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IDC Survey: Telco Transformation, 2026: Global Telecom AI Plans and Strategy Highlights

Peter Chahal — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey draws on two April 2026 IDC primary research surveys: the Worldwide Telco DX Network Infrastructure and Cloud Survey (n = 318) and the Worldwide Telco DX IT Applications and AI Survey (n = 350), covering telecom decision-makers across more than 60 countries and five regions. IDC finds that telecom providers have moved decisively from AI strategy to execution, investing in parallel across infrastructure, talent, services, and partnerships with the emphasis firmly on building foundations at scale. GenAI is scaling fastest where operators have the most control: network operations and automation (with AIOps now mainstream). Customer-facing monetization remains 12 to 24 months behind, meaning that operators that get the foundations right today will lead the next wave of AI-driven revenue growth.

What separates the leaders from the rest is not access to better models; it is data readiness, security posture, and the ability to orchestrate a fragmented, multivendor AI stack across a network infrastructure that differs by region. With no single global playbook, telcos’ AI strategy is shaped by local regulation, sovereignty mandates, and ecosystem maturity. The full survey findings reveal exactly where the gaps are widest, which regions are moving fastest, and what the operators pulling ahead are doing differently.

IDC's Worldwide Enterprise Workload Infrastructure Taxonomy, 2026

Max Pepper, Natalya Yezhkova — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Taxonomy provides an overview of and definitions for IDC's Enterprise Workloads Infrastructure Stacks and Deployments syndicated research. It is also a base for IDC's Semiannual Enterprise Infrastructure Tracker: Workloads. Driven by extensive primary research and analysis, these products provide insights into trends in workload migration, workload virtualization, demand for certain compute and storage technologies for various workloads, and forecast spending on compute and storage systems supporting these workloads.

"IDC's enterprise workloads infrastructure research evaluates how server systems, external storage systems, and HCI appliances support workload applications and looks at the impact of various deployment models, locations, infrastructure tiers, virtualization architectures, and other influential factors on workload implementation at the infrastructure level. This helps provide actionable insights into buyer behavior to enable enterprises to best understand infrastructure modernization trends and strategies, especially as we see rapid evolution in trends in the face of artificial intelligence enablement," said Max Pepper, senior research analyst, Enterprise Workloads and Core Infrastructure at IDC.

META Telcos’ Journey to API Integration

Tolga Yalcin — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Presentation analyzes the state of network-API integration across telecom operators in the Middle East, Türkiye, and Africa (META) region. It highlights operator activity across the standards stack — GSMA Open Gateway, CAMARA, TM Forum — and the network-API capabilities driving commercial conversation, including identity and anti-fraud, SIM swap, number verification, 5G quality-on-demand, location, and operator-owned API marketplaces. The document covers the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Türkiye, and sub-Saharan and francophone Africa, with a focus on how regional operators are translating public commitments into commercial deployments.

Orbit to Everyone: LEO Satellites Transforming Global Connectivity

Peter Chahal, Simon Baker — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Presentation provides a comprehensive analysis of the LEO satellite market and its accelerating integration with global telecommunications networks. It combines primary survey data from 318 telecom providers across 63 countries with IDC Market Forecasts and coverage of key industry developments. IDC data shows a market at an inflection point: 93.8% of telcos are either already using satellite connectivity (66.4%) or plan to trial it within 24 months (27.4%), while IDC projects the total satellite direct-to-cellular (D2C), direct-to-device (D2D), and high-speed broadband market will grow at a 16.0% CAGR from $13.5 billion in 2025 to $28.9 billion by 2030.

This report also examines current telco investment and deployment plans, the primary use cases organizations are pursuing through satellite partnerships, and the competitive dynamics shaping operator selection. Survey findings broken down across five global regions (North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia/Pacific) highlight the geographic divergence in adoption rates, use case priorities, and operator preferences. This report closes with actionable engagement strategies for network infrastructure vendors on how to partner with telcos and satellite operators to capture the next wave of satellite connectivity investment.

