Mark Evans hopes at least seven million customers will sign up to Aura, the new digital assistant that Telefónica launched at Mobile World Congress this week.
The CEO of O2 UK sat down to speak with European Communications in Barcelona about Aura, as well as the operator’s recent 5G testbed in London and the upcoming spectrum auction.
Aura is launching with some fairly basic functionality, Evans says, but he is looking towards the potential of the new product.
“What we’re excited about is developing the cognitive intelligence and pairing [loyalty app] Priority with Aura,” Evans says.
“If we know your favourite band is coming to town, Aura can let you know and through Priority we can secure you tickets before [they go] general release.”
In the video, which you can watch in full below, Evans also confirms that “there is no shadow of a doubt we will be launching a 5G service”.
By Jonathan Plant, Senior Marketing Manager, Openet
By Santiago Madruga, VP of Communications Service Providers market, Red Hat EMEA
The claim that connectivity is a commodity has existed in the mobile industry for some time and has recently extended itself to the Internet of Things. 
In some circles, attempting to shrug off the image of being a bunch of crusty old network engineers by buying an eSports team would be regarded as the very definition of having a midlife crisis. 
Complaining about the regulatory landscape has been de rigueur in European telecoms for many a long year. 
@eurocomms