• TelecomTV surveyed the telco community to ask about their AI strategies and opinions
• We asked whether telco-specific large language models (LLMs) would be beneficial
• The response was a resounding ‘yes’

The development of large language models (LLM) tailored to the specific needs of communications service providers would be a positive move for the telco sector, according to the results of a recent survey conducted with the network operator community by TelecomTV. The results have been published in a new, free-to-download DSP Leaders report, AI-Native Telco Strategies.

We surveyed the telco sector during November to ask a range of questions related to the use, and potential, of AI. The questions were devised solely by the TelecomTV editorial team and all responses were provided with the understanding that the results would be anonymised. We received responses from 64 individuals representing more than 45 telcos from almost all regions of the world (we did not get any responses from Latin America). The companies included multinational operators and single market operators, both mobile and fixed, while the job titles of our respondents ranged from CEO, CTO and CTIO to network operations manager, head of radio access, core network lead, head of sales and more: A handful of respondents had AI and/or automation in their job titles. 

One of the many questions we asked was: Would telcos benefit from the development of large language models (LLMs) tailored to their specific generative (GenAI) needs?

We asked this because the debate about whether telecom operators need their own tailored large language models (LLMs) is heating up. 

As you can see from the graphic above, the answer from our telco respondents was a resounding ‘Yes’, with 72% of our respondents believing that telcos would benefit from such developments and just 17% believing the work being done by the AI specialist companies will meet the needs of telcos. As telco AI strategies mature, and as the AI sector itself progresses, we’ll find out whether such LLMs make it to market and, if so, whether they deliver specific gains for the telco community.

This is a topic that looks set to fuel further debate throughout 2025, especially as some major operators – specifically the members of the Global Telco AI Alliance – are dedicating resources to the development of such LLMs. The topic was discussed by Orange’s chief technology and information officer (CTIO), Bruno Zerbib, and the telco’s group CTO and senior VP of Orange Innovation Networks, Laurent Leboucher, during a recent media briefing in London. Orange has a watching brief on the work of the Global Telco AI Alliance but isn’t currently convinced that telco-specific LLMs will be needed. 

The topic of telco-specific LLMs, and small language models (SLMs), also cropped up at the recent Great Telco Debate in London during the session entitled The practical applications for telco AI, which featured speakers from BT Business, Colt Technology Services, Vodafone, Dell Technologies, Nokia, Rakuten Symphony and Wind River.

The DSP Leaders report, AI-Native Telco Strategies is available to download for free now, along with all of our other DSP Leaders reports.  

And you can stay up to date with all of our AI coverage in our dedicated channel, Telcos & AI.

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV