The Telco generative AI adoption tracker is a database of announcements, trials and deployments of generative AI within telcos around the world. It also includes a list of generative AI solutions targeted at telcos.

Last updated: May 2025

About the Telco generative AI adoption tracker

Tracker components

1. Generative AI telco adoption: Lists all generative AI use cases in telecom globally from publicly available data and tracks important characteristics of the implementations.
2. Generative AI solutions for telcos: A collection of generative AI solutions specifically designed or optimised for the telecom industry.
3. Generative AI capabilities: Categorises distinct capabilities of generative AI and assesses their usefulness and availability, based on STL Partners’ analysis.
4. Generative AI use case taxonomy: Provides a comprehensive list of potential future applications of generative AI in telecom, identified through STL Partners’ analysis.

For the summary deck, click on ‘Download’ under ‘Download the full report’.

For the full Excel database, download ‘Additional files’.

If you are not a subscriber, enter your details below to download an extract of the summary deck.

Telcos’ enthusiasm for deploying GenAI is showing no signs of slowing down

The number of generative AI (GenAI) projects increased by 41% from February 2025 to May 2025, reaching 577 projects in 104 telcos. This is a tenfold increase of projects year on year.

GenAI efforts are also spreading geographically. Between March and May, we recorded ten new telcos with GenAI projects, seven of which come from emerging markets.

Global distribution of generative AI implementations by telcos

In our analysis of these implementations, we collect various types of data, such as:

• Whether an implementation has been fully launched, is in a trial phase or is just an announcement (shown in graphic below)
• What large language model (LLM) is used
• What the use case is
• In what functional area of the telecom operator it is deployed
• Whether it relates to an AI-as-a-service (AIaaS) business model.

Status of generative AI implementations (share of implementations)

Some further findings from the latest update include:

• GenAI projects in network optimisation are growing in number.
• Creating new products, centred on GenAI, remains a core focus for telcos.
• Consumer services based on GenAI are gaining attention within telcos.

Another finding from the latest update is that vendors continue to launch new GenAI/AI solutions for telcos. The tracker now contains 141 such propositions, of which two thirds have been developed specifically for the telecom industry. We have observed a shift towards adding GenAI elements to core solutions, as opposed to launching standalone GenAI/AI solutions.

Specificity of GenAI solutions

By providing clear insights and data-driven analysis, STL Partners helps telecom operators and their partners navigate the complexities of GenAI adoption and plan their next steps strategically.

Table of contents (summary deck) – May 2025

• Executive summary
• Current implementations of generative AI by telcos
• Generative AI solutions for telcos

Related research

• Not all telcos need to build their own AI factories
• Total addressable market for AI solutions in the telco network: USD18 billion by 2030
• Networks for AI: Segmenting the growth
• Autonomous networks: The role of multi-agent systems
• Digital twins: Accelerating progress towards autonomous networks
• AI: Good or bad for sustainability?

For the summary deck, click on ‘Download’ under ‘Download the full report’.

For the full Excel database, download ‘Additional files’.

If you are not a subscriber, enter your details below to download an extract of the summary deck.

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