48% of telecom operators are scaling agentic AI, TCS study finds

April 10, 2026 2 min read

Network operations and customer experience lead AI deployment, as operators also explore autonomous capabilities and broader enterprise integration.

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Is artificial intelligence about to completely redefine the way telecommunications operate worldwide?

A sector critical to the global digital economy is already entering a phase in which autonomous agents are beginning to take center stage.

In network operations centers where every second determines the quality of a call or a connection, artificial intelligence is no longer seen as a future promise, but as a force that is quietly beginning to transform the day-to-day operation of networks.

Tata Consultancy Services’ latest global study on telecommunications and AI, presented at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona—the world’s largest connectivity event—reveals a turning point for the industry: 48% of telecom operators are already scaling AI deployments beyond pilot stages, moving toward enterprise-wide integration.

Enterprise AI adoption.

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The main areas where artificial intelligence is currently being adopted in telecom companies are network operations (81%) and customer experience (76%), which have become the two most relevant use cases globally.

The report highlights the rise of agentic AI, an evolution that marks the shift from assistive and generative models toward autonomous agents capable of executing tasks with minimal human intervention.

Although still at an early stage of maturity, experimentation is advancing rapidly: 94% of operators are already piloting or exploring use cases for agentic AI.

Expansion of autonomous agents.

In this context, 50% of telecom operators are already running pilot programs for agentic AI in network operations, while 73% are exploring its broader capabilities. According to the study, this transition could translate into significant improvements in autonomous connectivity, driven by greater system independence.

Customer experience remains one of the areas with the highest AI penetration globally. Generative AI (GenAI) and early agentic capabilities are enabling greater personalization, faster responses, and improved service efficiency.

On average, 76% of operators have implemented customer service automation powered by agentic AI.

Experience transformation.

At the same time, 73% of telecom operators are applying AI to the modernization of their information technology (IT) systems, with the goal of achieving greater scalability, technological resilience, and improved data readiness.

As AI expands across the sector, telecom operators face a key challenge: balancing innovation, risk, and control. This is reflected in the emergence of hybrid AI architectures, outcome-based business models, and growing interest in sovereign and controlled deployment approaches, the report notes.