The telecommunications {industry} is experiencing important AI developments, rising because the main adopter of generative and agentic AI to drive automation, personalization, and data-driven choices. In response to a latest IDC white paper, telecom and media corporations are seeing practically 4 occasions the return on funding (ROI) on each greenback invested in AI. Moreover, by 2027, nearly 90% of telecom suppliers are anticipated to make use of generative AI to enhance buyer experiences, up from 62% in the present day.
96% of our tier-1 telecom prospects are already adopting Microsoft AI options. Our ecosystem of consumers and companions are harnessing the facility of AI to reimagine buyer experiences, modernize networks, automate enterprise operations, and drive progress.
Forward of Cell World Congress 2025 (MWC), we’re sharing new capabilities and buyer momentum that present how telecoms are adopting the Microsoft Cloud and AI capabilities to help their AI journey and empower the following era of telecom options.
We invite you to hitch us subsequent week at MWC to study extra about our new bulletins and see firsthand how Microsoft AI is reworking the telecom {industry}. Expertise reside demos, attend insightful classes, and meet our consultants to study how one can drive innovation and progress with Microsoft AI applied sciences.
Information is the gasoline that powers AI: Telco knowledge mannequin
Telecom networks are acknowledged for his or her complicated, data-rich environments. This knowledge is the gasoline that powers AI and varieties the muse upon which next-generation telecom techniques are constructed. To transform this huge potential into actionable intelligence, organizations want a unified platform that may seamlessly join, handle, and analyze their knowledge. Microsoft Material is the end-to-end knowledge platform designed to energy buyer AI transformation and assist organizations reimagine how they unlock worth from their knowledge and revolutionize the companies they provide.
As we speak we announce the Telco {industry} knowledge mannequin in Microsoft Material, designed to unify all knowledge—from community efficiency metrics to buyer interactions, inside a single analytics setting. As an integral Material workload, telecom suppliers can use the Telco {industry} knowledge mannequin to handle and streamline how all their knowledge is ingested, modelled, and analyzed via:
- Native Material integration—a unified pipeline inside Material’s analytics, governance, and visualization framework means quicker time to market, with higher insights.
- Expanded knowledge mannequin—pre-built telecom-specific schemas protecting community knowledge, buyer insights, and operational metrics drives operational effectivity.
- Developer and visualization instruments—simplified, AI-ready answer constructing that dramatically reduces improvement and testing time, making networks extra resilient.
Greater than 50% of our telecom prospects are leveraging Material for real-time enterprise insights to optimize enterprise and community operations. Main prospects like Telefónica, KPN, One NZ, and companions like Accenture, Infosys, and LigaData are utilizing Material to realize enterprise outcomes. The broader buyer adoption for Material is greater than 19,000 prospects, together with 70% of the Fortune 500. The Telco {industry} knowledge mannequin in Microsoft Material allows telecoms to determine a powerful knowledge basis to unlock AI-powered insights that gasoline innovation, operational effectivity, and better worth throughout all the group.
“Microsoft Material, powered by Telco knowledge mannequin and AI capabilities, has revolutionized our options by offering real-time insights all through the shopper journey, doubtlessly rising operational effectivity by 40%. Our answer affords preventive insights throughout all the order lifecycle and its auto-healing functionality for enhanced jeopardy administration, considerably bettering the administration of complicated B2B orders and enhancing the shopper expertise.”
The Telco {industry} knowledge mannequin in Microsoft Material will probably be accessible early in April 2025.
Telecom prospects around the globe are benefiting from the cloud and AI in new and modern methods. The collaborations we lately introduced with KT Company, Lumen, Telstra, and Vodafone show how telecoms are innovating to raise buyer experiences, streamline enterprise operations, modernize networks, and unlock new income streams. Moreover, we’re introducing new collaborations with high telecom suppliers that exemplify how they’re constructing the muse to efficiently implement AI, benefiting their group, workers, and prospects.
- Spark, New Zealand’s main telecom supplier, is becoming a member of forces with Microsoft within the nation’s largest Microsoft public cloud partnership, highlighting how AI and the Cloud are serving to to remodel telecom worldwide. Spark will migrate a portion of its workloads to Microsoft Azure and roll out one in all New Zealand’s largest Microsoft 365 Copilot deployments. For extra, learn the press launch.
- Microsoft and Telefónica are extending their strategic collaboration to co-develop digital options utilizing Open Gateway, a GSMA-led initiative that transforms communication networks into programmable platforms through Telefónica’s AI platform, Kernel. Each corporations will work collectively emigrate Kernel’s capacities to Azure as a part of a software program as a service (SaaS) providing. The collaboration additionally encompasses a joint go-to-market technique, which can carry a collection of digital services to different telecoms, builders, and telecom entities—accessible on Azure Market and built-in into Microsoft’s total telecom options. For extra, learn the press launch.
We’re additionally saying that Floor for Enterprise with 5G gadgets and Microsoft 365 Copilot will probably be accessible in all Verizon Enterprise channels beginning in April 2025. This launch marks a decade of partnership between Microsoft and Verizon Enterprise, providing mobile linked Floor for Enterprise gadgets and Microsoft companies. Clients are selecting Floor Copilot+ PCs in the present day for his or her distinctive efficiency, battery life, and safety. Now, with the Verizon 5G community, the mix of Floor and Microsoft 365 Copilot affords an unparalleled cellular expertise for enterprise prospects. For extra, learn the Floor IT Professional weblog.
Telecoms speed up progress within the subsequent wave of AI: Agentic AI
Because the AI platform shift accelerates, it’s inspiring to see prospects and companions harness AI, generative AI, and agentic AI to drive transformation—reshaping each their companies and the {industry} at massive.
Elevating buyer experiences
A latest IDC white paper confirmed AI-powered buyer engagement is a high precedence for companies, with 92% of organizations at present utilizing AI for advertising and marketing and public relations (PR) and 77% utilizing it for customer support. Telecom suppliers are delivering frictionless buyer experiences with AI-infused buyer care at-scale with Dynamics 365. With a complete view of the shopper, telecoms acquire real-time insights into accounts and next-best actions to take. Additionally they allow their prospects via AI-powered automation for self-service. Moreover, Amdocs has created the Buyer Engagement Platform that’s totally built-in with Dynamics 365, to reimagine buyer expertise and establish new income alternatives for telecoms.
Since final MWC, we introduced Dynamics 365 Contact Middle, a robust answer that works with present buyer relationship administration techniques (CRMs) and unifies interactions, streamlines help, and boosts buyer satisfaction. With this answer, shoppers can have interaction and self-serve of their channel of selection whereas reps can deal with billing and tech points quicker with a single view. Constructed-in Copilot capabilities and real-time analytics drive enhancements and upselling, enhancing loyalty, and income.
Main telecoms are additionally reimagining how they join with prospects by harnessing Microsoft 365 Copilot to seize real-time transcripts, achieve contextual insights, and automate repetitive duties. This reduces dealing with occasions, liberating representatives to deal with extra complicated buyer wants.
Listed below are some examples of how telecoms prospects are utilizing Microsoft AI applied sciences to remodel their enterprise and reimagine buyer experiences:
- Telkomsel’s AI-powered answer Veronika, constructed on Azure and launched on the finish of 2023, is delivering spectacular outcomes. Telkomsel has elevated self-service interactions by 62% and reduce escalations to brokers by 38%. The common month-to-month energetic customers of Veronika additionally grew by 67%, rising from 1.3 million within the first half of 2023 to 2.2 million within the second half. These enhancements have boosted agent productiveness and repair high quality, making for a smoother, extra environment friendly buyer expertise.
- Vodafone is harnessing Microsoft 365 Copilot to empower 68,000 workers to spice up productiveness, innovation, and high quality. They’re additionally leveraged Azure OpenAI Service, Azure AI Studio, Kubernetes Service to develop Tobi and SuperAgent to empower their brokers with real-time AI help to enhance buyer expertise, lower churn, and supply aggressive benefit. This improved first-time decision from 70% to 90%.
- Lumen is leveraging Microsoft AI options to empower their workers and enhance customer support.
“Lumen is constructing the trusted community for AI. By scaling our AI capabilities with instruments like Copilot, Azure AI, and Azure ML, we’re empowering our workers to deal with complicated challenges and prioritize high-impact actions that improve buyer experiences and satisfaction. As we navigate our transformation, Microsoft’s AI instruments are important in supporting our targets and sustaining our aggressive benefit.”
Ryan Asdourian, Govt Vice President and Chief Advertising and marketing Officer, Lumen Applied sciences
Optimizing operations and modernizing networks
To maintain tempo with rising enterprise calls for, main telecoms are optimizing enterprise operations and modernizing their networks with AI and an built-in knowledge spine.
