From Gen AI to Agentic AI: The telecom sector’s tipping point

The global telecom industry is at a pivotal moment, with artificial intelligence (AI) leading its recent transformation. AI is revolutionising telecom and allied sectors, enabling intelligent networks, personalised services and data-driven decision-making. From automating operations to enhancing customer experiences, it is reshaping how telecom businesses create value and how people connect.

In 2025, the worldwide telecom industry rewrote the business script with AI technologies. According to a recent global pulse survey lead by KPMG in the US, 91 per cent of leaders say AI will help their organisation run a better business in the next two years.¹ This year, it was also observed that following the success of GenAI, agentic AI is rapidly moving from concept to action. According to the report, 65 per cent of companies have piloted agents, up from 37 per cent in the last quarter. While only 11 per cent of these organisations have agents in production today, 99 per cent plan to put them into production at the earliest.

These numbers highlight a key trend. Even as automation and GenAI have improved efficiency and customer experience, agentic AI is the new frontier that stands to redefine what’s possible in the telecom sector. Consequently, in 2026, we will see how companies that efficiently manage the progressive integration of agentic AI from experimentation to building institutionalised trust, stand to gain an early-mover advantage over competitors.

The power of agentic AI

Unlike traditional AI that advises, agentic AI can observe, decide, and act autonomously, within defined guardrails. This means networks that heal themselves, customer issues resolved before they’re reported and services that adapt in real time. It’s a shift from AI as a helper to AI as a doer and it’s already underway.

Agentic AI is embedding itself across the full telecom value chain, delivering measurable impact from the customer frontlines to the boardroom. According to KPMG’s AI Quarterly Pulse Survey, 46 per cent of enterprise leaders are equally focused on efficiency and revenue growth when it comes to their AI agent strategies - highlighting the dual value proposition of agentic AI. With regards to enhancing customer engagement and growth, agentic AI has managed to redefine how telcos interact with subscribers, through hyper-personalised recommendations, churn prevention and always-on autonomous service agents.

GenAI to agentic AI – India’s advantage India’s telecom sector is uniquely positioned for large-scale AI adoption. With over 1.2 billion telecom subscribers and 944 million broadband users (4G/5G) India is the world’s second-largest telecom market². This leaves room for any AI solution to be rolled out at a massive scale. To enable this, the country has the infrastructure of over 770,000 mobile towers and extensive fibre backbone under programmes like BharatNet. The massive scale will also yield rich data, which is fuel for AI. The combination of high volume, high variety and verified data is a compelling advantage for developing effective telecom AI agents.

The draft National Telecom Policy 2025, which emphasises on AI readiness, open APIs and advanced network R&D can help to further help harness the potential of India’s data-rich digital footprint. Initiatives such as deploying AI-driven analytics to monitor service quality and detect network misuse, reflect a policy momentum where strategic ambition is coupled with early practical adoption.

Furthermore, India hosts over 400 AI startups, including a surge in generative AI ventures, and now ranks as the world’s second-largest GenAI startup hub with 890+ companies as of mid-2025 (NASSCOM GenAI Landscape Report). Government initiatives like the IndiaAI Mission and PLI 2.0 for telecom equipment further bolster innovation. This thriving ecosystem aligns perfectly with the telecom sector’s need for AI-driven transformation.

Unlocking opportunity with agentic AI

Agentic AI is not just another tech upgrade but a strategic shift in how telecoms operate, compete, and serve. Its ability to autonomously observe, decide, and act has become an operational imperative. Practical applications include predictive maintenance, fraud detection, and hyper-personalised customer engagement. According to KPMG’s report titled – “From automation to autonomy” released at India Mobile Congress 2025, 97 per cent of telcos are adopting or assessing AI, with 49 per cent embedding it into daily operations. Investment priorities include AI-ready infrastructure and workforce upskilling, supported by policy frameworks under NTP 2025³.

Agentic AI is not just another tech upgrade, but a strategic shift in how telecoms operate, compete and serve. This year, its ability to autonomously observe, decide and act, has become an operational imperative. At the same time, it has showcased the potential to deliver smarter networks, personalised services and new business models while advancing national goals of digital inclusion and economic growth.

Next year, India’s telecom sector is slated to enter a new era, wherein advanced networks, open digital infrastructure and AI have initiated a paradigm shift. The sector’s digital transformation has reached a tipping point, with agentic AI arriving just as these pieces fall into place, ready to serve as the intelligent glue binding them together.

With hundreds and thousands of AI professionals, a thriving startup ecosystem, and over a billion telecom subscribers, India is ready to meticulously embrace this next Agentic AI wave.

A version of this article appeared in The Economic Times Online on December 15 2025. The same can be read here