As MWC 2025, premier telecommunications service provider show still known by many as Mobile World Congress, gets underway this week in Barcelona, Cisco Systems Inc. made a splash early.
The networking company issued several product announcements that offer deeper network insights using artificial intelligence and automation. From connected devices to connectivity assurance, the solutions are designed to help service providers deliver reliable AI-powered experiences on a larger scale.
Here’s a roundup of the key announcements:
Expanding network visibility
To keep up with growing network complexity, service providers need better tools for managing network performance rather than just focusing on speed. Cisco is rolling out ThousandEyes Connected Devices, an extension of its network observability platform that provides deeper visibility into the last mile, including home networks.
ThousandEyes Connected Devices gives service providers a more complete view of the network so they can spot and fix problems early on. It integrates device agents into home network equipment, mobile devices, and laptops. The agents monitor both speed and latency (quality of service) and application performance (quality of experience). Data is processed and analyzed in the ThousandEyes cloud, which allows service providers to control network performance, predict issues and stay in compliance with regulations.
Typically service providers can only “see” up to the equipment they own, which would be something like a cable modem or a network interface device. With this release, the device agent sits in the customer network and allows Cisco to shift the visibility vantage point to perform active monitoring on a variety of different devices.
In a prebriefing, Joe Vaccaro, vice president and general manager of ThousandEyes, told me the agent has a very small footprint enabling it to be deployed over the air. In a short amount of time, service provides can have visibility into millions of more devices.
Cisco is taking an open-source approach to ensure compatibility across different frameworks and reference design kits. In addition to service providers, ThousandEyes is working with OEMs to embed the device agent capability into its products out of the box.
Cisco purchased ThousandEyes in 2020 and for the first couple of years, I thought Cisco had greatly underleveraged what most industry watchers felt was the best internet monitoring tool. However, over the past couple of years, Cisco has started to embed ThousandEyes into a wide range of its own and third-party products.
Enhancing service provider assurance
Cisco is introducing a new feature in its Provider Connectivity Assurance or PCA suite, which builds upon the Agile Services Networking architecture unveiled at Cisco Live Amsterdam 2025. PCA works with ThousandEyes to provide deeper insights into service provider networks. While ThousandEyes monitors the end-user experience to isolate network issues, PCA focuses on service provider infrastructure, offering visibility into what’s happening inside the network.
PCA now has an AI enabled set of capabilities that offer real-time analysis of data flows for Cisco routers. This helps service providers optimize network traffic to improve service quality without having to expand the infrastructure. It also lets them identify network congestion and performance issues at both the subscriber and cell tower levels.
For example, it can identify which subscribers might be experiencing poor quality and assess the capacity and status of cell towers. Service providers can use these insights to explore revenue opportunities.
There’s an obvious operational savings to this but can also lead to new streams of revenue. As an example, if a mobile operator can see they have excess capacity on their towers, they could offer local fixed wireless access services for backhaul in that area creating a new, monetizable service.
The hunt of new revenue streams has been a key topic of conversation at MWC for years but has remained somewhat a myth. AI can help service provides better manage their environments and that better understanding can help them understand what services to offer and in what regions.
Strengthening mobile networks
Cisco is expanding its Mobility Services Platform by adding new features to help service providers better monetize their mobile infrastructure investments. One of the key updates is the platform’s 5G Advanced Services readiness, which means service providers can now launch new network services that support both low-latency and high-density applications.
“We continue to see good momentum, not only in our Americas market, but the international market as well,” said Masum Mir, senior vice president and general manager of provider mobility at Cisco. “We will see more customers adopting this platform approach and using it not only for their internet of things services but also for business services, and getting revenue from their mobile infrastructure faster.”
Additionally, Cisco launched a programmable core for deploying network functions globally or in specific regions. It can be managed through programmable APIs and implemented with existing voice, data, and messaging services. Cisco is also offering an API that simplifies how third-party developers integrate their services into Cisco’s platform.
Alongside this, Cisco introduced a new Mobility Services Platform ecosystem aimed at helping industry-specific companies integrate their solutions into service provider networks worldwide. Several companies have already joined the ecosystem, including Ubicquia, Upstream, Kajeet, Linker Vision, Youtello, OnRelay and Productive.ai.
Final thoughts
Cisco and service providers have been off and on as many times as J-Lo and Ben Affleck. However, there is a noticeable shift happening.
At MWC I caught up with the chief technology officer of a large European service provider, and he told me this is the most innovation he has seen from Cisco in the better part of a decade. He specifically called out the appointment of Jeetu Patel as chief product officer, a seminal moment in the revival of the SP business inside of Cisco.
One of the most notable changes is that Cisco is now engaging telcos much earlier in the product development phase, which can help that audience keep up with modern technologies. The telco environment is much different than enterprise, as the former tends to move more slowly because the capital investments are much larger. By bringing service providers new technology earlier, the gap between product releases and deployment can be closed.
AI is the “next big thing” for service providers and those customers need to be ready when customers are or they risk losing that opportunity, like what happened with cloud. Cisco understand enterprise demands much better than telcos and can play a key role in helping them not just to lower costs but to monetize their networks in new and differentiated ways.
Patel spoke with theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s livestreaming studio, today in Barcelona about the future of AI and automation in business:
