According to Deloitte, India’s telecom operators plan to invest more than Rs 1 trillion over the next two to three years in artificial intelligence (AI)-ready data centres, edge infrastructure and cloud functions, as they pivot from pure network expansion to compute-intensive digital infrastructure, industry executives said.
The shift is aimed at sharply increasing enterprise revenues, which operators are targeting to grow to around 40 per cent of total revenue. At present, enterprise services contribute roughly 15-30 per cent of overall revenue for Indian telcos.
Executive said the transition could materially alter the sector’s revenue trajectory, with AI-led platforms, private networks, cloud services and edge computing emerging as key growth drivers.
On the cost side, they added that AI deployments focused on automation and network optimisation are expected to start delivering operating expense savings over the next 18-24 months.