Industry
Communications, Media and Information Services
Connect. Curate. Comprehend: Unlocking Value Beyond Boundaries
HIGHLIGHTS
- The telecom industry will continue to experience accelerated transformative shifts in 2025, driven by cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), ubiquitous connectivity helped by satcom, and advancements in computing and network infrastructures that will support AI workloads.
- Telecom providers will use these levers while they restructure into models such as Netco, Servco, and Towerco, consolidate (mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures), redefine their product and service portfolios, and re-architect and rebuild their delivery platforms.
- CXOs are prioritizing investments in autonomous networks characterized by X-Ops – NetDevSecOps, AIOPs, MLOPs (including LLMOPs) – to stay competitive by ensuring a more intelligent, secure, and customer-centric ecosystem.
Possibilities galore
Telecom providers are experiencing transformative shifts enabled by technologies that are going from lab to field at an unprecedented pace.
Agentic AI architectures and systems will not just be technology but a style, a model of business, such as e-commerce and OTT (a redeeming feature of the programmable economy). We believe agentic AI software and humans will symbiotically enhance each other’s autonomous capabilities. The application of this interplay is being explored across the CSP value chain from customer engagement (core commerce) to service and resource management layers.
The rise of ubiquitous connectivity is ensuring seamless access to even the most remote locations, unlocking new applications in multi-access edge computing and edge-driven ecosystems. In parallel, enterprise AI and GenAI are enriching the use cases with federated inference capabilities and enabling hybrid cloud operations that integrate edge environments, fueling innovation at scale.
The design of new network topology and protocols required to support GenAI systems will spawn a full set of radically new use cases for the entire network lifecycle – from design to in-life monitoring. The inclusion of non-terrestrial networks and multi-orbit satellite communication will add a new dimension of cross-domain OSS capabilities to manage these infrastructures.
Key developments in the telecom landscape
These trends are poised to redefine the CSP ecosystem in 2025 and beyond.
1. Evolution of platform architectures
Many communication service providers are reprioritizing investments in satellite communications to enhance remote access and provide reliable backhaul as well as backup scenarios for 5G and fiber deployment.
Additionally, autonomous network operations will leverage AI and machine learning to self-optimize networks, ensuring efficient traffic management, resource allocation, and seamless cross domain management and orchestrations. This sustainable satellite communications approach is vital for supporting emerging technologies, which demand dynamic and intelligent resource management.
The rich set of possibilities (read use cases) will continue to push CSPs to continuously assess their OSS and network management systems. The ability to develop platform-like capabilities will be key in transitioning toward higher maturity in autonomous networks and operations, as outlined in TM Forum’s maturity models.
2. Getting data-ready for AI
The biggest factor that will bridge the chasm between the hype and reality of AI will be the ability to provide data that is fit for consumption by the AI-ML models. Traditional data readiness and management methods for business intelligence and analytics are insufficient for use in AI models. Standards-defining organizations, telcos, and technology companies are focusing on developing architecture matters of the data fabric and metadata and domain ontology maps and models. Data governance in distributed and federated setups using data mesh operating models is key to implementing use cases that cut across traditionally siloed processes in the enterprise.
3. Redesigning human-centric interactions, process workflows, and collaboration
The evolution from AI assistants and co-pilots to AI agents and agentic architecture is fundamentally reshaping human-machine interactions in telecom operations. AI-driven proofs of concept (POCs) and pilots are transforming functions such as contact center automation, network operations center workflows, and field deployments for fiber, 5G, and mobile private networks.
Additionally, multi-modal immersive interfaces are redefining traditional user interface experiences. Concepts of distinct systems of records and systems of intelligence and insight are converging as the pursuit toward higher levels of autonomy blurs the conventional behaviors of human-machine interactions for decision making. The proliferation of APIs in the enterprise (and cross-enterprise) has triggered the need for further standardization (such as model context protocol in AI-enabled applications being described as USB-C port for AI applications). The promise of network APIs and CAMARA APIs will accelerate this demand along with monetization pressures.
4. Designing and building secure, fit-for-purpose infrastructure for AI workload
Interactions, data flow patterns, data volume, latency sensitivity, intensity of compute, and network resilience (lossiness) for AI systems are different from that of traditional enterprise systems. They even differ for AI-based systems based on location i.e. edge based or centralized (on-premises or private-public regional cloud DCs).
Network topologies such as flat high-radix topologies for low-diameter networks will need to be introduced to replace or augment traditional hierarchical trees such as leaf and spine models. Supporting protocols such as remote direct memory access (RDMA), RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE), InfiniBand, and GPU-aware protocols will inevitably be introduced to traditional ones such as TCP, IP, and Ethernet. Sovereign AI infrastructures of CSPs will be the likely candidates to be first on the block to trial these.
A future shaped by AI
Strategic investments in AI, security, and next-gen networks will define the future of telecom.
As these trends converge, IT service providers with deep expertise in AI, security, connectivity, and customer experiences will play a crucial role in guiding telcos through this transformation.
Autonomous networks and GenAI will enhance network performance and efficiency, while improved customer experiences will drive higher satisfaction and loyalty.
In 2025, CXOs of telecom companies will prioritize their efforts and capital in the benefits these technologies promise to deliver. The future of telecom is being built today; those who embrace these innovations will lead the charge in shaping a more connected, intelligent, and resilient communications landscape.
