The telco industry is in the midst of a GenAI revolution, with vendors and operators racing to integrate this technology into their products and services. But with all the buzz around AI capabilities, how can telcos tell which solutions can deliver real business value, and which are just marketing hype?

For this episode, I sit down with John Abraham, principal analyst and leader of the digital enablement practice at Appledore Research. We dive into how operators can identify true AI innovation, trends in BSS, and how telcos can start to address vendor interoperability challenges. Listen now to hear:

The definition of agentic AI [04:50];
Questions to ask to determine which vendors have great AI product visions [07:52];
The huge problem vendor interoperability presents to telcos [11:06]; and
How Totogi solves the interoperability problem—and DR shares Totogi's AI vision for BSS [13:52].

Links and Resources

Read more about BSS Magic and set up a time to meet with Team Totogi at MWC25 to see it in action.
While you’re in Barcelona, be sure to catch my epic talk, “Building an AI-first telco,” at the Gen AI Summit in Hall 6 on Monday, March 3 … and don’t miss Totogi’s exclusive VIP party on March 5. DM me on LinkedIn or X @TelcoDR for an invite.
Learn more about the North American operator that switched billing systems and saved big bucks with Totogi.
I’ve written a couple of awesome blogs that explain the massive problem around vendor interoperability and how AI is poised to help telcos break free. Check them out!:
- Amdocs is ruining your business to keep their empire. AI to the rescue!
- The AI-first telco won’t wait 5 years for Amdocs
Read the article from Sequoia Capital about the shift from Software-as-a-Service to Service-as-a-Software, which incorporates outcome-based pricing and marks an evolution in how software companies monetize their products.
Headed to Barcelona for MWC25? Be sure to reserve a table at John’s and my favorite restaurants, Michelin-starred Disfrutar and Atempo.
Watch this episode on our YouTube channel.
You can find the episode transcript here.

Wanna talk AI and public cloud? Telco execs, set up a meeting with our team to learn how to tap the immense business value it can bring.

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This week’s guest

With over 16 years’ experience in the telecom industry, John Abraham is a principal analyst at Appledore Research and leads the digital enablement practice. Previously, he was at Analysys Mason for 11 years, where he led the Digital Experience research segment as Principal Analyst. He has experience working with a varied client base on topics including digitization benchmarking and procurement for CSPs; strategy and go-to market for vendors; and commercial and technical due diligence for financial institutions. Earlier, as a consultant at a BSS vendor, he led requirements gathering, solution definition, and implementation at multiple tier-1 telcos in Asia and Europe. John holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Anna University (India) and an MBA from Bradford University School of Management (UK).

Podcast Credits

Executive Producer and Host: Danielle Rios, TelcoDR
Senior Producer: Lindsay Grubb, TillCo Media
Senior Editor/Brand Manager: Alisa Jenkins, Springboard Marketing
Audio Editor: Andrew Condell
Supervising Producer: Amanda Avery
Associate Producer: Kriselda Dionisio
Music: Dyami Wilson

Ep 109 - The power of agentic AI with Appledore Research