The Strategic Role of Telecom Providers Across the AI Value Chain 2026

2.3 Strategic plays for the AI techco to grow through AI-powered managed services CSPs can unlock growth beyond connectivity by monetizing their edge and data centre footprint as AI-ready infrastructure and managed services. As AI adoption scales, demand is rising for secure, localized compute and model management platforms with consumption-based pricing and assured performance. The AI techco models position telcos as trusted orchestrators of on-demand, SLA-grade AI services, laying the foundation for future sovereign propositions. This pathway is activated through four strategic plays: network-as-a-service (NaaS), horizontal and vertical AI solutions, GPU-as-a-service (GPUaaS) and the B2C AI aggregator. Success depends on ecosystem partnerships with hyperscalers, hardware original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and system integrators. NaaS Unlike AI-first connectivity, which strengthens network performance, NaaS is a commercialized service layer delivering flexible, secure and consumption-based connectivity through cloud-native networking, advanced automation and intent-driven APIs.25 NaaS enables self-service network delivery via a single-pane- of-glass experience, providing centralized control and holistic observability26 across network domains. AI elevates NaaS by making connectivity predictive and autonomous, allowing networks to adapt in real time, optimize resources and resolve issues proactively. Demand is accelerating. An Accenture 2025 survey shows that 86% of enterprise leaders expect NaaS to be significant to their business27 within three years. Analysys Mason projects that global NaaS connectivity revenue will grow at a 42% CAGR28 from 2024 to 2029, reaching $14.7 billion across retail and wholesale models. Telcos have a strong right to play in AI-enabled NaaS, given their ownership of core enterprise connectivity domains – branch/wide area network (WAN), campus/local area network (LAN) and transport – combined with real-time telemetry and distributed edge footprints. This allows them to deliver assured, low-latency and secure services that AI can continuously optimize. Monetization typically follows flexible, use-based models such as on-demand and pay-as-you-go pricing, with NaaS being a catalyst for autonomous enterprise use cases, including sales and service reinvention. CASE STUDY 5 Telefónica Global Solutions’ Dynamic Network provides scalable on-demand NaaS Telefónica Global Solutions’ Dynamic Network is a NaaS offering that enables enterprises to provision, manage and scale global connectivity on demand through cloud-like, API-based interfaces, offering real-time provisioning, multi-cloud connectivity and automated management. This approach positions Telefónica as a trusted partner for enterprises seeking agile, secure and scalable connectivity. 13 The Strategic Role of Telecom Providers across the AI Value Chain