Mobile operators are to pour more than $86 billion into AI solutions over the next four years as industry players accelerate efforts toward achieving “zero-touch” network operations, according to a report by Juniper Research.
The study forecasted annual operator investment in AI will rise from $13 billion in 2025 to $22 billion by 2029, marking a 62 per cent increase. The growth is being fuelled by the industry’s push to minimise human intervention in network management, enabling faster, more efficient mobile network operations.
The research company highlighted agentic AI as a key driver of this shift. These autonomous systems are designed to make and execute decisions independently, using predefined parameters and advanced problem-solving capabilities.
RAN optimisation through agentic AI was identified as an application with the highest return on investment. The technology would enable operators to significantly reduce latency in decision-making processes, paving the way for real-time network optimisation.
Juniper predicted tier-1 operators will lead early deployments, but cautioned that success hinges on the use of lightweight AI models. These models, with fewer parameters, can meet the low-latency requirements critical for improving customer experience through faster autonomous actions.
Regionally, China and East Asia are expected to dominate global AI investment in cellular networks, with India and Western Europe also taking a major share.
Despite the hefty projected investment by operators in AI, “the cost savings arising from the reduced energy consumption enabled by implementing agentic AI in RANs is expected to be a substantial contributor to operators achieving ROI”, said Alex Webb, research author at Juniper.
Revenue ambitions
As operators vie to achieve cost savings and energy efficiency through AI deployment and innovation in the near term, Juniper also predicted an industry shift toward utilising the technology for revenue generation. AI is expected to support operators in launching new enterprise and consumer services—including Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) and private networks—as they pursue diversified business models.
The report forecasted total operator network revenue to grow from $973 billion in 2025 to more than $1 trillion by 2029. While modest, the growth comes during a downturn in consumer expenditure on operator services. AI-enabled network slicing poses a key opportunity amidst the mounting pressure, allowing operators to deliver differentiated connectivity across shared physical infrastructure.
The study, titled Global AI in Cellular Networks Market 2025-2029, spanned 61 countries and provided more than 7,900 market data points.
