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

Pathway 3: National sovereign champion AI adoption is reshaping national priorities as governments and enterprises race to build sovereign and secure digital ecosystems. In this environment, the ability to secure, govern and sustain AI operations within national borders has become a prerequisite for participation in the global AI economy. Telcos, as sovereign frontliners, are central to this transformation – regulated, trusted and uniquely capable of delivering the interconnected capabilities demanded by sovereignty. The national sovereign champion company is aligned with the national resilience strategy, delivering sovereign AI infrastructure, platform capabilities, sovereign policy controls, models, use cases and governance. Across Asia, the Middle East , Europe and Canada, governments are looking at national telco players to step up and play a significant role in nations’ sovereign agendas. For telcos to fulfil this role, they must possess the capabilities of an AI-enabled techco, both in terms of infrastructure investments as well as AI skills and ecosystem orchestration roles. To effectively pursue this pathway, telcos need to assess the specific context of their region and market. Countries like the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, India and Thailand have committed to partnering with national telecom operators to advance national AI agendas. Other markets are starting to present these opportunities as well. Each operator will need to assess the regional appetite as well as their own financial position when evaluating this pursuit and timing investment towards this pathway. Strategic plays aligned to each pathway and customer segment Each pathway consists of a set of relevant strategic plays. The matrix below places each play against both a pathway and a customer segment: business-to-customer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B) and public-sector/regulated industry. In the section that follows, the paper evaluates each play based on scope, demand drivers, telco differentiation and monetization model. Strategic plays aligned to pathways and customer segments FIGURE 1 Notes: 1. Hyper-personalized content and customer journeys were detailed in the 2025 Artificial Intelligence in Telecommunications paper; 2. B2B includes enterprises across all industries while ecosystem partners represent hyperscalers, graphics processing unit (GPU) vendors, cloud software and integration partners who may act as buyers.B2CModern telco Protect the core connectivity business Hyper-personalized content and customer journeys1 AI-first connectivity AI-first connectivity Data center interconnect (DCI) Dedicated networks AI-optimized colocation Network-as-a-service (NaaS) Horizontal and vertical AI solutions GPU-as-a-service (GPUaaS) B2C AI aggregator Sovereign AI use cases AI safety & securityAI techco Grow through AI-powered managed servicesNational sovereign champion Activate resilience through sovereignty and security B2B2 Public sector and regulated/ mission- critical B2B AI-first connectivity Sovereign AI infrastructure Sovereign AI platform and model services Sovereign AI use cases AI safety and security Primary buying center Second buying center The Strategic Role of Telecom Providers across the AI Value Chain 9