Telecom operators are moving into a more disciplined phase of artificial intelligence adoption, shifting from experimentation to execution. New research and industry insights show that successful carriers are prioritizing clean data, modern infrastructure and narrowly defined use cases before scaling AI across their networks. Rather than chasing emerging technologies, operators are investing in software orchestration, edge computing and backbone upgrades that improve accuracy, reduce uncertainty and strengthen customer trust.
Industry leaders say true transformation extends beyond technology to culture, operations and economics. Carriers are expanding their responsibility for end-to-end customer experience, from network deployment to in-home connectivity, while using automation and analytics to lower operating costs. These efficiencies are creating room for innovation and new revenue opportunities without increasing customer rates. As demand grows for low-latency and AI-enabled services, operators are positioning themselves as trusted partners in the digital economy. The Carrier 2.0 playbook is becoming clear: build strong data foundations, prove value with targeted initiatives, scale what works and turn AI into measurable business outcomes.
Ryan Asdourian:
You can have the best tech in the world, but if your culture isn't ready, none of it matters.
Steve Saunders:
That's not a hyperscaler talking. That's a carrier executive describing what it really takes to survive the AI era.
Welcome to Carrier 2.0. In this episode, we're looking at carrier strategies for Carrier 2.0 transformation, how operators are moving from AI hype to execution, customer experience, and real revenue. Now, Carrier 2.0 isn't about chasing the next technology headline. It's about rebuilding how carriers operate culturally, operationally, and economically to support AI-driven workloads.
Now, to understand what's actually happening on the ground, Fierce Network Research surveyed 500 technology decision-makers at carriers across 40 countries, and then paired that information with more than 11 hours of in-depth interviews with service providers, cloud providers, and also experts at Cisco. What emerges is pragmatic and disciplined, not speculative.
As you can see, operators are investing first in fundamentals, software orchestration, on-prem AI hosting, GPUs, edge data centers, and backbone upgrades. In other words, Carrier 2.0 starts with modernizing the plumbing.
One carrier that illustrates this transition is Brightspeed. Brightspeed built one of the fastest-growing fiber networks in the US. What's interesting now is how it's using AI, not as a science experiment, but as a deployment engine.
Michel Combes:
So when you want to shift to AI, the first piece that we had to do was really to build a clean, clear that we can leverage database. So, that has been the first part of the journey. It's very important to prioritize what you do with AI, because of course, if you look at AI, you say, "Oh, it can do everything." But at the end of the day, you cannot afford to do everything. So you just need to select a few areas or a few use case, where you believe that it could be useful.
We have developed an AI assisting tool for buried services, meaning to be able to, A, predict in a more accurate manner whether there's a job that we will have to build will be buried or aerial, because when you can predict that very accurately, it's easier to give immediately to the customer a precise date when you will be able to do the job.
Once we know that it's buried, so to design it from, let's say, the machine, which means that when we send a technician in field, he is much more prepared to do the work. And once again, that means that the experience for our customer would be much better.
Steve Saunders:
Well, that's Carrier 2.0 in practice. AI isn't being used to replace people, or just chase novelty. It's being used to reduce uncertainty, to improve accuracy, and to make execution predictable. Which, in telecom, directly translates into customer trust. Clean data first, narrow use cases, measurable outcomes.
But Carrier 2.0 doesn't stop at building networks better. It forces a much harder rethink. Where does the carrier's responsibility begin and where does it really end?
Michel Combes:
At the beginning, Brightspeed was more really focused on the build, meaning the drop to the CPs at home, and was naturally looking at the coverage that we were providing inside the home. For the customer, it doesn't matter. They just care about the real experience that they get in every single room in the home.
Our duty is not only to bring fiber connectivity, that this fiber connectivity does work, but we need also to make sure that then we provide the right coverage in a home. We have what we call a health certificate that the technician has to go through. Wifi was not part of it, but now wifi is part of it as well, meaning that I want to be absolutely confident that when our technician is leaving the customer home, it does work.
Our service doesn't stop at the door. Our service goes to any single room where our customers want to use and to be connected to broadband.
Steve Saunders:
Owning the customer experience end-to-end isn't just about satisfaction. It's also about economics. Carrier 2.0 operators are using AI and automation to fundamentally change their cost structures. Here's how John Keib, who runs GFiber, frames it.
John Keib:
Our goal is to always bring down the cost to serve the customer so that we don't have to do a rate increase. We look at the whole network end-to-end, make sure we have the capacity. We're trying to take the cost out of the business at the same time, but give our customers what they need and deliver.
Steve Saunders:
Lowering the cost of these services isn't about cutting corners. It's about buying room. Room to innovate, room to add new services, and room to think seriously about new revenue streams, without passing volatility back to the customers.
Well, let's take a quick break now from talking about Carrier 2.0 for our Truth to Power section. This week, I'm looking at digital industrialization.
The world is transitioning into a new industrial era, powered by digital technology. But which industries are embracing the future today, and which are trailing in the race to tomorrow? Well, FNTV's latest ranking, the FNTV 2025 Digital Industry Index, separates the first movers from the barely moving, based on exhaustive quantitative analysis of market and geographic data, as well as qualitative analysis from me, Steve Saunders.
Well, at the number one spot of the index, yet at the bottom of the ethical spectrum, are the companies like Palantir, who are conniving with governments around the world to establish an Orwellian global surveillance society.
In the number two position is manufacturing, which exemplifies industry 4.0 with the widespread use of robotics, automation, AI-driven quality control, and dense private 5G deployments.
Then it's back to the domain of moral turpitude. The defense industry, which secures third place in the index, by dint of its enthusiastic repurposing of previously benevolent civilian technologies such as 5G, to make their death-dealing machines yet more lethal and more profitable.
At the opposite end of the index are the Luddites of the digital industrial revolution, education, construction, and agriculture, which lag behind all others, mainly due to a combination of regulatory and cultural factors.
Now you can read the complete index on Fierce Network, but it reveals a clear stratification of digital industrial maturity around the world. Check it out. And if you happen to work for a company in one of the tail-end industries, it might be time to consider getting with this whole digital industrialization thing. Just a thought.
Back to the Carrier 2.0 transformation. Carriers are at an inflection point. That's how Santiago "Yago" Tenorio, CTO of Verizon, defines this moment that the industry is in.
Yago Tenorio:
Our ability to monetize AI for customers, not our own use of AI, but how they use AI, to monetize that through new revenue streams that will... I think it's an inflection point. When latency becomes more and more important, I think we will find an answer to that, and it'll give a carrier a clear role. If the telco industry finds its place, we'll be in a completely different place in 10 years from now.
Steve Saunders:
The data from the Fierce Network Research backs this up. Operators aren't betting on a single AI play. They're investing across partnerships, new revenue streams, security, customer experience, workforce, skills, and sovereign AI. Carrier 2.0 isn't about choosing one path. It's about bringing all of those assets to bear; networks, data, edge real estate, partnerships, and above all, trust.
Across the industry, the Carrier 2.0 playbook is coming into focus. Fix data foundations before chasing AI magic. Start small, prove value, then scale. Use AI to improve execution first. Own the customer experience end-to-end. And turn AI into customer-facing revenue, not just internal efficiency.
You can have the best tech in the world, but if your culture, execution, and customer focus aren't ready, none of that is going to matter. That is the transformation underway in telecom. And as its name suggests, that's what this podcast, Carrier 2.0, is all about.