Network automation has become the top use case for artificial intelligence (AI) among telecommunications companies, according to a new report from NVIDIA. The report also found that integration of generative AI and agentic AI will drive return on investment industry-wide.
These AI tools drive profitability because they reduce outages, save energy, and obviate the need for manual intervention said Chetan Sharma, CEO of Chetan Sharma Consulting, who contributed to the report.
The focus on AI-native networks and autonomous operations has overtaken customer service optimization as the leading use case for investment, according to findings from the firm’s fourth annual State of AI in Telecommunications survey.
The report also showed that AI has become profitable for 90% of telco operators. That’s a substantial increase compared to 2025, when only half of telcos told NVIDIA they had deployed AI. At the time, 44% said customer experience optimization was their top area of AI investment.
A year later, telco operators identified three top use cases for AI investment. Half of respondents pointed to network automation as a top use case, while 41% identified customer service and 33% cited internal optimizations.
The survey also identified a surge in edge computing investment. The report showed that telecommunications companies are building AI-native RAN (radio access network) and 6G in preparation for the 6G deployment cycle, and 77% of respondents predict the deployment will be much faster than it was for previous deployment cycles.
Companies plan to focus AI spending on the following:
- Enhancing spectral efficiency
- Improving the performance of RAN-supporting edge AI applications
- Accelerating the research and development of 6G
Beyond network automation and infrastructure buildout, AI is boosting productivity in day-to-day internal operations, according to the report. More than a quarter of the survey’s respondents said AI helped them make either “major” or “significant” improvements in their ability to complete more tasks with higher quality in less time.
