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

Appendix A1 Value and feasibility assumptions Lever definitions Value criteria ❶ ❷ ❸ ❹ ❺ (1–5; higher is better) –Revenue potential: ability to generate direct revenue at scale, not proxy or indirect monetization –Customer satisfaction impact: impact on end-customer experience –Operational efficiency impact: impact on the telco’s internal cost structure Feasibility criteria ❶ ❷ ❸ ❹ ❺ (1–5; higher is better) –Cost to execute: scale of investment required – including capital expenditure, platform build, integration costs, and operational transformation needed to bring the opportunity to market –Complexity to execute: level of organizational, technical, regulatory and ecosystem challenges associated with delivering and scaling the opportunity Assumptions AI-first connectivity –Revenue: ❸ Tiered performance pricing exists but is constrained by competition and regulatory symmetry –Customer satisfaction: ❺ Deterministic QoS and uplink performance materially improve AI-era service expectations –Cost: ❹ Primarily software and intelligence upgrades; incremental to existing assets –Complexity: ❹ Moderate; depends on 5G standalone readiness but avoids large-scale rebuilds –Value rationale: Foundational for AI but limited in direct monetization, with value mainly indirectDCI –Revenue: ❺ AI factories and inter-cloud synchronization create multi-year, high-margin transport demand –Customer satisfaction: ❹ Enables stable performance across distributed compute workloads –Cost: ❸ Requires optical backbone upgrades but harnesses existing fibre routes –Complexity: ❸ Moderate integration requirements with hyperscalers and core transport systems –Value rationale: Strongest commercial upside due to sustained growth in AI-era data exchange Dedicated networks –Revenue: ❷ Demand limited by enterprise readiness and high cost of retrofitting operations –Customer satisfaction: ❺ Offers guarantees needed for robotics, automation and real-time analytics –Cost: ❷ Enterprise deployments and on-premise infrastructure make it cost-intensive –Complexity: ❷ High due to heterogeneous enterprise environments and vertical-specific workflows –Value rationale: While overall adoption may be slow and niche, specific segments, such as government and defence, energy and utilities and industrial and critical infrastructure, may be higher-value AI-optimized colocation –Revenue: ❹ Power-dense, liquid-cooled space is scarce and commands premium hosting rates –Operational efficiency: ❷ Limited direct internal efficiency benefits The Strategic Role of Telecom Providers across the AI Value Chain 24