AI in telecom is still in its infancy, says Vodafone execAI in telecom is still in its infancy, says Vodafone exec

Vodafone's AI specialist, Ignacio Garcia, sets out some of the key challenges and highlights areas where progress is being made.

Anne Morris, Contributing Editor, Light Reading

January 15, 2025

3 Min Read
 Vodafone storefront on busy street
(Source: matt fowler/Alamy Stock Photo)

Vodafone executive Ignacio Garcia did not waste much time in giving his response to a question about whether or not artificial intelligence (AI) is "living to its full potential in the context of the telecoms industry."

"We can spend two seconds on the answer, or we can spend two hours. I will start with a two-second answer, and the answer is no," he said, although he quickly added that this was in fact a good thing. The reality, he said, is that we are "already seeing that the opportunity is massive on AI."

Garcia is currently CIO of Vodafone Italy, which is now owned by Swisscom, but he also holds the role as global director of data analytics and AI at Vodafone Group.

During a panel hosted by Analysys Mason titled "AI in telecoms: challenges and opportunities of implementation," he was keen to highlight the work that is already underway at Vodafone in the field of AI, especially generative AI (GenAI). The main aims, he said, are to improve the productivity of Vodafone employees, rewire the business, and bring in products and services that make use of AI.

Indeed, Vodafone Group Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Scott Petty has already spoken at length about GenAI, making it clear that while he did not want to expose Vodafone's data to publicly available models like ChatGPT, he is also not up for creating a large language model (LLM) from scratch. Instead, a team of 50 data scientists works on fine-tuning LLMs like Anthropic and Vertex.

Garcia noted that Vodafone decided to form partnerships with the likes of Google and Microsoft on the infrastructure side, and has adopted a multi-vendor approach to LLMs. This, in turn, enables Vodafone to focus on applications, supported by a "very strong architecture where we have the ability to switch between LLMs."

Appy times

Garcia said the operator's strategy is to "make the differentiation on the apps." He highlighted efforts in the field of customer service, such as ensuring that a customer only needs to "ask once" and Vodafone will respond.

"And if we cannot answer when you call, we will call you back and resolve your issue without you having to contact us, which is a very big ambition, because that will simplify the life of our customer," he said. Vodafone is "raising the bar on the service that we're providing at a cost we can afford," he added.

Another area where Vodafone is already starting to see a difference, he said, is in productivity improvements. For example, an app created to respond to RFPs from business customers has already led to a 20% productivity increase in terms of reduction in time. Vodafone is also using GitHub Copilot, and "more than 30% of the suggestions of code are accepted by the developers. I wasn't expecting that by any means," Garcia said.

Garcia emphasized the importance of having a clear data strategy from the outset, followed by the creation of an architecture that allows an operator to test and change its approach quickly as required. Attracting and retaining the right talent is of course an ongoing challenge.

Importantly, an operator's C-level executives should be fully on board. "They need to understand the technology. They need to understand what they can do and how they can reshape the future with that technology," Garcia said.

Despite the encouraging results that are being seen, Garcia said AI in telecom is still in its infancy. "If you ask me, how do I see the telco industry working in three years, I would say completely different, with a fantastic customer experience, with a cost base that is completely different to where we operate today, and with a product and service catalog that serves even better our customers. … I think the options are endless."

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About the Author

Anne Morris

Contributing Editor, Light Reading

Anne Morris is a freelance journalist, editor and translator. She has been working in the telecommunications sector since 1996, when she joined the London-based team of Communications Week International as copy editor. Over the years she held the editor position at Total Telecom Online and Total Tele-com Magazine, eventually leaving to go freelance in 2010. Now living in France, she writes for a number of titles and also provides research work for analyst companies.

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