New report: Telcos in MEA are preparing their networks for the journey towards autonomous networks

·         MEA study on autonomous networks finds telecom operators are ready for autonomous networks

·         Survey shows that almost 65% of MEA organizations embarked on various automation initiatives and have a roadmap for the next 3 years.

·         More than 55% of respondents feel that Generative AI has significant potential to be applied to solve networking problems.

Telecom operators in MEA have a rapidly growing appetite for automation, with a particular focus on enhancing customer experience and monetizing new services, according to a new study by Nokia and Omdia. This translates into future-proofed, agile networks that are ready to meet rising needs of subscribers.

MEA organizations are embarking on their autonomation journey

Despite infrastructure and skillset gaps, MEA operators are increasingly aligning with global best practices in network automation and kicking off their journey toward autonomous networks. MEA operators are focused on using network automation to enhance customer satisfaction, reduce operational expenditure (OPEX), and ensure service consistency.

·         Almost 65% of MEA telcos are tracking the progress of their automation initiatives using specifically defined metrics and KPIs

·         The region has shown strong momentum with MEA respondents reporting higher levels of network automation than the global average—by approximately 16% across all network domains today.

·         Almost 65% of MEA organizations have embarked on various automation initiatives and have a roadmap for the next 3 years.

·         MEA operators anticipate extending this lead, projecting network automation maturity levels of around 21% higher than global peers over the next three years.

Generative AI has potential to solve networking challenges

With an expanding mobile user base, increasing 5G adoption, and growing digital demands, MEA operators face mounting complexity in managing large-scale, multi-technology networks.

The study highlights that manual processes, fragmented tools, and skills shortages are key challenges slowing automation efforts. In response, Nokia’s cloud-native, AI-driven solutions are designed to simplify operations, accelerate time-to-market, and enhance end-to-end service quality.

·         More than 55% see GenAI as a tool to solve their networking problems

·         An additional 35% believe that it can be used to convert intent to action in the near future.

·         A small percentage (4%) feel that GenAI can be used to search documentation (like manuals) to provide better-informed answers to network issues.

“MEA operators see the converged core and IP/MPLS transport as the most automated domains, while access networks remain the least advanced.

Enhancing customer experience and improving fault detection are the top drivers, but security is a growing concern with one in three CSPs citing it as a key barrier to automation. That said, nearly half are actively developing comprehensive automation strategies,” said James Crawshaw, Telco Practice Leader at Omdia.

“The findings from the study are an indication that CSPs in MEA are not only actively incorporating automation and AI into their network operations, but they have also made considerable progress compared to other parts of the world.

This reinforces Nokia’s vision of building networks that ‘sense, think and act’, which are networks that can anticipate needs, solve problems before they arise, and constantly optimize for peak performance,” said Samar Mittal, Vice President, MEA Market, Cloud and Network Services at Nokia.

Improving resource utilization emerged as the leading operational outcome MEA CSPs expect to achieve through network automation — a finding that aligns with global trends.

Automation enables telecom operators to dynamically allocate network capacity based on real-time demand, minimizing the need for costly over-provisioning. It also allows for underutilized network elements to be powered down during low-traffic periods, resulting in lower energy consumption and improved operational efficiency.

Omdia has stated that Nokia has a comprehensive set of end-to-end automation solutions that covers all domains, and it covers Nokia’s autonomous networks portfolio – including Digital Operations Center and Data Suite along with Netguard Cyberdome – that uses GenAI and Agentic AI to help CSPs correlate data from various sources, introduce services in a more automated and efficient manner and secure the network.