World Communication Awards 2026   Celebrating Innovation & Excellence in Global Telecoms
25th November 2026 | 18:30 - 23:00 GMT | Grand Connaught Rooms, London


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We are delighted to bring you the 28th annual edition of the World Communication Awards! This year we have refreshed some of the categories and introduced three brand new ones. Please check out the categories below. You can expand each category to find out more about who each category is for and the judging criteria for each category. 

Remember, entries must reflect activities or achievements within the Qualifying Window: 1 January 2025 – 1 June 2026.

After last year's fantastic response, the Silver Award will return again in 2026, celebrating outstanding achievements and shining a spotlight on exceptional finalists who narrowly missed the top spot, further enhancing recognition for our partners.

We wish you the best of luck and look forward to celebrating the wonderful achievements of the industry at our Black Tie Gala Dinner in November.


How to Enter:

To enter, select the categories you wish to enter at the top of the list below, expand the category, click ENTER NOW. You will need to register on the platform before you can complete your entry. Please complete all questions when registering. 

Note: you will receive an email with a validation code which must be added to complete the registration process. Please check your junk folder. 

If you do not want to complete your entry in one sitting you can part complete your entry and come back to it later. Your information is automatically saved. Simply login again using the YOUR ACCOUNT tab in the menu to complete your entry.

To submit your entry, agree to the terms and conditions then click the CONTINUE button at the bottom of the page. If you forget your password please use the reset password link on the login page.

Cost for single entry: £600 (+VAT). Cost for multiple entries: £600 (+VAT) for the first entry, £500 (+VAT) for subsequent entries.

Note the NEXT GEN category is free to enter.

Open to service providers and mobile network operators (MNOs) as well as users and owners of private 5G networks, and vendors in partnership with a named operator or network.

This category is focused on deployed 5G networks, and the judges will be looking in particular for evidence of monetisation and innovation, not just the scale of the network.

    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to address:

    • Who are your target customers and how are you addressing their needs?
    • What is the business model for your 5G network and how is it evolving? To counter revenue erosion, what are your offering roadmaps to monetize beyond connectivity services and to stimulate experience-based monetization?
    • What are your plans for developing your 5G network? How many of the full range of 5G-advanced benefits are you offering today?
    • Who do you work with – how have you developed an ecosystem of partners and suppliers? • How important are reward programs versus network performance for your B2C customers?
    • Is your network owned by an operator/CSP or is it a private network for enterprise use with clear SLAs, security and eventually with incorporated vertical-specific stacks? 
    • Are you already participating in any 6G research, trials or pilots?

    This category is open to all companies in the sector and is looking for innovation in AI to enhance efficiency, usability, revenue generation and customer satisfaction. We are looking both generative, agentic and cognitive solutions and the judges will particularly look for solutions with a positive social impact that augments human ability.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider:

    • What real world challenge you are looking to address?
    • How is AI bringing a new approach to a problem that would otherwise be hard to address?
    • How are next gen AI solutions integrating with AI agentic systems, digital twins and other technology to deliver better quality outputs, workflows redesigns or automation targeted to relevant domains of interest?
    • Who are the customers and how do they benefit from your AI innovation?
    • How do you consistently leverage your data to create value from AI?
    • How have you addressed ethical concerns and developed a responsible AI solution?
    • What is the potential to be scaled up? Applicable to different markets?
    • How are you measuring success? What are the economics of your AI solutions? Share some evidence of success.
    • How do you ensure consistent results and address any concerns over security?

    Open to CSP/operators and vendors and other partners with a named operator.

    This category focuses on both CSP’s internal transformation or digital transformation they are enabling for their customers. It focuses on enhancing connectivity, service innovation, process improvements and creation of new revenue streams.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider:

    • Who benefits from your digital transformation project and how?
    • How has your programme created or modified business processes, culture, and digital-first customer experiences to meet changing business and market requirements?
    • What were your over-arching goals with the programme as well as the qualitative and quantitative success criteria and evidence?
    • Who did you partner with to deliver digital transformation?
    • Outline the timeline, targets, key milestones, and results for this project?
    • How did the transformation contribute to the strategic success of the company as a whole?

    This category celebrates telecom providers and suppliers pioneering excellence in data strategy. We recognise innovation in data collection, intelligent analytics, and sovereign storage.

