Telecom Trends Outlook 2026 - Operator-as-a-Service (OaaS)

 

In Our Telecom Trends Outlook 2026 series, we’ve discussed how Digital Twins, Agentic AI and Autonomous Networks will influence telecommunications and broadband network design and management in 2026. Today, we’ll explore a new network operating model that continues to gain traction with forward-thinking operators and will become even more mainstream in the coming months. 

Operator-as-a-Service (OaaS): How it will reshape network design, operations and the customer experience in 2026 

The telecommunications industry stands on the brink of its most transformative era yet. As networks become more complex, distributed, and software-driven — and as AI, automation, and Digital Twin technologies mature — operators worldwide are recognizing a profound truth: the networks of tomorrow can’t be run with the operating models of yesterday. This reality is amplified by fragmented multi-cloud deployments, unpredictable traffic patterns, and growing operating expense (OPEX) pressure, all of which are pushing operators toward the potential efficiency gains achievable through AI-native operations.

Operator-as-a-Service (OaaS) — a new cloud-native, AI-driven operating model that redefines how telcos and internet service providers (ISPs) design, deploy, and manage their networks — has emerged as a way for pioneering operators to more effectively evolve and scale their networks while enhancing the customer experience in a hyper-competitive marketplace.  

OaaS represents a shift from traditional manual, siloed network operations to an intelligent, automated, and service-oriented approach delivered through the cloud. Instead of relying on fragmented OSS/BSS stacks, manual workflows, and domain-specific tools, OaaS delivers orchestration, automation, analytics, and real-time intelligence as an integrated service layer. OaaS allows operators to leverage AI-generated operational intelligence and predictive analytics algorithms to forecast demand spikes, identify performance anomalies, and automatically deploy the right virtual resources to ensure service continuity. Combined with Digital Twins, Agentic AI and automation, an OaaS operating model makes the network far more efficient, resilient and customer centric. 

 

 

The OaaS advantage

Traditional network operating models, while functional, lack the real-time responsiveness and adaptability required for today’s networks. 

Today’s network operating models typically share the following characteristics the limit their performance:

· Multi-layered and multi-vendor

· Distributed across edge cloud, access, transport, core, Wi-Fi, and mobile

· Increasingly sensitive to latency, jitter, and dynamic load, and

· Expected to deliver “perfect connectivity” regardless of network complexity. 

Human-driven operations just can’t scale at the speed and precision required for modern networks.

OaaS overcomes those limitations by providing:

· Real-Time Awareness — deep, multi-layer telemetry powered by Digital Twin models allows operators to visualize and understand the entire network state in real time.

· AI-Driven Decision Making — predictive and prescriptive models generate insights that guide or automatically implement actions across domains.

· Unified Orchestration — a single, cloud-native automation layer coordinates everything from service provisioning to capacity planning.

· Closed-Loop Operations — continuous self-learning loops refine actions over time, enabling true zero-touch operations.

Together these capabilities replace reactive operations and create an adaptive network that optimizes itself continuously.

The Role of AI, Automation, and Digital Twins

AI forms the intelligence engine behind OaaS, continually monitoring and analyzing network performance and predicting network health while machine learning (ML) models continuously optimize routing, bandwidth allocation, and energy use, reducing OPEX costs while boosting resiliency. 

At the same time, AI layers interpret business intents, determine network configurations, detect anomalies early, predict failures, and prioritize remediation. This AI-driven optimization ensures higher network utilization efficiency, resulting in better performance and lower latency. As AI evolves toward fully autonomous decision frameworks, operators will increasingly rely on AI agents that interpret intents, generate remediation plans, and implement changes without human intervention.

Automation employs zero-touch provisioning and closed-loop automation to observe problems, infer root causes, decide remediation, and execute changes — often without human intervention.

Digital Twins join in to simulate, test, and optimize network configurations before changes go live. By simulating network changes, predicting service impact, and validating rollout plans before deployment, they further strengthen operational certainty. That means fewer outages, faster rollout of new services, and a proactive approach to problem resolution.

This unique combination of AI, Automation, and Digital Twin technology with the OaaS model has proven to deliver the following results:

· Dramatically improved scalability and reduces time-to-market for new connectivity services

· Reduced downtime, operational complexity and operating expenses, and

· Fewer customer disruptions, faster service delivery, and more consistent performance - all hallmarks of next-generation connectivity

Ultimately, OaaS paves the way to the autonomous network — one that is self-configuring, self-healing, and self-optimizing.

The path forward in 2026

In 2026, ISPs and telcos adopting OaaS will lead the industry in agility, cost-effectiveness, and customer satisfaction. This model won’t just modernize operations – it will redefine what it means to run a network in the AI era.

Physical network designs will remain important, but architecture choices will emphasize where functions can be virtualized or pushed to edge clouds for elasticity. More modular, intent-based architectures will make upgrades, fault isolation, and capacity scaling safer and faster. Automated provisioning, continuous real-time optimization and predictive maintenance will ensure superior network performance.

For operators, that will translate to measurable business outcomes including lower OPEX, reduced downtime, faster time-to-market for new services, better capacity efficiency, new revenue opportunities, and an improved customer experience. 

Operators adopting OaaS principles are already reporting major advantages, including using:

· Predictive Wi-Fi optimization to reduce support calls

· Digital Twin capacity planning to accelerate rollout decisions

· Automated RCA workflows to dramatically reduce mean time to repair (MTTR) 

· AI-agent troubleshooting to improve customer satisfaction

· Energy-optimized network configurations that reduce idle consumption by 10–20%

· Dynamic traffic steering across fixed and wireless access to preserve QoE during              congestion

These aren’t hypothetical benefits, they are operational realities for operators transitioning to intelligent, software-driven operations.

OaaS will be a new network paradigm 

Looking ahead to the coming year, OaaS is not merely an incremental toolset, it’s a new operating model that turns networks into programmable, self-optimizing platforms. In 2026 this will mean far faster innovation cycles, lower operating costs, and better customer outcomes, but only for operators who treat AI, automation and Digital Twins as foundational capabilities and invest in the solutions that will enable them to build true intelligent networks. OaaS is the operational engine of autonomous networks and the blueprint for how ISPs will operate in 2026 and beyond. 

In our next installment, learn why real-time orchestration will be a must-have for operators in 2026.