Telcos struggle to deploy AI at scale

Only 2 percent of telecommunications operators in Asia-Pacific have deployed artificial intelligence agents at scale in their core systems, despite growing investments in the technology, according to research by TM Forum.

The findings, released ahead of Innovate Asia 2026, highlight the gap between AI adoption plans and actual implementation across the region’s telecommunications industry.

TM Forum’s Reinventing IT for the AI Era survey found that 89 percent of chief information officers (CIOs) consider AI critical to their companies’ competitive strategies.

However, 24 percent acknowledged insufficient investment, while 72 percent said AI remained experimental or limited to specific tasks.

Only 55 percent identified integrating AI into core enterprise systems as one of their top three priorities over the next 18 months.

The study also identified several barriers to wider adoption, including shortages of skilled workers, poor data quality and concerns over cost and accuracy.

Nearly half of respondents, or 49 percent, cited skills shortages as a major obstacle, followed by poor data quality at 43 percent and implementation costs at 42 percent.

Another 39 percent expressed concerns about AI-generated inaccuracies, while 38 percent said critical human decision-making processes were insufficiently documented.

“The ambition and investment are in place, but moving from automation to autonomy means tackling the hard realities of deployment,” said TM Forum Asia-Pacific Regional Director Harry Wang.

“These challenges cannot be solved in isolation,” he added.