    Whether optimising BSS/OSS, ensuring robust data protection, or unlocking new revenue through data monetisation, this award is for those transforming raw information into a strategic asset for the future of connectivity.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider:

    • Demonstrate unique approaches to data collection, processing, and actionable intelligence.
    • Monetisation: Detail how data-driven insights have created new revenue streams or commercial opportunities.
    • Show how data usage has significantly improved BSS/ OSS efficiency and network performance.
    • Data Sovereignty: Evidence your commitment to regional compliance, residency requirements, and sovereign data control.
    • Highlight robust frameworks for safeguarding sensitive subscriber information and maintaining privacy.
    • Illustrate how intelligent data use has directly enhanced the end-user journey.
    • Explain how collaborative data sharing with partners has driven mutual industry growth.

    Open to all operators and service providers or partnerships between suppliers and a named operator.

    Sustainability and especially the subjects of energy usage and Net Zero are now a board level issue. This trend is driven by factors such as concerns about the environmental impact of infrastructure and the growing demand for energy-efficient technologies like traceability, analytics and renewable energy. The judges will be looking for CSP’s own sustainability initiatives and also how they are enabling customers to reduce carbon emissions / get closer to net zero.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider:

    • Who are the customers and how are you helping on their net zero journey?
    • How have you gone beyond a CSR ‘tick-the-box’ type of exercise?
    • Show some performance drivers and tangible measurable results of your solution? (E.g. reduction of kWh per GB while maintaining user experience; circular performance KPIs; etc.)
    • What are your future sustainability plans and how scalable it is?
    • How became or will you become a sustainability industry leader and how will it improve your carbon zero reputation with your customers and stakeholders?
    • Are you developing new sustainable technology frameworks that increases the energy & material efficiency of IT services?
    • Are you enabling enterprise sustainability through technologies like traceability, analytics, renewable energy?

    This category is open to owners and operators of submarine cables and suppliers / partners working with a specific cable or a company who owns multiple cables.

    The judges will be looking for a stand out entry, for example that addresses a particular market need through provision of a new route, demonstrates innovation in deployment, protection or repair of a cable, or has facilitated a new product or service through their subsea network.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider: 

    • Can you demonstrate innovation in design and deployment?
    • What have you done to create a resilient network, to minimize downtime and ensure reliable connectivity?
    • How have you considered and addressed critical maritime infrastructure protection?
    • How has the cable enhanced global connectivity?
    • What measures have you considered with regards to sustainability and environmental responsibility?
    • How have you gauged customer satisfaction and the positive impact of the project?
    • How to you prevent potential sabotage of undersea cables and the impact on its users?

    Open to any privately owned and independent business established since 2010, that has attracted maximum funding of €50M and has maximum annual revenue of €100M.

    The organisation must either provide a product or solution to address a specific need of the broader telecom industry (including AI & data centres) or a customer solution dependent on connectivity.

    Startups must submit a video pitch of up to three minutes to be reviewed in the first instance with the winner determined by live pitching to a judges’ panel of sector experts.
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    Points to consider:

    • How much funding has your company raised to date, and what are the sources: equity, debt, grants etc?
    • What is your financial performance in the judging period: revenue, profit, number of employees
    • What is your product or service and how is it relevant to the connectivity industry – does it serve the industry or is it enabled by connectivity.
    • How are you innovating – where have you challenged the status quo?

    Open to all fixed and mobile operators. Effectively this is a Telecoms4Good award, recognising the organisation that can demonstrate how they take an innovative approach to addressing social responsibility or narrowing the digital divide.

    The judges are looking for the most innovative approaches. Not just organisations that offer a product or service that offers positive social benefits but also recognising the most creative ways to address social responsibility or narrow the digital divide.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider:

    • Who has benefited from your activities and how have they experienced this benefit?
    • What do you understand by the term social contribution in the context of your organisation?
    • How are you measuring success of your initiatives?
    • Which tangible, positive impact these projects or initiatives delivered?
    • How have you brought a creative approach to the problem?

    Open to all organisations involved in the provision of nonterrestrial networks, including LEO, MEO and GEO satellite operators as well as spaceports, ground stations and the ecosystem of companies supporting their provision.

