Telefónica CEO Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete today juxtaposed most of the world’s ills against the backdrop of digitalization and its ability to right these wrongs during his opening keynote at MWC Barcelona 2022.

His first major speech as chair of GSMA was equal parts rallying cry for the telco industry and a recognition that so much of the world seems to be breaking all at once — a convergence of technological progress stymied by discontent and hardships in every corner of the world.

“We live in an era of conflict, apparently everywhere and about everything. Between East and West, between truth and fake news, between privacy and free services, between sovereignty and big-data platforms, between old industrial models and climate change, between automation and job creation, between digitalization and equality,” he said. “Our society has lost its optimism. Our teams fear that climate change will be irreversible. Many of our citizens think that technological progress will destroy their jobs, erode their freedoms, or impose values that they consider alien. Many think the future will be worse for almost everyone.”

This sense of defeat, which many can relate to and appreciate, has befallen global society despite technological progress, a more connected world, and the longer, healthier, and more comfortable lives that most people enjoy today, according to Alvarez-Pallete.

“Despite all of this, we are losing faith in ourselves and in our future” largely because “the link between material progress and ethical progress has been blurred. The convulsions of the 20th century and the disconcerting events of the dawn of the 21st century, such as what is happening right now to Ukraine, has reminded us that technology lacks values.”

While technology affords people the power to change and accomplish more, it can also be used for good or for bad, he explained. “When technology promotes hyper individualistic values to the detriment of values such as solidarity, social empathy, or mere contact between people, society distrusts it and those who provide it.”

It’s exceedingly rare for a technology executive to speak in such terms publicly. However, the latter half of his speech shifted to the positive, focusing on the why, where, and how he hopes wireless networks can overcome many of these challenges. With a little help, of course.

A confluence of technological advancements — faster and more readily available connectivity, the exponential growth and shift of processing and storage capacity to the cloud, augmented reality, IoT, big data, blockchain, quantum computing, cybersecurity, edge computing, standalone 5G networks, and artificial intelligence (AI) — form a new era of digitalization that’s expected to have four times the global impact of the industrial revolution, according to Alvarez-Pallete.

“These technologies are redefining the society and economy within which we live, but none of this can exist without the ultra-broadband connectivity provided by 5G and fiber networks,” he said.

“In the last 25 years, no other industry in the world has contributed to the economic and social welfare as this sector. We can proudly say that without us, the deepest technological evolution in human history would not have happened,” he added.

“Without us, the less developed parts of the world would have been dramatically disconnected from the digital revolution. Without us and our resilience, the world would have stopped completely during the [COVID-19] crisis. We did our job. We were there when needed,” he said.

Then came the ask — a common recurring plea for technology and media giants that benefit from telco networks to share in the massive investments required to build and consistently improve wireless network infrastructure.

“To deliver a new era of super connectivity, we need a new framework, a new era of hyper-sector collaboration. We must create an environment that delivers value to all, that allows everyone to obtain a fair return,” Alvarez-Pallete said. “We respect all players of the new economy, but we also deserve respect. We want to compete on equal terms — same service, same rules, same obligations. We are not asking for privileges, just for justice. We are asking for a framework that protects all digital citizens, all of us to compete in the new world.”

The investment burden that currently rides on network operators to handle the exponential volumes of traffic “should sit firmly with those that impose it,” he said.

Moreover, digital infrastructure should mirror the best of the physical world, including democratic principles and open societies that must unite the entire industry, Alvarez-Pallete said.

“We need a new social contract. Human beings must never be categorized by their access to digitization. There should be no distinction between those who have access to the digital world and those who do not,” he added. “We are entering uncharted territory and the rules are not yet written. We need values to fill in the blanks.”

If the wireless industry succeeds, Alvarez-Pallete claims it will deliver social progress and opportunities for all, recover trust that has been shaken by fake news, trolls, bots, and cybercrime, and reclaim privacy and data sovereignty.