The 2026 telco divide: why some telcos will seize the AI era, while others watch their customers defect

By 2026, the telecoms industry will fall into two categories: those powered by AI, and those losing customers to them.  

This isn't hyperbole. The numbers tell a stark story.  

While 90% of telecom companies now use AI, and the sector is growing at 41% annually, a dangerous gap is emerging. According to recent industry research, 76% of consumers expect personalised experiences, yet only 37% of telcos can generate actionable insights from their data.  

The result? A growing divide between those who can turn AI capability into competitive advantage, and those left behind.  

The numbers that matter: 

• 90% of telcos now utilise AI capabilities 

• £42.66 billion projected AI telecoms market by 2033 (Markets and Markets, 2024) 

• 41% compound annual growth rate 

• 47% of operators are falling behind in the AI drive   

Despite widespread AI adoption, nearly half of operators are failing to translate that technology into meaningful business advantage. 

The messy middle has moved inside AI 

The chaotic space between awareness and purchase has now moved inside AI systems   

What's fundamentally changed? The customer journey has collapsed. Research and product selection no longer happen in separate stages; instead, they now unfold within a single AI-powered conversation. Before a customer even searches, AI is already telling your story, or someone else's. 

 Awareness is no longer built through campaigns; it's accumulated through hundreds of AI-mediated micro-moments that happen invisibly, in real time, across multiple platforms. 

 A new study by Profound analysed 30 million citations across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity between August 2024 and June 2025. The findings reveal a fractured ecosystem: 

ChatGPT trusts Wikipedia. Perplexity trusts Reddit. Google AI trusts everyone. 

 The implication is clear: each AI platform draws from fundamentally different sources when forming recommendations. A single, centralised content strategy will no longer work. To appear in these emerging discovery channels, brands must diversify their content footprint and engage authentically across each ecosystem. 

How discovery itself is changing 

As consumers interact with AI agents, discovery itself is changing: 

• Queries are longer and richer: customers share more context and intent 

• Responses are more opinionated: AIs synthesise competing messages into a single "best" answer 

• Searches are broader: AIs fan out across multiple data sources to build nuanced responses   

This means that how customers ask questions, and how AIs answer them, is rewriting the logic of visibility. 

AI isn't just another channel—it's the new gatekeeper. 

Four critical challenges ahead 

Over this series, we'll explore the four interconnected challenges that telecommunications operators face as AI becomes the new front door to customer discovery.     These are not simply technical issues; they are visibility, credibility, and content challenges that now play out in public: 

1. The Sentiment Problem 
   You're being defined by data you don't control 
   

2. The Connection Problem 
   Your website might be invisible to AI 
   

3. The Visibility Problem 
   If you're not in the AI's answer, you don't exist   
   

4. The Accuracy Problem 
   Outdated information erodes trust   

Most operators are not yet ready to address these challenges. The ones that do will define the standards everyone else follows. 

The window for competitive advantage through AI is closing rapidly.

By the time the AI ecosystem has made up its mind about you, it'll be too late to change it.

The window is closing. Find out if you're on the right side of the telco AI divide.