    The judges will be particularly looking at how satellite technology is starting to become a realistic commercial option for the telecom sector and is being integrated into offerings alongside other technologies.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider:

    • Who are the customers and what is the business model for your satellite service?
    • What part does your solution play in providing seamless coverage and improving the overall user experience?
    • Why is a satellite solution most suitable in this environment?
    • How are technology advancements improving the flexibility, resilience, and efficiency of satellite communications – consider ground station infrastructure and multi-orbit constellations?
    • Any Direct-to-Device (D2D) satellite service offerings?
    • How many customers are using / trialling the solution?
    • Is a satellite solution scalable in your market sector?

    Open to operator or any ecosystem company delivering an outstanding platform strategy for the telecom sector.

    This award looks at the successful orchestration of service offerings from a diverse supplier base to successfully offer new service bundles.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider:

    • Who are customers and how do they benefit from your platform strategy?
    • Remember this isn’t just about cloud platforms but others such as network monitoring platforms, CPaaS platforms and so on. • How have you integrated AI and automation into your platform strategy?
    • Demonstrate your robust security measures.
    • How have you taken service offerings from a diverse supplier base, and created new service bundles?
    • Does it generate higher-margin revenues than commoditised services?
    • How scalable is your strategy?
    • What new products and services has it enabled, including apps and IoT?

    Open to all service providers / operators / MNOs.

    The judges will be looking for organisations who are investing in their people and providing evidence of successfully managing the cultural change impact of digitisation. They will look for organisations who are enhancing employee’s digital skills and undertaking programs to enhance digital literacy, as well other policies to develop company culture. They will also assess how far the organisation has gone to stimulate employee journeys to help create positive customer interactions.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to address:

    • Demonstrate how you have developed a corporate culture appropriate to your business.
    • How are you addressing the rapid advance of AI and the wider impact on organization and skills? How has this benefited your customers? What do they experience as a customer centric outcome?
    • How far you have progressed in transforming cultural attitudes throughout your organization?
    • How has your organisation developed and encouraged policies and actions to promote diversity, inclusiveness and purposefulness?
    • How have you developed a customer-centric workforce equipped to meet the challenges of digital Transformation and AI?
    • Do you now put more focus on soft skills & creative intelligence? Are you partnering with other organisations?
    • What new skill sets have you developed to deliver digital transformation?

    The outstanding achievement award is open to employees from all sectors of the industry, including but not limited to communication service providers, suppliers, and trade bodies.

    Entrants can represent any functional discipline in a business and any level of seniority, but this award is recognising an individual demonstrating consistent and sustained achievement and so is open only to those who are at least 10 years into their career (defined as since leaving full time education) and who have worked for their current employer for a minimum of two years.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider: 

    • How have they demonstrated innovation and creativity in their role, for example a way of addressing a challenging or product/service development?
    • They should exhibit continued excellence in operational processes.
    • How have they contributed to team and company culture?
    • How have customers benefited from them, directly or indirectly?

    The Next Gen award is for an individual under the age of 35, working in any sectors of the industry, including but not limited to communication service providers, suppliers, and trade bodies.

    Entrants can represent any functional discipline in a business and must have worked for their current employer for a minimum of two years. The judges are looking for evidence of an individual who stands head and shoulders above their peers.
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    Points to consider:

    • What makes the individual stand out from the crowd?
    • How have they who brought innovative ideas and creative solutions to their role or the company?
    • Have they demonstrated strong leadership skills and do they make a significant impact within their organisations and the industry?
    • Do they demonstrate commitment to advancing their careers in the sector?
    • How have they contributed to team and company culture?
    • How have customers benefited from them, directly or indirectly?

    This category is open to all organisations building the essential physical infrastructure of connectivity, from subsea cables and fibre networks to state-of-the-art data centres and satellite infrastructure. The judges are looking for entries from terrestrial and satellite infrastructure providers who demonstrate excellence and innovation in engineering to support global data and connectivity demands.

    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider:

    • Detail any pioneering construction techniques or proprietary technologies used in your physical deployments.
    • Highlight Sustainability and Efficiency initiatives and the use of renewable energy sources.
    • Partnerships: how have collaborations with vendors or local governments or other organisations accelerated project delivery and impact.
    • Is the project scalability and future-proof - how does the infrastructure handle evolving technology and demand requirements.
    • Security and Resilience: Showcase robust physical and cyber protections ensuring 24/7 uptime and data integrity.
    • Outline your monetisation strategies

    Open all companies including operators and CSP’s as well as ICT companies and solution providers in the telco ecosystem.

