Artificial intelligence has been part of the telecom conversation for years. What is changing now is its role and scale.
AI is no longer limited to isolated use cases or innovation initiatives. It is increasingly influencing core infrastructure decisions, from data center strategy to network architecture and investment priorities.
Across EMEA, telcos are moving from experimentation to more structured, large-scale adoption.
AI investment in telecommunications is accelerating across EMEA
AI and generative AI spending in telecommunications is growing rapidly. In EMEA, spending is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 31.8% between 2024 and 2029.
Most telcos are already using, or planning to use, AI and machine learning to optimize network operations, improve customer experience, and explore new revenue streams.
At the same time, operators are becoming more pragmatic. There is increasing focus on aligning AI ambitions with what existing data, cloud, and operational capabilities can realistically support.
AI is reshaping telco infrastructure priorities
As AI adoption scales, it is beginning to reshape how telcos think about infrastructure.
Data center investments are being driven by workloads such as AI inferencing and large language model training. These require high-performance, low-latency environments and are pushing telcos to rethink how compute, storage, and networking are designed and deployed.
This is reflected in several shifts:
- Closer collaboration with hyperscalers and ecosystem partners
- Expansion of colocation and edge deployments
- Greater focus on GPU-intensive infrastructure
Infrastructure is becoming more closely aligned with the need to support real-time, distributed AI workloads.
How short-term ROI is shaping AI adoption in telecom
While investment is increasing, telcos are prioritizing use cases that can deliver measurable value in the near term.
Employee productivity, customer experience, automation, and operational efficiency are key focus areas. These areas offer clearer paths to return on investment compared to more experimental AI initiatives.
This creates a balance between near-term impact and longer-term transformation goals, such as autonomous networks and more adaptive service models.
Data and cloud foundations remain a key challenge for AI
Despite strong momentum, many telcos are still working to align their underlying capabilities with AI ambitions. Strong security and data privacy protections are fundamental to ongoing telecom investment in AI capabilities. If a capability or vendor partner is not trusted it won’t be implemented in production.
Challenges around data quality, data management, and cloud readiness can also practically limit the speed and scale of AI adoption. As a result, AI strategy is closely linked to broader transformation efforts, including modernization of data platforms and investment in hybrid infrastructure. AI capabilities often act as multipliers of existing capabilities. The better the foundation the greater the impact and ability to scale.
What this means for telecom operators
AI is becoming a cross-functional priority that connects network, IT, and business strategy.
Infrastructure planning, partner selection, and operating models increasingly need to reflect AI requirements. At the same time, telcos are working more closely with partners to access capabilities, accelerate adoption, and manage complexity.
As AI becomes more embedded, it is also influencing how services are designed and delivered, and how operators position themselves in the market.
Download the full analysis
AI is one of the defining trends shaping the telecom market. In the IDC eBook State of the Telco Market 2026, you’ll find detailed data, forecasts, and analysis on how AI investment, infrastructure, and operating models are evolving.
Download the eBook to explore the data behind these developments and better understand how the telco landscape is changing.
If you’re currently evaluating how AI will impact your infrastructure, operations, or partner strategy, our experts are happy to exchange perspectives. Whether you’re at an early stage or already scaling initiatives, we welcome the conversation. Get in touch with our team to continue the discussion.