Today’s telcos have built their empires on the stability of towers and transmission, with hardware at the heart of their operations. In contrast, tomorrow’s leaders in the sector will rely on the fluidity of code and choices. Think of it as software-driven decision-making.
As Agentic AI integrates into the workforce to augment both digital and human labor, telcos will gain new opportunities to optimize existing operations and discover additional sources of revenue. Intelligent software will help uncover unmet consumer and enterprise needs, develop novel products, and address a technology talent shortage.
Intelligent choice architectures (ICAs) are emerging as the strategic backbone of this shift. These human-centric AI systems combine behavioral economics, experiential intelligence, and real-time personalization to guide decision-making. They are redefining how telcos create customer experiences, streamline legacy processes, and build trust.
By blending human intelligence with agentic, predictive, and generative AI, ICAs empower telcos to move beyond mere automation and transform into organizations that learn, evolve, and respond with precision and empathy.
This transformation is not limited to internal operations. It extends to how telcos leverage their networks, data, and user interactions to build intelligent, adaptive ecosystems.
As telcos evolve into software-driven enterprises, they must harness the power of network effects, where the value of a product or service increases as more users, devices, and services connect to it. In telecom, this translates into richer data insights, better personalization, and scalable innovation.
The world’s largest telecom companies have historically excelled at building capital-intensive, large-scale, fixed assets. Management has typically adopted a decades-long perspective on investment returns. To succeed in the future, however, they need to blend traditional long-term focus with the ability to build software-enabled services that can adapt on a week-by-week basis to meet customer demand. Achieving this balance is the core goal of digital transformation in this sector.
A technology skills shortage amplifies the strategic challenge. Telcos need to bridge that gap with investments in both talent and technology.
Key Strategies for Integration
To implement this transformation, major telecom companies are integrating emerging technologies, including:
BT, the UK’s flagship carrier, is well into the journey of integrating ICAs into its operations. In addition to streamlining operations, the company aims to reduce churn, increase retention and improve customer lifetime value.
In 2023, the company launched an AI assistant built on a natural language programming (NLP) foundation. Aimee handles around 60,000 customer conversations each week, with about half resolved without human intervention. The remaining interactions are managed collaboratively with human decision-makers. What began as an automation tactic has evolved into a comprehensive augmentation strategy.
A report from TCS, produced in collaboration with MIT Sloan Management Review, highlights that Aimee’s success required the reallocation of decision rights. Aimee’s direct interactions with customers boost retention and revenues when it’s given decision rights over what recommendations to make and how to provide customer service.
The markets are rewarding this ‘cost down, satisfaction up’ approach. BT’s overall focus on digital transformation and customer experience has resulted in doubling of its share price over the past 18 months.
Telcos such as BT are increasingly leveraging newly available technology to orchestrate intelligence across the value chain and shield themselves from the talent shortages plaguing all technology businesses.
While optimization offers short-term benefits, cost savings inherently yield diminishing returns over time. Looking ahead, telcos recognize the need to develop new value creators by reaping the rewards of their intimate relationships with customers whether consumer or enterprise.
By investing in systems that give them a decision-making advantage and viewing this investment as a core strategic capability, rather than merely developing products, they can find new avenues for growth, resilience, and deeper customer connections.
Intelligent choice architectures are not just tools; they serve as the blueprint for a future where human judgment and machine intelligence converge. And critically, by embedding ICAs across their operations, telcos amplify network effects where each new user, device, or service enriches the ecosystem. This compounding value creation is what positions ICAs not just as operational tools, but as strategic enablers of scalable, adaptive growth.