AI is powering telecom, not just satellites

While satellite connectivity makes headlines, agentic AI is quietly transforming telecom into intelligent, self-healing networks

Billionaire technology tycoon Elon Musk is emphatically positioning satellite communications as the answer to connectivity challenges in India and other large markets. The communications industry thinks otherwise, arguing that the choice is not satellite, broadband or mobile connectivity, since each is important. The industry’s true hero is artificial intelligence (AI) in its various emerging versions. Agentic AI is enhancing connections in the era of constant communication. 

 

Despite Musk’s pitch for Starlink in India, the government is unlikely to surrender communications sovereignty. Satellite is among the many options for communications and not the only solution for connecting India. The game-changer is using AI in telecom for affordable and accessible connectivity.

 

Telecom operators are using smart technologies to enhance affordable services. Agentic AI analyses infrastructure data to predict equipment failure and reduce downtime and maintenance costs. Real-time monitoring of network activity allows AI agents to detect and prevent fraudulent activities, protecting both the company and customers. 

 

AI agents are also being used to independently monitor networks, analyse real-time conditions, make decisions and execute corrective actions with minimal human intervention. This is accelerating the development of self-optimising and self-healing networks that can predict congestion, reroute traffic, allocate resources dynamically, identify faults and improve service while reducing costs. Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson, Indian information technology (IT) giant Infosys and other companies view agentic AI as critical for autonomous network operations.

 

Agentic AI enables telecom companies to fuse different functions into a single operation. Companies combine connectivity, authentication, cybersecurity and AI-powered automation into integrated solutions for institutional customers. Cisco’s AgenticOps uses AI agents to monitor networks, detect anomalies, correlate telemetry data across infrastructure, diagnose root causes, and in some cases automatically remediate issues. AgenticOps can help IT teams in troubleshooting, configuration management, software updates, branch deployments and network optimisation.

 

“Agentic AI traffic is a fraction of overall mobile broadband volume today, but it is growing at a rate that makes its future network impact unpredictable. The shift from centralised AI models to distributed autonomous agents will place fundamentally different demands on uplink capacity and latency,” says Erik Ekudden, chief technology officer of Ericsson. 

 

Telecom is shifting from pure connectivity expansion to AI-native, software-defined and satellite-extended intelligent infrastructure. A report by StartUs Insights says that various versions of AI are being adopted by telecom operators. “With 2.25 billion 5G connections, 90 per cent AI adoption among operators, and internet-of-things links heading toward 6.2 billion by 2030, networks are evolving from connectivity pipes into intelligent digital infrastructure,” the report says. Network complexity and operational demands are driving the adoption of AI in telecom automation. Operators face growing pressure to manage dynamic networks while lowering costs. AI-powered automation reduces operational expenses by 30 per cent and improves network efficiency by 25 per cent, the report says. 

 

While deployments remain at varying stages of maturity, Indian telcos such as Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, BSNL and Vodafone Idea are using AI-driven systems that can autonomously analyse data, make decisions and execute actions across network operations, customer service and enterprise solutions. Bharti Airtel is using AI for customer experience and enterprise communications. Jio uses AI and machine learning to automate network planning and troubleshooting. BSNL is developing proprietary telecom-focused small language models that can automatically highlight areas with performance degradation.

 

India’s use of AI for communications can help it develop better capacity and capability even as domestic companies set up sovereign satellite connectivity.

 

The writer is an economic analyst and author