericsson, Cloud-Native 5G SA Charging & Policy Platform

China Mobile (Shandong) & Huawei, Agentic BSS

KT, KT W-SDN

Netcracker Technology

Rakuten Symphony, Rakuten Site Management 2.0

Singtel, Nestlé partnership

Vodafone Portugal and Celfocus, OneX

Best Network Evolution Initiative

Airtel and Ericsson, Fastest Nationwide Multi-Technology RAN Software Upgrade Program

China Mobile and Huawei, Intelligence OTDR and FME mate

Deutsche Telekom, Horizontal TelCo

Netcracker Technology, Reinventing Network Operations for the Fiber Era

TURKCELL, Next-Generation Super C+L Backbone

vHive, vHive’s TowerAI for MNOs

ZTE and China Mobile, GigaMIMO

Best Operator in a Growth Market

Cellfie Mobile

PLDT and Smart

Turknet

Viettel Burundi (Lumitel), Powering Burundi’s Digital Rise in a Growth Market

Best Wholesale Operator

Sponsored by MDS Global

Colt

e&

RETN

Telin

Virgin Media Business Wholesale

Beyond Connectivity Award

China Mobile (Henan) and Huawei, The network productization solution

Moldcell, Moldcell Money and Moldcell VISA Card

O2 Telefónica Germany & Whalebone

PT. Telkomsel, Sight Sense by Telkomsel Enterprise

Singtel, Multi-domestic connectivity

Skylo

Cloud Award

China Mobile & Huawei, TICC (Telco Intelligent Converged Cloud)

Orange Business and Red Hat

Rakuten Symphony, Rakuten Cloud

Virgin Media O2, Telco Cloud Innovation

Wind River, Wind River Cloud Platform

Connected Communities Award

DigitalC, Canopy

HFCL, Solar-Powered Public Wi-Fi Solution for Nigeria

TAIWAN MOBILE CO., LTD., 5G Smart Firefighting Rescue Assistance System

Telkomsel and Ericsson, Long-haul Microwave and Far Edge Core Solution – Nias

Viettel Solutions, Viettel Intelligent Transportation System

Customer Experience Award

Airties and Turknet

Moldcell

Sparkle

Telefónica, Telefónica Customer Portal (EYE)

TM Research & Development and Group Network Technology, AI-Powered Intelligent Fulfilment Platform

True and Ericsson, AI Based Customer Experience Analysis and Insights

Cyber Security Award

Aeris IoT Watchtower™

Jio Platforms Ltd., JPL’s Cybersecurity Suite

SK Telecom Co., Ltd., Q-HSM: Quantum Hardware Security Module

Whalebone Aura

Enterprise Service of the Year

Aquablue

Comviva, NGAGE for enterprises

Freshwave and Ericsson, 5G on Omni

Singtel 5G+ Mobile Workspace

Future Award

Cohere Technologies, Pulsone Multi-G for Mission Critical ISAC

KT, Building the Foundation for AI-Native 6G Networks with AI-RAN

Singtel, Singtel Hybrid Quantum-safe Network

SK Telecom, AI Routing

Infrastructure Award

Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd., International All-Photonics Network (APN) Infrastructure

Intellian Technologies

Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Wi Fi@Higher Education Institutions (Wi Fi@HEIs) National Initiative

MOX Networks

Orange Wholesale

Singtel Digital InfraCo

stc Bahrain, 2Africa Pearls Submarine Cable

Sterlite Technologies Ltd., STL Neuralis

People, Culture & Digital Skills Award

Freemove Alliance

Moldcell

PT. Telkomsel, Polaris

TurkNet, Transformation programme

Platform Award

Amdocs, Amdocs BRAND/ON

Circles.co, Circles

Jio Platforms Ltd., TelOS AI Suite Platform

Rakuten Symphony, Rakuten Intelligent Operations

Singtel Digital InfraCo, Paragon

Vox Solutions

Satellite Telecoms Award

Mavenir, Full-Stack NTN Platform

Orange Wholesale

Space42, Thuraya

StarEdge, StarEdge Horizon

Telefónica Satellite Global Services

Social Contribution Award

DigitalC

Ericsson and Vodafone Idea, Robotsav Project

Moldcell, Moldcell Foundation

Palestine Telecommunications Company – Jawwal

PLDT and Smart, #KONEKTEDFORLIVELIHOODS

Smart Communications and Ericsson, Connect to Learn

Viettel Burundi (Lumitel), Lumitel Digital for Life

Viettel Group, School Internet Programme

VodafoneThree, Discovery: Setting a New Standard for Digital Inclusion

Zong 5G

Submarine Networks Award

Indigo Telecom Group

Singtel, Powering the Singapore-Johor-Batam AI and Data Centre Corridor

Sparkle

Telin

Sustainability Award

Airtel and Ericsson, Automated Software-Driven Carbon Reduction Program

Cohere Technologies, ECHO

Deutsche Telekom, Full Stack Energy Efficiency on Telco Cloud

SK Telecom and Intel Corporation, AI-Driven VRAN Resource Pooling

stc & Huawei, Intelligent Green Cloud Energy Saving Solution

The Data Award

AsiaInfo and China Telecom, Cloud Network Ontology Platform

Blue Planet, Blue Planet Intelligent Automation Portfolio

MTN, Data & AI transformation in CVM

PT. Telkomsel, Intelligent Data Quality & Operations Excellence (DQE) Framework

RADCOM, Neura AI Agent Suite