Hardware FixRecommendedDevice not working? Your driver may be the problemCheck updates for common hardware issues.Fix DriversOctober DealsAmazon USOctober deal check: compare before you payAmazon US: current deals, useful picks and tech finds.Check DealsWindows FixRecommendedWindows errors stealing your time? Find the fix fastScan stability, cleanup and performance issues.Fix Now×
Skip to content
World desk5 min

How Telecom Companies Use AI to Reduce Operating Costs

Telecom AI can reduce recurring energy and operations costs through RAN optimization, fault automation, predictive monitoring, and faster service workflows. Reported gains are specific to each deployment.
Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

Telecom companies use AI and automation to lower recurring costs mainly by matching radio-network energy use to demand, reducing manual alarm and fault handling, predicting equipment problems, and speeding up service workflows. Named deployments report improvements in energy use, repair times, alarms, and uptime—but those results are specific to each operator and are not a reliable estimate of savings every telecom company can expect.

Where AI can reduce telecom operating costs

AI in telecom is most useful when it helps operators manage expensive, recurring work: electricity and cooling, network monitoring and repair, equipment inspections, and complaint handling. These applications often combine machine-learning models with conventional automation. They should not be confused with generative-AI chatbots; the cited operator examples concern network operations and service workflows.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

  • Energy: Adjust radio resources and cooling systems to match network demand.
  • Network operations: Correlate alarms, identify likely causes, and automate selected corrective actions.
  • Maintenance: Use equipment and sensor data to flag abnormal conditions before they require a repair visit.
  • Service resolution: Connect network events to complaint handling and ticket creation.

How AI for network energy efficiency works

Radio access networks (RANs) use energy to provide mobile coverage and capacity. Traffic changes over time, so operating every radio resource at full power during quiet periods can waste electricity. AI/ML systems analyze current or expected traffic and help place selected resources into low-power states, adjust their power, or switch idle equipment off. Operators can also use thermal-management techniques to reduce the energy used to cool network equipment.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

These decisions have to account for coverage and capacity, not just the power draw of an individual radio. Nokia says its KDDI trial coordinated decisions across neighboring cells so traffic and coverage could be maintained as power use changed. Nokia’s 2025 Indosat announcement describes traffic analytics for adjusting or shutting down idle equipment, as well as thermal management intended to cut cooling energy.

Reported energy results are deployment-specific

Operator and source Reported result Scope and qualification
Chunghwa Telecom, Ericsson (2024) 34% reduction in network energy consumption Ericsson’s reported result for this named deployment; the cited announcement does not establish an industry-wide savings rate. Ericsson announcement
KDDI, Nokia Up to 50% lower average power consumption in low-traffic environments and up to 20% per cell Nokia’s reported pilot results; the inspected excerpt does not state a publication date. Nokia says it observed no network performance degradation in the trial. These figures describe different scopes and should not be compared directly with Chunghwa’s result. Nokia case study
Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, Nokia No numeric realized cost or energy reduction stated Nokia’s 2025 announcement describes a nationwide RAN deployment, with initial rollout across Nokia RAN sites in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Central Java, and East Java after a successful pilot. Nokia announcement

How network automation reduces operations workload

Network operations centers handle large volumes of alarms and events. A single underlying fault may generate multiple alarms, while some alerts are symptoms rather than root causes. AI-based correlation can group related events and help operators prioritize likely causes. Where an operator permits it, closed-loop automation can take a corrective action or open a ticket without waiting for a person to perform each step.

In an Airtel case study, TM Forum reports that 69% of alarms were automatically correlated and resolved. The case also reports a 29% reduction in mean time to repair (MTTR), a 47% reduction in network unavailability, and a 26% improvement in customer experience. These are results reported for Airtel’s deployment with Ericsson Operations Engine, not a general benchmark. TM Forum case study

Faster fault handling can reduce the time staff spend diagnosing incidents and limit disruption, but the reported figures do not isolate AI as the sole cause. Changes to systems, operating processes, or service arrangements may also contribute.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

Predictive maintenance can help target inspections

Predictive maintenance uses operating data and sensors to identify patterns that may indicate equipment trouble. Instead of relying only on fixed inspection schedules or waiting for a failure, an operator can investigate conditions that a model flags as abnormal. The potential cost benefit is fewer unnecessary visits and earlier intervention, but it depends on accurate alerts and a workable maintenance process.

In a 2024 announcement, Ericsson described a Chunghwa Telecom application that analyzes temperature-sensor data with AI/ML to predict fire likelihood within five minutes. The stated purpose includes reducing the frequency of site inspections. The announcement does not quantify labor savings, avoided incidents, or model accuracy, so it does not support a numerical estimate of maintenance savings. Ericsson announcement

Service workflows can connect complaints to network action

When service-desk information is linked to network monitoring, an operator can use network events to speed complaint investigation, apply approved corrective measures, and create trouble tickets automatically. This is an operational workflow, not necessarily a customer-facing AI assistant.

Ericsson’s case study for Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) reports that customer complaint resolution time fell 90% and automatic trouble-ticket creation reached 95%. It also reports a 500% reduction in alarm count after six months and network uptime above 99.8%. The case, labeled 2024, describes system-driven operations with human assistance and says qualified personnel retain oversight. Its metrics are specific to DNB’s operation. Ericsson case study

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Support on Ko-Fi

What operators should evaluate before deployment

Reported gains only matter if automation works within the network’s real service and operational constraints. A deployment assessment should address both the system’s reach and the evidence behind its claimed benefits.

  • Service quality: For energy-saving controls, evaluate coverage, capacity, and customer experience alongside power consumption.
  • Network scope: Confirm which network domains, equipment vendors, alarms, and operations systems the solution can use.
  • Deployment status: Distinguish a limited pilot from a production rollout, and check which sites or regions are included.
  • Authority to act: Establish which actions can run automatically and which require human approval or review.
  • Data and monitoring: Check that relevant network, sensor, and service data are available, and decide how to monitor model performance and operational outcomes.
  • Evidence quality: Separate independently measured results from vendor case-study claims and operator-reported KPIs. Compare results only when baseline, scope, geography, measurement period, and service quality are clear.

How much can AI save telecom companies?

The cited deployments show that AI and automation can contribute to lower energy consumption and more efficient operations, but they do not establish an average cost-saving rate across telecom companies. The case studies use different measures—such as network energy consumption, per-cell power, repair time, alarm counts, and uptime—and do not provide a like-for-like cost comparison. Treat each reported result as evidence about that deployment, not a forecast for another operator.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Free tools Windows power users keep installed

One-click scans. No signup required.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

More from the Wire

  1. World desk4 min
    How to Spot an AI Voice Scam Before Sending MoneyDon’t rely on how a caller sounds. Pause, call back through a known number, and verify the emergency with another trusted person before sending money.
  2. Mountain View desk4 min
    Google’s SynthID Detector: How to Check AI-Generated Images, Video and AudioGoogle’s SynthID Detector looks for an embedded watermark in supported images, video and audio. Here is what its results do—and do not—show.
  3. Redmond desk20 min
    How to create a link to File or Folder in Windows 11Windows 11 gives you several ways to point to a file or folder without moving or duplicating it. You can create a desktop shortcut,…
Recommended PC Tool
Recommended PC Tool
Windows Errors? Fix Them Before They SpreadFree repair scan
Outdated Drivers Are Slowing You DownFree scan - exact matches

Two free Windows tools

One Free Minute Could Fix That PC

Before you go - each of these free tools takes about a minute and tackles what quietly slows a Windows PC down.

Special offer. View Outbyte info, uninstall instructions, EULA, and Privacy Policy.