From POC Graveyards to Production: How Telcos Make AI Real

This episode of The Great Indoors brings us inside Adaptive Spirit through the voices of the athletes themselves, sharing firsthand stories from the Paralympic Games and the journeys that define them. As Amdocs continues its 25th year of support, we capture the moments beyond the podium where preparation, setbacks, breakthroughs, and mindset shape what it truly means to compete at the highest level. From first-time Paralympians to seasoned medalists, these stories reveal the resilience, community, and global camaraderie that make this world so unique. What emerges is a powerful reminder that success isn’t just measured in medals, but in the connections built, the challenges overcome, and the inspiration these athletes bring back to the industries and communities that support them.  This is more than a conversation about sport, it’s a reflection on perseverance, perspective, and the unifying power of shared human experience. Guests in order of appearance:  Audrey Crowley, Saylor O’Brien, Ravi Drugan, Michael O'Hearn, Kate Delson, Jake Adicoff, Kyle Taulman, Patrick Halgren

AI is no longer the question for telecom. Execution is. Recorded live at MWC 2026 in Barcelona, Matthew Roberts is joined by Ross McWalter, Head of Business Development from AWS and Amdocs’ Jesse-Lee Fry, VP of Generative AI & Data Growth, for a conversation about why so many AI ambitions still stall before they scale. Together, they explore the gap between proof of concept and production, and why fragmented systems, siloed data, integration complexity, and skills shortages continue to hold telcos back. The discussion looks at what it really takes to move beyond experimentation: unified data foundations, telco-trained agents, enterprise-grade observability, and a more coordinated operating model for AI across the business. From the contact center to the wider value chain, Ross and Jesse outline a shared vision for turning AI into something operational, measurable, and commercially meaningful.

This episode of The Great Indoors tells the story of Adaptive Spirit, a purpose-driven movement that, over 31 years, has raised more than $25 million in support of the U.S. Paralympic Ski and Snowboard Team while redefining what an industry event can achieve. As Amdocs proudly celebrates its 25th year supporting Adaptive Spirit, we’re excited to bring The Great Indoors to the event, capturing the voices and stories that make this community so special. What began as a bold idea to break from tradition has grown into a powerful platform that connects the cable and media ecosystem with elite athletes, pairing sponsorship with storytelling to fuel careers, inspire organizations, and shift perspectives from disability to possibility. Through voices of founders, leaders, and athletes, this episode captures how Adaptive Spirit continues to turn relationships into impact proving that when purpose leads, an entire industry can help. Guests in order of appearance: Bridget Baker, Steve Raymond, Bart Garton, Alex D’Addio, Kyle Taulman, Andrew Kurka, Rich DiGeronimo, Danny Bowman, Nomi Bergman 

Everyone wants to talk about AI. Far fewer are ready to deal with what it actually demands. Recorded live at Mobile World Congress 2026, this episode of The Great Indoors pairs two sharply different but deeply connected conversations about the future of enterprise technology. In the first, Kathleen Mitford, Corporate VP, Global Industry Marketing at Microsoft, joins Liliana Schwartz Bruner, Amdocs GM, and Matthew Roberts to explain why AI leadership can no longer sit inside technical teams alone. As organizations push to become frontier organizations, AI is beginning to reshape not just productivity, but how marketing, sales, and leadership work together, how decisions are made, and how new growth opportunities are identified. The message is clear: the future will not belong to companies that simply adopt AI tools, but to those that know how to apply them with purpose. The second conversation, with Chris Antlitz, Principal Telecom Analyst at TBR, as he steps back to examine the wider landscape. Here, the focus shifts to sovereignty, trust, infrastructure constraints, geopolitical pressure, and the growing sense that the market is entering a necessary recalibration. From satellite and quantum to the limits of current AI deployment, Chris offers a candid assessment of what is real, what is overestimated, and what business leaders should be watching next.

Enterprise AI is no longer about experimentation alone. The real challenge now is scaling it in a way that delivers measurable value, holds up operationally, and avoids descending into chaos.In this episode of The Great Indoors, Matthew Roberts is joined by Mark Austin, Vice President of Data Science and AI at AT&T, for a grounded conversation on what it really takes to industrialize AI inside a large enterprise. With generative AI now making up the majority of his organization’s work, Mark explains why governance, ROI discipline, and structured execution have become essential to moving from isolated projects to enterprise-wide impact. Together, they explore the difference between “vibe coding” and what Mark calls AI fuel coding, why fine-tuned models may offer the rare combination of better, faster, and cheaper, and how AT&T is thinking about agents, orchestration, and AI systems that can operate at scale.

