DTW 2022: Telenor moves closer to touch-free future

Telenor EVP and CTO Ruza Sabanovic said the Norwegian telco’s network and IT domain is around 70% of the way towards achieving the ambition outlined three years ago of becoming a 100% “touch free” operation by 2023.

That means the group is moving closer to its goal of full automation through the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning techniques.

Speaking at Digital Transformation World, Sabanovic added that the operator strongly believes that “AI, even the shift to AI as a service will be instrumental for us to master in order to deliver on the profitable route”.

“We are at the beginning of the journey … understanding how we apply AI and data to day-to-day operations,” she said.

Sabanovic said Telenor is starting to see some results from its efforts to create a touch-free, fully automated operation. For example, the operator is optimizing up to 30,000 base stations completely virtually, and “getting good results when it comes to cost saving,” she added.

She also noted that an AI-first, or automation-first, approach is being adopted throughout the Telenor group, not just in the technology department. “Now, sales and distribution and customer care have the same ambition,” she said.

In Asia, for example, if AI and ML are applied to sales and marketing processes, “we can create three times higher value” from customer engagements, she said.

For instance, in some advanced markets in Asia, one third of the overall growth and value creation for the customer is being generated through AI and ML

“More importantly we are getting much more frequent engagement with our customers, getting transparency, accuracy, so that we can increase the customer experience on the go, which has never been the case before,” Sabanovic said.