Telecom Trends 2026: The Four Forces Shaping the Industry’s Future 

The telecom industry has gone through extensive evolution over the past decade, however 2026 will be a hugely important year for this critical industry, driven by rapid advances in artificial intelligence, sustainability imperatives, digital infrastructure transformation, and a fundamental redesign of the workforce. In this year’s iteration of the IFS trends and predictions, Markus Persson, Global Industry Director, Telecom, explores the four forces reshaping telecom, drawing on the latest research, operator case studies, and expert forecasts.  

1. AI & Automation: From Copilots to Agentic Systems 

The era of AI in telecom is evolving from simple copilots that answer questions to agentic systems that take autonomous actions. These agentic AI systems are goal-driven, equipped with memory, tools, and policies to plan, act, learn, and coordinate with humans and other agents. Unlike generative models that produce content, agentic AI observes, decides, and executes within governed boundaries, often chaining with other agents to accomplish complex tasks such as troubleshooting, fulfillment, or workforce scheduling.  

The transition to embedded intelligence is accelerating. IDC projects $337 billion in AI-supporting technology spend in 2025, rising to $749 billion by 2028, with two-thirds of enterprise AI investments embedded directly into core operations. This shift is crucial: only embedded AI can close operational loops across OSS/BSS, networks, and customer channels. 

Operators like AT&T and Telefónica are already deploying autonomous assistants that orchestrate multiple agents. These systems act on fraud alerts, coordinate customer care offers, and automate software engineering tasks. Telefónica’s Aura, for example, handles over 400 million interactions annually across 30+ channels, now augmented with generative capabilities for real-time, personalized replies. 

Key architectural choices for successful AI adoption include: 

• Persistent memory with policy controls 

• Tool catalogs for system capabilities 

• Grounding and evaluation against authoritative data 

• Closed-loop operations with human-in-the-loop oversight 

Priority use cases for 2025-2026 include assurance and energy optimization, field service augmentation, customer operations, and accelerated software development. These use cases deliver measurable financial impact and can be made safe with constrained actuators. 

Risks such as hallucination, compliance, and operational drift must be addressed through retrieval policies, output checkers, versioning, and continuous testing. Measuring success requires establishing baselines and publishing daily “agent scorecards” across network, care, field, and engineering domains.  

2. Sustainability: From Reporting to Operational Engineering 

Sustainability in telecom is shifting from mere reporting to operational engineering. For operators in Europe who have largely decarbonized Scope 1 and 2 emissions, Scope 3—emissions embedded in purchased equipment and the use-phase of sold products—now dominates. Industry bodies like GSMA, GeSI, and ITU provide harmonized guidance, giving telcos a common yardstick for measuring and managing emissions.  

Commercially, energy is a top-three operating expense. Reducing kWh per GB by double digits while maintaining user experience can save tens of millions annually for midsize networks and is essential for supporting AI workloads at the edge and in the RAN. Credible Scope 3 plans are increasingly required for enterprise sales, public procurement, and financing. 

Evidence from Vodafone UK and Ericsson shows up to 33% daily power reduction at selected 5G sites in London by combining AI/ML applications like 5G Deep Sleep and power-efficiency heatmaps. Radios enter ultra-low energy hibernation during low traffic, with savings up to 70% during off-peak hours and no user-experience degradation. 

A telco decarbonization stack includes: 

• Measurement using industry methodologies 

• Optimization via AI control planes 

• Electrification and renewables 

• Circularity through refurbish-and-reuse programs 

• Governance tying incentives to CO2e reductions 

AI’s energy paradox—where increased inference demand can raise energy consumption—is resolved by placing inference at the edge, using small models for known tasks, batching non-urgent inference, and measuring energy per action alongside business KPIs.  

3. Digital Infrastructure: Edge-Native and AI-Infused 

Digital infrastructure moves to an edge-native and AI-infused footing. GSMA Intelligence projects 5.5 billion 5G connections by 2030, with enterprise IoT connections forecast to reach 38.5 billion. The next 24 months will see three tectonic shifts: 

1. 5G Standalone to unlock slicing and low-latency control loops 

2. Open RAN at industrial scale for modularity and vendor diversity 

3. Cloud–edge convergence for latency, privacy, and cost optimization  

Operators like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Vodafone are partnering with hyperscalers to deploy private 5G and edge compute, enabling industrial use cases such as predictive maintenance and worker safety. Microsoft’s Azure for Operators and Google Cloud’s DNA platform are accelerating AI adoption by consolidating data planes and modernizing real-time processing. 

Service innovation roadmaps include differentiated connectivity, AI at the edge, autonomous operations, and developer ecosystems. Engineering priorities for 2025-2026 focus on SA upgrades, mid-band expansion, Open RAN integration, and edge platform development. 

KPIs to track include build velocity, performance percentiles, commercial revenue mix, reliability, and efficiency metrics.  

4. Workforce Evolution: Redesigning Work at Scale 

Workforce evolution in telecom is less about headcount cuts and more about redesigning work at scale. The World Economic Forum’s 2025 report highlights the transformative impact of AI and information processing, with demand rising for skills in AI, big data, networks, cybersecurity, and technological literacy.  

MIT research suggests AI will augment rather than replace most occupations, with impact arriving through task reallocation and new complements. Leaders should invest in complementarity—pairing people with systems that elevate decision quality and execution speed—and in institutions that convert productivity into broad-based opportunity. 

Operators like AT&T are enabling scale transformation through internal GenAI programs, co-authored usage guidance, and skills development for tens of thousands of employees. Workforce transformation is a co-production between HR and tech, embedded in policies, learning, and day-to-day tools. 

Change management starts with equipping managers to coach AI-augmented work, creating fusion teams, and codifying “AI Ways of Working” handbooks. Trust and safety are paramount, requiring standardized guardrails, human review for high-risk actions, transparent logs, and privacy-by-design. 

KPIs and incentives include tracking AI literacy, SOP augmentation, time-to-productivity, throughput, and pairing productivity with quality and safety signals. Leadership incentives should be tied to capability building and safe adoption milestones. 

Roadmap for 2025-2026: Baseline skills, augment critical roles, expand enablement, align with IT/Legal/Privacy, and integrate AI into career paths and continuous learning cycles.  

Conclusion 

Telecom in 2026 is defined by the convergence of agentic AI, operational sustainability, edge-native infrastructure, and a redesigned workforce. Operators that embrace these trends will unlock new efficiencies, revenue streams, and opportunities for innovation—while safeguarding trust, compliance, and sustainability. The journey is complex, but the roadmap is clear: embed intelligence, optimize energy, modernize infrastructure, and invest in people.