    This category looks for any new technology or new application of an existing technology, including but not limited to, machine learning, blockchain, metaverse, IoT, robotics, AI, ISAC (the network as a sensor), etc, which has been deployed to enable a new product or service offering or revolutionises how an existing service is offered.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider:

    • Who are the customers you are addressing and how are they benefiting from your programme?
    • What is the technology and how is it vital to your solution?
    • Could the same outcome be achieved using a legacy solution?
    • What is your business model?
    • How are you measuring qualitative and quantitative evidence of success?
    • What is the future for and scalability of this technology?

    Open to communication service providers (CSP) / operators and vendors and other partners with a named operator. Looking for CSP/operator selling directly or indirectly to enterprises.

    Recognising the most compelling service offered in the B2B sphere by a CSP/operator selling directly or indirectly enterprise users, such as for example private wireless networks, managed networks, value added services / XaaS and on-demand connectivity.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider:

    • What does this service do and what customer need and value does it address?
    • What technologies does it use? Why is it unique or innovative?
    • How does it fit within your wider service portfolio?
    • Who is the target market (directly/indirectly)?
    • Why is it good value for your b2b customers or partners?
    • Is your service offering scalable and applicable to different markets?
    • What sets it apart from other competing or similar offers?
    • Does it unlock new industry-specific use cases or value added services (such as “sensing-as-a-service”; AI GPU power offerings at the network edge, etc.)?

    Open to operators, vendors, systems integrators and other cyber security ecosystem players. This category looks for strategies to enhance cyber security to the telecom sector and its customers through better use of cyber threat intelligence and technologies.

    The judges will be looking for deployed cyber security strategies, either addressing the CSP’s own risks or as an offering for enterprise clients as a Managed Security Services Provider. The winning entry will demonstrate how their offering detects cyber threats to mitigate business impact, and drive efficiency into cybersecurity operations through an innovative approach.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider:

    • What market does your entry address?
    • What threats are you tackling or how your service or technology secures or enhances user experiences
    • Who was your target audience and why has your solution benefited the market?
    • How are you mitigating business impact of a cyber-attack?
    • Demonstrate how your innovative risk and security management approach increased trust with your customers and stakeholders?
    • Demonstrate evidence of success and impact on the market?
    • How has it aided development of new products and services?
    • Have or will you start piloting Quantum Technologies for a security advantage?

    Open to all providers of IT and telecoms services.

    This category has its foundations in outstanding customer experience, but we are seeking a 360° APPROACH to CX, supported by employee, partner and/ or user experience to delivering positive business outcome including customers satisfaction, cultural and transformative change, innovation, great product/service quality and enhanced brand loyalty.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider:

    • Who are your customers and end-users?
    • How are you addressing the issue of Total Experience, going beyond basic CX metrics to stand out from your competitors?
    • Beyond CX metrics, what sets you apart from your competitors when it comes to total excellence?
    • What have you done to materially change the company culture regarding your customers, your management approaches and operations that impact your customers?
    • Demonstrate how you are customer obsessed and how you proactively manage your customers?
    • Can you clearly distinguish between product innovation and real improvement in customer experience?
    • How do you use smart technology to interact and engage with your customers and employees? Are you embracing AI agents for example?
    • How do you measure the impact of your initiatives? Share tangible proof points of your KPI’s such as target audience, sample representation, frequency, etc.
    • How do you leverage and consistently structure your cross-silo quality data?

    Open to all industry organisations: CSPs / Operators / MNOs as well as vendors, associations, NGO’s and other organisations with case studies. T

    he world is fast approaching a state of perpetual crisis with the telecommunication industry playing a crucial role on a global or local scale, addressing physical, natural or manmade crises.

    The winning entry will demonstrate how the organisation has responded to either an apparent and urgent need, utilisation their skills and relationships to deliver a rapid and effective response without focus on commercial success or a long term approach to addressing a persistent state of crisis.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider:

    • What crisis are you addressing and who benefits from your activity?
    • What have you been able to achieve in terms of restoring service or mitigating ongoing issues?
    • How did you benefit from collective skills and expertise within your organisation?
    • Was your assistance dependent on your position as a CSP or a reappropriating of your resources in other ways?
    • How did you communicate with affected customers during and after the crisis?
    • Did you partner with anyone to address the crisis?
    • Did your assistance go beyond an immediate crisis to create a long-term solution?

