AI Meets Wireless: Insights from the 2025 South Wireless Summit Panel on Infrastructure Innovation
At the 2025 South Wireless Summit, the panel discussion titled “AI-Powered Solutions for Wireless Construction and Deployment” brought together top voices from across the telecom infrastructure landscape. The panel featured Bernard Borghei (CEO, Symphony Towers Infrastructure), Bill Davidson (COO, Harmoni Towers), Shawn Shahini (CEO, Inorsa), and Vincent Pyro (Director of Strategic Partnerships, Inorsa). Together, they explored the current reality and near-term future of AI’s role in accelerating wireless deployment and operational efficiency.
Setting the Stage: AI Is Moving From Buzzword to Backbone
The panel kicked off with a reality check on the telecom landscape in 2024 and expectations for 2025. Bernard Borghei offered a candid assessment of the industry’s performance amid macroeconomic uncertainty, tempered by cautious optimism.
“I’m watching what 2025 might be with cautious optimism… If interest rates don’t move, and if some policies start impacting the cost of materials, the industry may have to re-evaluate how much it wants to invest.”
From there, the conversation turned to the real promise of AI—not just in network optimization, but in infrastructure development, deployment, and co-location. This is where the panelists agreed the next wave of AI adoption will deliver the most transformative gains.
The Data Dilemma: Messy Systems, High Potential
A recurring theme was data quality. Across all participants, the panel underscored that AI’s potential is only unlocked when foundational data is clean, structured, and centralized. Bernard emphasized the importance of accurate, real-time data as the critical enabler for efficiency.
“The infrastructure business isn’t rocket science, but it is extremely data-centric and data-intensive.”
He shared Symphony Tower’s approach: gathering accurate tower-level data, ensuring accessibility across legal, leasing, and operations teams, and injecting automation and intelligence to support smarter decisions.
Real-World AI: From Lease Abstraction to Predictive Insights
Bernard illustrated the shift from manual workflows to AI-powered automation with a compelling example.
“When we bought 900 towers from iHeartMedia, it took nine months to abstract leases. Recently, I used an AI lease abstraction tool on 250 leases—it delivered all the critical information in a single day.”
This kind of transformation is more than anecdotal—it signals what’s possible when AI is applied thoughtfully to repetitive, document-heavy processes. Inorsa’s team added that AI models can now not only ingest unstructured tower documents but also conduct QC, generate drawings, automate due diligence, and offer predictive asset intelligence—functionality that dramatically shrinks project timelines and improves accuracy.
Workforce Implications: AI as an Accelerator, Not a Replacement
The panel didn’t shy away from the workforce question: will AI displace people?
“AI is coming—and it’s not a distant future. But that doesn’t mean half your staff are going to be replaced by AI-driven laptops. It means your team will be empowered to work with data and drive the business forward.”
Instead of layoffs, AI enables more deals, more KPIs, and more strategic focus—by offloading time-consuming, low-value tasks like data reconciliation or asset status lookups.
Defining the AI-Driven Tower Company of the Future
As the panel concluded, each participant shared their vision of what an AI-powered wireless infrastructure company might look like five years from now.
“It’s a fully automated operational system—from field to finance. You won’t need 90% of your IT team on one project just to integrate platforms. AI will make those connections faster, easier, and more efficient.”
Harmoni Tower’s Bill Davidson added that AI will also power strategic planning, resource allocation, and growth decisions by merging internal asset data with external market intelligence.
The Takeaway: AI Isn’t a Tech Trend—It’s Telecom’s Next Chapter
The 2025 South Wireless Summit panel made one thing clear: AI is no longer a buzzword. For infrastructure owners and operators, it’s a business imperative—one that can reduce costs, unlock capacity, accelerate deployment, and reshape team roles.
“AI is the next step in operational efficiency. It’s about doing more deals, faster and smarter—not replacing people, but giving them superpowers.”
