Only 2% Report Live Agentic AI in Tm Forum’s Asia-Pacific Telco Research

Asia-Pacific telecom operators see artificial intelligence as central to their future, but integrating AI agents into everyday operations remains an early-stage effort, according to new TM Forum research.

Released ahead of Innovate Asia 2026, the findings show that just 2% of regional respondents report having scaled AI agents into core systems for live operational tasks.

The results highlight a gap between AI ambitions and deployment. However, the regional findings draw on 55 respondents and should be treated as directional, rather than a statistically definitive measure of the entire Asia-Pacific telecom industry.

AI ambition runs ahead of implementation

TM Forum’s Reinventing IT for the AI era research found that 89% of regional respondents consider AI critical to their organization’s competitive strategy. Among that group, 24% acknowledge that their organizations are not investing sufficiently to succeed.

For 72% of respondents, AI remains experimental or an addition used for specific tasks. Meanwhile, 55% place integration across their core enterprise architecture among their top three priorities for the next 18 months.

The findings suggest that recognizing AI’s importance has yet to translate consistently into changes across the systems that support operators’ businesses.

TM Forum describes the next challenge as moving from automation toward autonomy: expanding beyond individual automated tasks to systems capable of carrying out operational work with greater independence.

Skills and data remain major obstacles

Skills shortages were the most frequently cited barrier to AI adoption, identified by 49% of regional respondents.

Other obstacles included:

• Low-quality data: 43%
• High costs: 42%
• AI accuracy or hallucination concerns: 39%
• Insufficient documentation of critical human decisions: 38%

The documentation gap presents another challenge for deployment. When important decisions depend on knowledge that has not been recorded clearly, organizations can find it harder to translate existing practices into consistent AI-supported processes.

Harry Wang, TM Forum’s regional director for APAC, said moving toward autonomy requires addressing the practical realities of deployment through collaboration among operators and technology partners.

He said Innovate Asia would provide a venue to examine implementation barriers and learn from approaches already delivering results.

Innovate Asia 2026 heads to Bangkok

The research will help frame discussions at Innovate Asia 2026, scheduled for November 17–19 at Centara Grand at CentralWorld in Bangkok, Thailand.

TM Forum expects the event to bring together more than 1,200 telecom leaders, technology partners, and solution makers.

Under the theme “From Architecture to Autonomy: Asia’s Race to 2030,” discussions will focus on AI-native IT, autonomous networks, and trusted AI and data.

The agenda centers on how operators can move from experimentation into implementation, with AI integrated more deeply into their operations.

What the research covers

The global Reinventing IT for the AI era report surveyed 216 IT executives from 111 operators across 72 countries.

Participants included C-suite leaders, network architects, and software engineering practitioners. The Asia regional analysis draws on 55 respondents, offering an indicative view of priorities and deployment challenges.

The findings therefore provide insight into the surveyed group’s experience. They should not be interpreted as establishing that precisely 2% of all Asia-Pacific telecom operators have deployed live agentic AI.

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