Worldwide Telco DX Network Infrastructure and Cloud Survey, 2026 — Executive Summary

Ajeet Das — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Presentation provides key insights from IDC's 2026 Worldwide Telco DX Network Infrastructure and Cloud Survey, conducted online in April and May 2026. Some 318 global telecommunications service providers (35% from Europe, 10% from MEA, 28% from APAC, 17% from the United States and Canada, and 10% from LATAM) were polled to better understand how they are transforming their networks. The goals of the research included: gaining a deeper understanding of telecommunications service providers' digital transformation strategies and the impact of AI on networks, obtaining insight into organizations' plans for network functions virtualization (NFV) and container-as-a-service (CaaS) deployment on commercial telecom networks, and gaining an updated view of the deployment strategies and use cases of multi-access edge computing (MEC) solutions. The survey also provided telcos' current and future usage of AI/GenAI and the impact on network bandwidth requirements related to traffic growth.

Micro-SMB AI Opportunity for Telcos in Asia/Pacific: What to sell, What to Avoid, and how to Prioritize

Nikhil Batra — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

The SMB conversation for telcos in Asia/Pacific has been traditionally skewed toward companies with 50–250 employees: AI copilots, Microsoft Office 365 resell, software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN), managed security, and other SaaS subscriptions. However, the micro-SMB segment (under 30 employees) behaves differently enough that most of those offerings miss. This micro-SMB tier represents a very large, unaddressed AI opportunity for telcos in the region.

This presentation discusses how micro-SMBs view AI solutions, their requirements of such solutions, and how telecom SPs can play in this space.

“There is a significant opportunity for SPs across Asia/Pacific to uplift micro-SMB revenue and increase attach rates through a new breed of AI-augmented solutions, such as AI voice receptionist. However, this segment will not respond to scaled down versions of larger SMB products,” says Nikhil Batra, senior research director, telecom, IDC Asia/Pacific. “For micro-SMBs, telcos need an outcome-led positioning that solves a simple business problem, such as fewer missed calls, more after hours bookings, or more leads. For telcos, this means identifying the right solutions, pricing them well in logical bundles, and taking them to market through the right channels,” he adds.

Market Analysis Perspective: Japan Network Services, 2026

Yoko Ono — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

本プレゼンテーションは、国内ネットワークサービス市場に関してIDCが2025年～2026年に行った分析のサマリーを提供している。本市場に影響を与えるトレンド、競合分析、ユーザー動向、本市場の将来展望、ITサプライヤーへの提言などで構成される。

Key Strategies Shaping European Telco Business Model Reinvention

Ahmad Latif Ali — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Perspective examines how telcos across the European continent can embrace bold, multipronged strategies to overcome structural challenges and unlock new value. The sector's future hinges on its ability to transition from traditional connectivity providers to agile, platform-driven digital service enablers, leveraging technology, partnerships, and scale to drive sustainable growth and support Europe's digital ambitions.

"European operators face a shared imperative: the business models that built this industry are no longer sufficient to sustain it. The most successful operators moving forward will be those that move decisively across multiple transformation pathways simultaneously," said Ahmad Latif Ali, associate vice president, Worldwide Telecommunications, IDC.

通信事業者ネットワークの自動化／自律化を実現する NEC Network and Cloud Native Orchestrator

Kenichi Kusano — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

本調査レポートでは、通信事業者ネットワークの自動化／自律化におけるレベル5（完全な自律化）実現を目指すNECのソリューションNEC Network and Cloud Native Orchestratorを分析するとともに、ネットワーク運用におけるAI活用の重要性と可能性について考察する。

「NECは、通信事業者ネットワークの自動化／自律化におけるレベル5（完全な自律化）実現に向けて、「モダナイゼーション」「AI（Artificial Intelligence）／MLOps」「エージェンティックAIのオーケストレーション」を柱にしたロードマップを示している。かつてないスピードで進化するAI技術を、OSS（Operations Support System）領域で迅速に取り込みながらAI活用の進化・深化を図り、アプローチとロードマップを継続的にアップデートしていくことがレベル5実現には不可欠である」とIDC Japanのシニアリサーチディレクターである草野賢一は述べている。

8x8 Builds an AI-Focused, Outcomes-Driven Communications Engagement Platform

Michelle Morgan, Paul Hughes, Denise Lund, Oru Mohiuddin — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT