Technology titan IBM recently held a conference with communications service providers (CSPs) in Southeast Asian region, discussing the potential of AI adoption in pushing telco companies forward and bringing better customer experience.
The event highlighted the information gathered in the IBM Institute for Business Value’s CEO Study 2025, which reported insights on transformative potential of Generative AI and Agentic AI, with a focus on telecommunications sector.
The study surveyed over 2,000 CEOs around the world, with 22% coming from the Asia Pacific region and 120 CEOs coming from the telco industry.
The study revealed that 79% of telecom CEOs worldwide see opportunities for AI-driven innovation beyond traditional industry boundaries. The adoption of AI technology has moved beyond automation, and is being integrated in decision-making, network optimization, and proactive customer care, it added.
Catherine Lian, general manager of IBM Asean, emphasized this shift being supported by 58% of global telecom CEOs believing that competitive advantage will depend on advanced generative AI capabilities.
With these advancements, telco CEOs are prioritizing product and service innovation, ecosystems, and productivity. They are also highlighting business model innovation, supply chain performance, and talent recruiting and retention, as primary challenges for the next few years.
Lian showcased IBM’s commitment to helping businesses drive innovation through the company’s AI services, stating “as they reduce downtime and operational costs, they are embracing digital transformation and exploring partnerships for smarter cities and interactive media platforms.”
Singapore’s StarHub showcased Modern Digital Infrastructure (MDI) and Managed Services, powered by Cloud Infinity. This modular infrastructure aids enterprises by providing an intelligent foundation capable of being predictive, easily scalable, and manage complexities while safeguarding sensitive data.
Telkom Indonesia leveraged IBM’s enterprise-grade AI development studio, watsonx and watsonx.ai, to create a proprietary AI platform that will help boost productivity and innovation, while prioritizing data privacy and compliance with local regulations.
Additionally, TIME, a Malaysian ISP, is modernizing its network operations with the help of IBM’s Cloud Pak for Network Automation built on Red Hot OpenShift. This adoption aims to improve efficiency and flexibility, thereby increasing the speed of delivering new digital services across various environments.
