• TelecomTV has just published the AI-Native Telco Index report that profiles the progress of 56 telcos
• Twenty are focusing their AI-native strategies on revenue generation, while another 28 are balancing their approach around revenue generation and efficiencies
• Only six are primarily focused on efficiencies
• Telcos in Asia and the Middle East are leading the way on revenue-generating AI projects

The majority of telecom operators are no longer focusing their AI strategies on efficiency gains but are instead now prioritising the development of potential new revenue streams. This is one of the key findings of the first edition of the AI-Native Telco Index report, which has just been published by TelecomTV as part of its rapidly expanding AI-Native Telco Accelerator (ANTA) initiative.

The Index is a 276-page report that provides a data-led evaluation of the AI-native progress being made by 56 telcos and which is based on six months of published information (from January to June 2026), including news announcements, whitepapers, blogs, investor relations materials and more. You can find out more about the Index, including the identity of the 56 operators featured in the report, in the following article: New report identifies the AI-native telco frontrunners.

The prevailing view in the industry is that telco spending on AI was mainly focused on how to save money, and while GSMA Intelligence noted recently that telco AI initiatives have shown an increasing focus on monetisation, it was still only a minority, with 35% of initiatives including a revenue objective. Meanwhile, a number of consulting firms, such as McKinsey, have pointed to margin growth as the main benefit of implementing AI.

However, the Index report data challenges this view, finding that only six operators primarily focused on efficiency in their public statements on AI. This compares with 28 who took a balanced view when talking about both efficiencies and monetisation, and 20 who primarily focused on revenue-generating efforts. (Though it should be noted that across all 56 operators, cost savings are still the most clearly measured AI-related financial impact.)

Of those 20 with their eyes firmly on AI-related sales, 11 are Tier 2 operators (national operators or dominant regional telcos with annual revenues of $2bn-$10bn). In terms of geographic regions, 11 of the 20 are based in Asia, while four are based in the Middle East. This highlights that the shift towards AI-enabled revenue generation is not being led by telcos in Europe or North America, even though these regions are often perceived to be the leaders in such developments and influence such shifts in focus, according to the report.

Encouragingly, operators have also begun sharing revenue numbers that they link to AI-powered solutions. For example, Bell Canada reported around C$700m (US$507m) of AI-powered revenues in 2025, up 60% on the previous year. The Canadian operator said it is aiming to generate around C$2bn in annual AI-powered sales by 2028.

SK Telecom reported that its AI datacentre (AIDC) business was the fastest-growing segment among its business areas in the second quarter of this year, when its AIDC revenues grew by 92.5% year on year to 136.2bn won ($90m), and AI B2B/B2C services generated revenues of 61.3bn won ($40m), up by 24.5%. 

Meanwhile, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison has actually begun reporting its sovereign AI cloud income separately, recognising $28m in 2025, with guidance for this to grow to $60m in 2026. The Indonesian operator recently partnered with Nvidia to launch an AI research hub in the country, and teamed with the chip giant and Nokia to launch an AI infrastructure joint venture called Zankore, which has just raised $3.1bn in debt financing to fund its deployments.

The number of telcos reporting AI revenues is still small, but growing. This topic was explored in some depth during the panel discussion titled ‘Closing the AI attribution gap between deployment and financial outcomes’ at the AI-Native Telco Forum (8-9 September), with speakers from Deutsche Telekom, Everpure and TM Forum. Watch out for the on-demand video of this session on TelecomTV over the next few days.  

For those six operators still focusing on efficiency, the Index found this to be a conscious choice rather than them falling behind. Dutch telco KPN, for example, is aiming to save around €100m a year in operating costs by 2030 thanks to efficiencies brought about by AI. Belgium’s Proximus is leveraging AI as part of its €180m efficiency programme, while Spark New Zealand is tracking the value of each AI project and crediting its churn model with reducing customer loss by up to 30%.

BT Group, Comcast and Rogers Communications make up the rest of the six efficiency-focused operators in the Index.

- James Pearce, Editor, TelecomTV