The World Communication Awards 2026 shortlist has been announced, with winners due on 25 November at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London.
The awards have been running for almost 30 years and this year’s list spans 5G, cloud, AI, digital transformation, network evolution and other telecom classes.
5G shortlist names operators and vendors side by side
The 5G Award shortlist includes Airtel and Ericsson for Cloud-Native 5G SA Charging & Policy Platform, Deutsche Telekom and Mavenir for Energy efficient 5G Core, Jio Platforms Ltd. for JPLs TelOS AI Suite and JioAirFiber, KT for Evolution of public safety communications through 5G SA, and Spark and Ericsson for 5G+ in New Zealand.
That mix is straightforward: operators and suppliers are being judged together in the same category, with the entries tied to named platforms and deployments rather than broad themes.
Named entries spread across the rest of the categories
The shortlist also names entries in AI Innovation, Best Digital Transformation Programme, Best Network Evolution Initiative, Beyond Connectivity, Cloud, Connected Communities, Customer Experience, Cyber Security, Enterprise Service of the Year, Future, Infrastructure, People, Culture & Digital Skills, Platform, Satellite Telecoms, Social Contribution, Submarine Networks, Sustainability and The Data Award.
Among the named entries are Orange Business and Red Hat in the Cloud Award, Rakuten Symphony in both the Cloud Award and Platform Award lists, and Telkomsel and Ericsson in Connected Communities.
For operators and vendors that submit to these awards, the shortlist shows which combinations of service area and project naming cleared the first cut this year. It also gives a clean read on where the ceremony’s categories are concentrated: 5G, cloud, AI, customer, infrastructure and network operations.
What this means for awards shortlists in telecom
This is a shortlist, not a ranking of winners, but it still matters for companies that use awards as a public benchmark. The named entries show which projects the panel has decided are in scope ahead of the November ceremony.