How will AI influence telecom network traffic?

Latin America is preparing for substantial growth in network traffic in the coming years as artificial intelligence (AI) begins to become more prominent.

However, it is unclear how much more traffic between datacenters and the edge of the network will grow due to AI.

A recent survey sponsored by Ciena indicates that Brazil appears to expect a much larger increase in traffic than Mexico, the only two Latin American markets surveyed as part of a global study that interviewed a sample of 1,517 full-time IT and telecommunications industry employees.

Some 42% of service providers surveyed in Brazil expect at least a 50% increase in traffic due to AI in the next three years. However, in Mexico, only 27% of them forecast growth of at least 50%

For Brazil, traffic demand will be channeled by financial services (according to 57% of respondents), entertainment and media (51%) and health (47%). In Mexico, the order was different, with entertainment and media chosen by 54% of respondents, followed by financial services (51%) and health (39%).

More than 90% of respondents in Latin America (92% in Brazil and 94% in Mexico) expect operators to be able to monetize AI traffic through their networks, according to those surveyed who feel somewhat or very confident about that.

Among the main forms of monetization, security and privacy services were mentioned by most in Brazil (52%), followed by the opening of networks to third-party integrations with GenAI (44%).

CHANGES IN NETWORKS

Service providers will need to update their fiber optic networks to support increased traffic and point to network software updates as the main strategy (57% in Brazil and 61% in Mexico).

Following that is investment in switches and routers (51% in Brazil and 50% in Mexico) and 800G technologies (55% in Brazil and 35% in Mexico).

Service providers currently see obstacles to AI growth in datacenter interconnection infrastructure and core network upgrades.

AI IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS

There are differences in what telecommunications providers expect regarding the adoption of AI in their operations.

The most significant advantage of implementation of AI for Brazilian providers is to improve customer service (30%), followed by the creation of new revenue streams (28%) and greater reliability and performance (27%).

Mexican providers, meanwhile, believe it is operational efficiency (32%), then greater reliability and performance (29%), and better customer service (19%).

Barriers to implementing AI mentioned by the respondents include concerns regarding data security and privacy, budget constraints, and lack of understanding or awareness of the technology.