Cost pressure in telecoms is no longer cyclical. It is structural. The challenge is simple to describe, but difficult to solve — cost must fall while complexity continues to increase.
Legacy infrastructure still carries a significant share of traffic and operational burden. In parallel, cloud-native and disaggregated architectures are being introduced, adding flexibility — but also fragmentation across systems, vendors, and operating models.
The result is a growing mismatch between how networks are built and how they are operated. To make sense of this mismatch, there are two responses operators should consider.
Optimize existing networks
Legacy networks remain resource-intensive and are often operated through models that have evolved over time rather than being designed for efficiency. This can make them a primary source of operational cost and therefore a practical starting point for reduction.
Improvement here is less about new tools and more about how operations are structured:
- Reducing manual effort through targeted automation
- Standardizing workflows across domains and vendors
- Improving visibility and fault management
At scale, additional levers become relevant:
- Industrialization through global delivery models (follow-the-sun operations, shared platforms)
- Cross-market benchmarking and reuse of operational patterns
- Centralized data models to enable consistent reporting and governance
Managed services offer a more efficient way to operate at scale — introducing standardization, industrialized processes, and clear accountability. This makes it possible to reduce cost predictably, which can ease the pressure on internal teams, and maintain service stability while optimizing performance.
Redesign operations for modern networks
Newer network architectures require a different approach.
In cloud-native, disaggregated environments, automation and AI become foundational — not optional. This allows you to shift from reactive, manual processes to more autonomous operations:
- AI-driven event correlation and noise reduction
- Platform-based operations (AIOps, NetDevOps integration)
- Closed-loop issue detection and resolution driven by real-time telemetry
The outcome is greater structural efficiency with fewer manual interventions, lower operational overhead, and improved stability. This makes it possible to operate more complex networks with fewer resources.
Executing both at the same time
These approaches are not alternatives. Operators can’t afford to wait for future architectures that they hope will reduce costs. Immediate savings are needed and they must come from existing environments. At the same time, new networks must be designed to operate at a lower cost base from the outset.
There are clear synergies between both:
- Standardized workflows in legacy environments create the foundation for automation in modern networks
- Improved visibility and data quality directly enable effective AI-driven operations
- Automation introduced in legacy domains can be extended and scaled into cloud-native environments
- A unified operating model reduces fragmentation across both worlds
The requirement is clear: optimize today while building for tomorrow.
Accelerating the transition with platforms and partnerships
Platforms play a critical role in bridging both domains. NTT DATA Syntphony Open Telecom Networks provides a modular, open framework to standardize operations, orchestrate workflows across multi-vendor environments, and embed automation and AI capabilities at scale. This supports both the optimization of existing networks and the redesign of operations for next-generation architectures.
At the same time, innovation partnerships are accelerating what is operationally possible. NTT DATA’s collaboration with NVIDIA brings advanced, on-premises AI capabilities into telecom operations, including:
- Agentic AI for autonomous decision-making in network operations
- High-performance AI infrastructure to process large volumes of network telemetry
- AI blueprints for network configuration, optimization, and closed-loop automation
This combination enables more accurate event correlation, faster root cause analysis, and truly predictive operations — significantly reducing operational noise and manual intervention at scale.
A mechanism for continuous cost transformation
Managed services are no longer just a support function. They are a mechanism for cost transformation — providing scalable operating models, consistent execution, and clear accountability across legacy and modern domains.
Reducing operational cost requires more than isolated improvements.
At NTT DATA, we combine operational expertise, managed services and automation to help you reduce cost across your entire network landscape — existing and next-generation alike — while maintaining stability and control.
Operational efficiency is no longer a one-off initiative. It is a continuous capability.
Learn more about NTT DATA’s Syntphony Open Telecom Networks
NTT DATA and NVIDIA: Transforming Telco Networks