    Open to all CSP’s and other organisations involved in the provision of connectivity services to communities, including but not limited to municipalities and residential developments.

    This category is looking for initiatives from organisations connecting less than 500,000 customers that have taken an innovative approach to connect or enhance connectivity to a community in terms of technology, business model or outcome achieved.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    • Who are your customers and end-users?
    • What sets you apart from your competitors when it comes to community connectivity?
    • What types of technology are you using – why are they most suitable?
    • Is your solution scalable?
    • Do you offer any specific programmes to benefit your communities beyond connectivity?
    • Are their any unique partnerships that help you deliver community connectivity?
    • What is the business model? How do you measure success?

    Open to operators, service providers, hyperscalers, data centre owners and operators, internet exchanges, or vendors in partnership with a named operator.

    This award fundamentally celebrates advancements in cloud technology, including the evolution of cloud to the edge, progress around security and sustainability and advances in quantum computing. This award will look for solutions from entrants delivering agile, automated and scalable solutions and services.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider:

    • Why is your solution innovative and how does this benefit your customers?
    • How has your cloud technology become more powerful, scalable, efficient, and accessible?
    • What is your cloud model, public, private, hybrid or something else?
    • Consider the impact of technology such as 5G technology, cloud-native approaches, and AI.
    • How have developments in technology, infrastructure and architecture impacted your offering, your revenues, your customers and your competitive position?
    • How do you handle digital sovereignty and regional/local cloud requirements from enterprises?
    • What efforts have you made to address unnecessary carbon footprint and decarbonise cloud?

    Open to all service providers, MNOs and other operators as well as solution providers in partnership with a named operator. We are looking for the business that has developed a product or service that moves beyond the traditional connectivity-based offerings into new business areas or new geographic markets.

    The judges will be looking at how entrants have deployed existing assets in the building of new, non-core businesses, as well as investing in new capabilities and building partnerships to successfully develop new products and services based on leveraging existing assets, building ecosystem business to reinforce the core, or developing marketplace businesses based on partnerships and entirely new ventures.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider:

    • Who benefits from this product and service and how does it move beyond your core business?
    • When was it deployed and what is the business model?
    • How are you utilising existing assets of the business such as customer data and relationships?
    • Have you used established new distribution channels such as stores, ecommerce channels, or partnerships to advantage?
    • How do you measure its success?
    • What technical and cultural capabilities have you developed to win?

    Open to all wholesale operators, including submarine cable operators, operating on a regional or global basis.

    This is not about having the most customers, the largest network or highest revenue, it is about being the best! The judges will be looking for the most innovative business models, how you have evolved your business, successful partnering strategies and how new technology deployment supporting a successful wholesale carrier business.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider:

    • Who are your customers and how do you differentiate from your competitors?
    • How have you diversified your traditional services portfolio to create new and profitable revenue streams?
    • Have you created new revenue streams by monetizing their existing network assets?
    • How have you transformed your business to match customer expectations?
    • What role does artificial intelligence and automation play in the development of your business
    • How have you adapted your company culture to be fit for the future?

    Open to all operators/CSPs/ MNOs addressing one or more markets that could be described as emerging or developing, characterised by considerable rates of economic growth and increasing demand for connectivity and the services it can enable.

    In many emerging markets, telcos are the most trusted digital entry point and this award go to the operator that has best addressed the customer needs of their market and overcome market specific challenges to achieve commercial success.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider:

    • • Define your growth or emerging market and customers
    • How are you delivering above and beyond what customers might expect in your business?
    • How is your business strategy developed to address the specific market needs?
    • How do you stand out from the competition?
    • Does your network infrastructure or surrounding ecosystems feature any innovative approaches to suit your market?
    • Does your business make investments in infrastructure and local employment beyond that strictly required by your core communications business?

    Open to CSP/operators and vendors and other partners with a named operator.

    This category emphasises the evolution from legacy systems, software replacing hardware and a focus on automation.
    £ 600.00 +VAT (20%)
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    Points to consider:

    • What was the scope of your project?
    • What were your over-arching goals and how well were they met?
    • Who did you partner with for this network evolution project?
    • What technology developments were integral to this initiative?
    • What evidence can you show of success, such as cost savings, revenue generation, customer satisfaction, efficiency improvements, automation improvements, other KPIs?
    • What challenges did you overcome along the way?