Listed below are examples of how prospects are utilizing Microsoft AI capabilities to drive operational effectivity, innovation and progress:
- AT&T automates code conversion and human sources (HR) inquiries with Azure OpenAI Service, bettering worker expertise, chopping prices and boosting customer support.
- KT Company is leveraging Microsoft AI to drive effectivity and innovation.
“The Microsoft AI-driven options have enabled KT Company to enhance its work effectivity and drive important work innovation. By introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot, KT Company empowered over 11,000 workers with the most recent AI options. Moreover, by creating AI brokers constructed on options reminiscent of Microsoft Sustainability Supervisor and Copilot, KT lowered activity completion time by 50% and improved infrastructure effectivity by 20%.” Phil Oh, CTO, KT Company
- Proximus and TCS’s GitHub Copilot journey showcases how Microsoft generative AI accelerates IT supply in telecom, bettering productiveness, code high quality, and developer expertise.
“When it comes to developer expertise, that’s the place we bought phenomenal, passable suggestions from builders—about 90% plus constructive suggestions from all classes of builders.”
Muralidharan Murugesan, Head – AI, Telco, Media & Data Companies Business, TCS
- NTT DATA is leveraging Microsoft AI to construct agentic AI workloads.
“NTT DATA leverages Microsoft Copilot Studio to ship agentic AI advisory, implementation, managed companies, and connectivity. By offering industry-specific automation and using our built-in managed companies platform, we help shoppers all through their brokers’ lifecycle. This collaboration is pivotal in attaining our shoppers’ outcomes, enabling us to ship tailor-made, environment friendly, and modern options that drive enterprise success and improve decision-making processes.”
Aishwarya Sing, SVP, World Head of Digital Collaboration, NTT
- One NZ is utilizing Microsoft Material for real-time analytics from unified knowledge sources. With the mixing of a number of techniques and visualizing insights on a single pane, One NZ has quickly streamlined processes and proactively addressed progress alternatives:
“Beforehand, you wanted to be an information engineer or scientist to entry and perceive buyer data. Now we’re making it user-friendly, so anybody can simply make data-driven choices.”
- Telstra scales in-house generative AI instruments, saving 90% of workers’ time and decreasing follow-up contacts by 20%.
Unlocking new income streams within the enterprise
A latest IDC white paper reviews that 63% of telco and media corporations say they’re at present monetizing or utilizing AI to spice up income. As a trusted accomplice, past supporting their very own transformation, we equip telecom suppliers with complete business-to-business (B2B) choices to drive topline progress and higher serve their enterprise prospects.
For instance, AT&T’s collaboration with Microsoft is reimagining enterprise connectivity. AI purposes and AT&T’s connectivity are tackling the USD112 billion annual retail shrinkage challenge head-on. By integrating Azure IoT with AT&T’s 5G community and leveraging Groups Telephone Cell for notifications, retailers obtain alerts that decrease loss and guarantee safer purchasing expertise. AT&T’s transfer into AI-powered connectivity has created new income streams, spanning price financial savings, compliance, and collaboration.
“AT&T is a frontrunner in enabling modern AI options and continues to increase capabilities via our relationship with Microsoft. We’re excited to combine Microsoft’s AI capabilities into our retail crime intelligence platform, which makes use of close to real-time notifications through Groups Telephone Cell. This collaboration underscores the dedication of each corporations to reinforce retail safety and contribute to a safer purchasing setting for each workers and prospects.”
One other accomplice, Norwood Methods, is extending conventional voice companies with Voice AI, opening up a brand new income stream for telecoms. Its OpenSpan answer, constructed on Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI Speech, allows telecoms to bridge public switched phone community (PSTN) and cellular companies, to ship superior options like real-time recording, transcription, and summarization. This gives seamless name administration for customers and deeper insights for the telecom suppliers:
“By integrating Norwood’s OpenSpan with our cellular and voice networks, BT is unlocking new prospects in voice expertise. This innovation bridges our award-winning networks with AI, creating alternatives to reinforce buyer experiences, drive new efficiencies, and form the way forward for voice communications.”
To proceed our mission to assist telecoms succeed on this period of AI platform shift, Microsoft is enabling telecoms to additional capitalize on AI by providing generative AI-powered managed safety companies. This enables tier-1 telecoms to generate new income from reselling, implementation, and managed companies, whereas additionally decreasing safety operations middle (SOC) prices and accelerating menace responses.
