Empowering Telcos with AI : Where to Begin ?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the buzzword nowadays. Everyone talks about it, companies want to implement AI and everything needs to be ‘AI-ed’. Unfortunately, not many companies know how to get started with AI. Coupled with the lack of expertise and data integration issues, the AI-world can be intimidating.

Occasionally, I get this question when running Yoodo on how I would get started with AI and I would say, think of having a smart assistant or a copilot first before going into the more sophisticated stuff. Starting with a copilot will reveal how AI can enhance business operations, allowing teams to quickly learn and adapt

?So, how should a Telco get started with AI ?

Admittedly, I don’t have the answer but here are my thoughts of what can be done (with some suggestions from AI too !). I believe that a Telco can get started by leveraging AI in 3 key areas: customer experience, revenue generation and operational efficiency.

1. Enhancing Customer Experience with AI

One of the most accessible starting points for telcos is improving customer experience, particularly through AI-powered customer service. AI-driven chatbots, which can engage in more natural, human-like conversations, can reduce operational strain and provide a 24/7 support channel without increasing headcount. It can also provide consistent responses. Moreover, AI can enable "next best action" systems during interactions with customers. These systems can recommend helpful actions such as suggesting plan upgrades or offering proactive discounts, improving customer satisfaction and retention.

A telco that has been at the forefront of this is SK Telecom. SK Telecom introduced "NUGU", an AI-powered assistant for customer service. NUGU can handle customer queries in a conversational manner, allowing more efficient service. The AI also enables personalized support based on the customer's interaction history.

2.?????? Driving Revenue through Personalization and Upselling

AI is a powerful tool for driving revenue by enabling personalized customer interactions. By analyzing customer behavior, preferences, and usage patterns, AI can suggest products or services tailored to individual needs, significantly enhancing upselling and cross-selling efforts. For instance, AI can recommend international data packages for frequent travelers or suggest video streaming add-ons for entertainment-heavy users. While personalization may seem like a simple idea, the true power of AI lies in its ability to do this at a massive scale, reaching millions of customers with tailored recommendations..

AI can also help in the development of new revenue streams. For example, AI can help automate content recommendations for telcos offering digital content services, leading to higher customer engagement.

3.?????? Optimizing Telco Network Operations

AI isn’t just beneficial for customer-facing operations—it can also transform how telcos manage their network. AI can analyze vast amounts of network data to predict potential failures and optimize resource allocation. This ensures that the network operates efficiently while reducing costs. AI-powered predictive maintenance can also prevent outages by flagging equipment issues before they escalate.

Additionally, AI can process unstructured data, such as customer feedback or social media posts, to gauge network performance from the customer’s perspective. This sentiment analysis can help telcos prioritize network upgrades and fine-tune operations based on customer feedback.

Telefonica leverages AI via their UNICA platform to optimize its network resources, dynamically adjusting bandwidth and coverage to match user demand in real time. The platform is designed to virtualize the core and edge of Telefonica’s network. This allows the company to move away from a traditional hardware-based network to a software based system, making the network more agile and cost effective. This leads to both cost savings and improved user experience.

Conclusion

AI offers telcos numerous opportunities to improve customer experience, increase revenue, and optimize operations. By focusing on established use cases such as AI-powered customer service, personalized marketing, and network optimization, telcos can begin leveraging AI effectively. Starting with these high-impact areas allows for gradual scaling of AI capabilities, unlocking even more innovative applications as the technology evolves.