As telecom service providers navigate the challenges of modern customer demands and operational complexities, artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a prominent solution. By enhancing operators' ability to monitor network performance, proactively resolve issues, and optimize network resources, AI is revolutionizing telecom operations globally. These advancements are improving network efficiency, helping to reduce costs and deliver superior customer experiences. In this blog, we will dive into real examples of the top five AI use cases shaping the telecom industry and paving new paths for innovation.
1. Network Observability
Observability stands out as a critical area for AI applications in telecom. Many service providers are dealing with operational processes that rely heavily on manual intervention, such as monitoring performance metrics and identifying any inefficiencies/problems. By incorporating AI and automation, these time-intensive processes can be streamlined and made significantly more efficient.
In an industry survey by Incognito and Omdia, a European operator highlighted how implementing AI has enhanced their network observability. The operator reported a significant reduction in manual workload, enabling them to proactively identify and resolve network issues. Notably, they emphasized that observability offers the greatest potential for an AI use case, as it is the area where they currently have the most personnel and manual processes dedicated.
AI is especially valuable in enhancing observability in complex, multi-domain environments. It excels in consolidating, correlating, and summarizing data from multiple sources, providing actionable insights and enabling operators to make faster, more informed decisions. This makes AI a key piece to improving network efficiency and performance while reducing operational burdens.
2. Root Cause Analysis
AI is revolutionizing how service providers understand, diagnose, and resolve network issues, streamlining traditionally time-intensive and resource-heavy processes. By correlating real-time data with network conditions, AI enables providers to gain deeper insights into the root causes of problems and their impact on customers.
For instance, one Asian service provider interviewed in the industry report shared how they are exploring using AI for root cause analysis (RCA) to tackle the high volume of customer complaints related to home Wi-Fi performance. By using AI to pinpoint underlying issues, they can significantly reduce troubleshooting and resolution times, resulting in fewer customer complaints, shorter call handling times, and improved overall operational efficiency.
AI's potential extends beyond customer-facing issues to resolving problems deeper in the network. Service providers are moving toward systems where network equipment doesn't just send alarms to higher-layer systems but autonomously resolves issues—such as resetting or reconfiguring itself. This approach relies on automation performed in small, localized loops as close to the source of the problem as possible, enabling faster, more effective resolution and reducing the dependency on manual intervention.
3. Predictive Maintenance
Predictive maintenance is another standout AI use case, enabling operators to predict and prevent issues before they affect customers with minimal manual intervention. In the industry survey conducted with Omdia, one operator shared they have already implemented an AI use case that identifies weather patterns and cooling issues to anticipate any network issues/outages and make hardware replacements proactively. While this is a small change, this approach minimized downtimes and resulted in a 30% increase in customer satisfaction.
4. Fraud Detection and Network Security
Service providers are increasingly adopting AI to tackle critical challenges such as fraud detection and network security. Survey results reveal that 25% of global service providers are already leveraging or are planning to implement AI for these purposes. By utilizing AI solutions, operators can strengthen network security through continuous threat monitoring, automated response mechanisms, and proactive vulnerability mitigation, significantly reducing the risk of cyberattacks. This not only helps ensure the trust and safety of their customers but also promotes more stable and resilient operations.
5. Network Provisioning
AI is revolutionizing network provisioning by automating and optimizing the management of configuration, allocation, and scaling of network resources. By leveraging real-time data analysis and automated processes, AI enables operators to dynamically adjust network parameters, predict resource demands, and preemptively resolve bottlenecks. As a result, service delivery can be accelerated, network reliability is improved, and customers can enjoy a seamless connectivity experience. By minimizing manual intervention and reducing errors, AI-driven provisioning enhances operational efficiency, supports rapid deployment of new services, and empowers service providers to meet the growing demands of advanced technologies such as 5G, IoT, and smart home ecosystems.
Facilitating AI Use Cases with Incognito
At Incognito, we empower service providers to adopt and implement AI use cases effectively by leveraging our solutions to obtain high-quality, centrally managed data. Our solutions ensure timely and accurate network insights, enabling operators to make informed decisions and integrate powerful AI use cases that can remove manual intervention. Incognito's solutions can help you leverage this data to enable policy-driven changes, event-based triggers, alerts, and other business processes. By doing so, service providers can advance through different stages of AI-powered network automation, unlocking greater efficiencies, reducing costs, and enhancing the overall customer experience.
These AI use cases are more than just technological advancements– they're the key to achieving broader network capabilities. Whether through faster troubleshooting, reduced manual intervention, improved subscriber experiences, or a safer network, AI is helping service providers enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and deliver the best possible customer experience.
To explore these AI use cases further and gain actionable strategies for implementing AI into your network operations, download the full report by Incognito and Omdia. Learn how we can transform your fixed broadband processes with the power of AI!
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