At the Mobile World Congress 2026, one theme rose above everything else: generative AI. Amdocs CEO, Shimie Hortig, joins The Great Indoors to discuss the shift from AI excitement to real-world execution. As generative AI dominates the conversation, Shimie explains that while the technology is advancing at extraordinary speed, enterprise adoption remains far behind. The result is what he calls the “value gap” which is the growing distance between what AI is capable of and what organizations are actually able to implement in ways that deliver measurable results.  Together with Matthew Roberts, Shimie explores why closing that gap is so difficult, from security and integration to compliance and organizational change. Recorded live in Barcelona, the episode also captures the intensity of MWC itself and the importance of direct customer feedback in shaping what comes next. At its core, this is a conversation about moving from possibility to practice and about what it will take for the industry to turn AI momentum into real business value.

At MWC Barcelona 2026, the conversation around AI is no longer confined to software. It is becoming physical, personal, and deeply tied to the future of connectivity.In this episode, Matthew Roberts welcomes Don McGuire, EVP & Chief Marketing Officer at Qualcomm, back to the podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on what AI-native networks, emerging device form factors, and the next era of telecom could really mean in practice. From Qualcomm’s latest announcements around 6G, wearable platforms, agentic modems, and Wi-Fi 8 to the bigger question of how operators evolve in an AI-first world, Don lays out a vision in which connectivity becomes more intelligent, more anticipatory, and more embedded in everyday life.The discussion also explores the role of the modern CMO in navigating AI’s competing narratives, why human-led and AI-powered may be the most important balance for marketers to get right, and how younger generations are already treating AI less like a tool and more like a thought partner.

MWC Barcelona 2026 made one thing clear: the telecom industry is entering a new phase, where AI feels more tangible, policy feels more urgent, and innovation is being judged by its real-world impact.In this episode, Matthew Roberts welcomes Lara Dewarr, CMO of the GSMA, back to the podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on what this year’s event revealed about the future of connectivity. From AI’s shift into more embodied, agentic, and consumer-facing experiences to the growing importance of inclusion, regulation, and practical use cases, Lara offers a front-row view of where the industry is heading next. She reflects on 20 years of MWC in Barcelona, the role the event plays in bringing together industry and government, and why marketers, operators, and policymakers are now all grappling with the same challenges. The conversation also explores the risk of leaving communities behind in the AI era, the need for more locally relevant technology, and why sectors like healthcare may be next in line for telecom-led transformation.So if you are interested in the absolute latest from MWC and what it means for telecom on a larger scale, press play!

What do a telecom CEO serving millions of people and a startup R&D leader building a new platform from scratch have in common? More than you might think. Live from MWC Barcelona 2026, Matthew Roberts is back to kick off Season 12 of The Great Indoors. In this episode, two conversations come together to explore how leadership and invention are deeply connected. First, Matt welcomes Carl Raymond Cruz, President and CEO of Globe Telecom. Carl reflects on the responsibility of leading a company that touches everyday life across the Philippines, and shares how Globe is working to expand digital inclusion, modernize the customer experience, and protect people from digital harm. Then, Matt speaks with Val Gorokhovsky, VP of R&D at 31 Concept, whose team has spent the last year building a new telecom intelligence platform for Deep Packet Intelligence which ensures data transfer security. From nation-building to startup building, this episode shows that the future of telecom will not be shaped by technology alone, but by leaders who know how to turn invention into impact.

Returning to the podcast with host Matthew Roberts is Stephanie Ormston, AVP of Product Innovation at AT&T, to explore shifting narratives and public perception of AI in 2026. Starting with practical use cases, they examine how AI continues to impact both individuals and organizations. From there, the conversation expands into the themes still top of mind today: human–AI collaboration, real consumer value, mixed public sentiment, and whether we should be concerned that younger generations are developing an AI-native way of thinking.Despite all this rapid change, Stephanie is adamant that storytelling and authenticity still reign supreme, because when technology companies lose sight of that fact, they risk repeating the failures of the past.