AI-powered Microsoft platforms and capabilities for co-innovation
Microsoft affords arguably the most complete AI options. As a platform-first firm, we additionally present intensive instruments to empower companions, builders and prospects to construct modern cloud and AI options that meet the wants of telecom companies.
Our adaptive cloud strategy unifies hybrid, multi-cloud, and edge infrastructure via a single Azure Arc platform. We allow prospects to construct distributed, low-latency, high-performance purposes and set up a standard knowledge basis for present and future AI investments. For ultra-low latency or regulatory eventualities, we’re increasing Azure with Azure Native—cloud-connected infrastructure deployable at edge places like retail websites and central places of work. We proceed to help present Azure Operator Nexus prospects as the answer evolves as a part of our total strategy for Azure on the edge.
Accenture is spearheading an enterprise-ready personal multi-access edge compute (MEC) answer constructed on Azure Native to ship low latency, localized knowledge processing, and meet regulatory necessities. Tejas Rao, Accenture, Managing Director, Accenture says, “Personal 5G and edge computing are not experimental applied sciences, they’re catalysts for enterprise transformation. By leveraging Azure Native, we assist organizations harness ultra-low latency and localized knowledge processing to unlock real-time insights, automate important operations, and meet industry-specific compliance wants.”
One other accomplice, Nokia, is utilizing generative AI to speed up the trail to self-healing and self-managed networks. They’re creating the capabilities to provision a totally autonomous “Degree 5” telecom community, one which self-manages and optimizes itself in real-time. Nokia’s “System Mind” structure, constructed on Azure AI Foundry and Azure Open AI Service, unifies a number of AI brokers below a single framework. This ensures reliability whereas delivering predictive insights, quicker downside decision, and steady operational enchancment. For extra, learn the Nokia weblog: AI and generative AI: Key to Degree 5 autonomous networks.
We’re additionally open sourcing the programmability of the Radio Entry Networks (RAN) with Challenge Janus, now on GitHub. Challenge Janus streamlines real-time community telemetry right into a unified telecom knowledge property, enabling AI-powered optimization and dynamic service fashions. It ensures that RAN intelligence, efficiency metrics, and radio useful resource utilization seamlessly feed into operational and buyer knowledge, driving predictive upkeep and optimization for private and non-private networks.
Listed below are new Challenge Janus integrations inside accomplice options:
- Capgemini is together with Challenge Janus in a reference 5G stack, enabling its gear supplier prospects to construct extremely personalized 5G community options.
- Mavenir is incorporating Challenge Janus-based probes into its newest RAN launch, serving to tier-1 telecoms scale back latency and enhance diagnostics.
- Software program Radio Methods (SRS) is integrating Challenge Janus into its srsRAN codebase, together with the industrial Enterprise 5G providing and the open supply srsRAN Challenge.
- ZaiNar has constructed their 5G localization answer on high of Challenge Janus.
Microsoft has additionally carried out an preliminary integration of Challenge Janus into Intel’s FlexRAN reference structure, which ecosystem companions like Capgemini have adopted.
Tutorial establishments, such because the College of Edinburgh, are additionally adopting Challenge Janus, and Texas A&M College and the College of California San Diego are integrating it into 5G analysis platforms.
To study extra about how telecoms can modernize their networks with Challenge Janus, learn this weblog.
Be a part of us at MWC to study extra
Because the tempo of AI affect accelerates, telecoms want a accomplice they will belief to navigate what’s subsequent. Be a part of us at Cell World Congress 2025 to study extra about our newest AI improvements in theater classes, see innovative demos, and meet with our consultants. Let’s form the way forward for telecom collectively—powered by AI, impressed by innovation, and constructed on belief. Learn this brochure to study extra about Microsoft’s MWC presence, together with in-booth theater classes and demos showcasing the most recent improvements from Microsoft and our prospects and companions.
Silvia Candiani leads Microsoft’s Worldwide Telecommunications, Media and Gaming Business, overseeing {industry} technique, go-to-market plan, ecosystem progress, and answer improvement. Silvia was previously CEO of Microsoft Italy, targeted on accelerating digital transformation. Previous to Microsoft, Silvia led Shopper Advertising and marketing for Vodafone in Italy and was beforehand a marketing consultant at McKinsey within the Media and Telecommunication industries. She has a BA from Bocconi College and an MBA from INSEAD. Silvia can be a member of the Bocconi College Alumni Advisory Board and Lavazza Group.
