Market Observation: The AI Explosion Drives the Booming Development of Telecom Wholesale Business

C114 News, April 9 (Aisi) Market research company Omdia's annual audit of global telecommunications wholesale business innovation shows that this market is thriving and fully leveraging the demand brought by the emerging "AI-first" world. Agentic AI, digital sovereignty, and experience quality are driving new opportunities in the wholesale business sector. Over the past five years, market revenue in this field has grown by nearly 30% and is rapidly shedding its inherent traditional image. Next-Generation Wholesale Business Lays the Foundation for an "AI-First" Future Omdia's annual "Wholesale Innovation Analyzer" report has now entered its 15th year, aiming to assess disruptive advancements in the wholesale business market. In 2025, Omdia reviewed over 1,000 announcements from global wholesale business providers and categorized these announcements into three growth dimensions, which represent the characteristics of what Omdia defines as "next-generation wholesale business": · Agentic Wholesale: Autonomous, deterministic services designed for machine-led interaction scenarios. · Experiential Wholesale: Services that can provide adaptive solutions, ensuring an excellent user experience at the most critical touchpoints. · Sovereign Wholesale: Compliance services and infrastructure for audited digital communication needs. European Telecom Operators Maintain Leading Position From 2010 to 2025, European wholesale business operators accounted for up to 77% of all innovation cases tracked in Omdia's "Wholesale Innovation Analyzer" report (see Figure 1). Among them, T Wholesale (the new brand for Deutsche Telekom's wholesale business) and Orange Wholesale International ranked 14 and 11 times respectively (the statistics include performance in 2025). Additionally, companies such as BT Wholesale, Telefónica, BICS (part of Proximus Global), and Colt Technology Services also made the list, frequently appearing. Figure 1: Top 10 telecom wholesale operators ranked by innovation share from 2010 to 2025. Source: Omdia. Middle Eastern Wholesalers Going Global In the 2025 statistics, 63% of the selected wholesale business innovation cases occurred outside Europe. Notably, wholesale business operators in the Middle East are actively showcasing their global ambitions and accelerating multiple overseas expansion plans e& Carrier & Wholesale (Etisalat) has not only expanded its business coverage in the region but has also extended its business reach to the Americas and Africa. STC has invested heavily in infrastructure construction and actively engaged in cooperation, covering various areas such as network APIs, IPX (IP exchange), and satellite communications. In addition to building new network and data center assets in the region, operators are also committed to enhancing cross-regional resilience. A typical case is the 2Africa open submarine cable, which connects Asia, Africa, and Europe, with participating telecom operators including Bayobab (MTN), Center3 (STC), China Mobile International, Orange, Telecom Egypt, WIOCC, and Vodafone. Another case is the land route planned by Zain Omantel International, which connects Europe through Iraq, and this project is being advanced in cooperation with the Iraqi Telecommunications and Information Company and Horizon Scope Telecom. AI is the enabler, but experience is the differentiating factor The AI wave has driven the growth of bandwidth demand, prompting operators to expand submarine and terrestrial fiber optic network systems. Many related announcements regard AI as a key catalyst for the emergence of new network access points (PoPs), expansion of submarine cable capacity, interconnection of data centers, and even restructuring of enterprise architecture. These announcements have been made globally, involving numerous operators such as Arelion, Lightpath, Lumen, Lyntia, Spark NZ, and Uniti. Cindy Whelan, head of Omdia's telecom B2B strategy practice, pointed out that for decades, network connectivity and capacity supply have been the cornerstone of telecom operators' wholesale business revenue; however, providing an excellent digital experience has now become key to establishing market differentiation advantages. Intuitive and convenient self-service portals, Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platforms, Agentic AI tools, and various application programming interfaces (APIs) have collectively raised the bar for customer interaction experiences— the following shortlisted innovative cases fully illustrate this point: ·T Wholesale launched an Agentic AI-based platform aimed at providing customers with greater network visibility, control, and deeper service data analysis capabilities. ·Orange Wholesale International launched a "Core Network-as-a-Service" solution, allowing small and medium-sized telecom operators to fully enjoy the advantages of 5G SA technology without the need to build their own networks ·Console Connect has launched a "Private Label SaaS" service for its NaaS platform, allowing customers to easily enjoy the powerful features offered by the platform without the need for significant capital investment. Breaking conventions to seek new growth momentum in the future market Cindy Whelan analyzed that the next-generation telecom wholesale business has proven to be a vibrant field for telecom operators to achieve rapid growth. The current strong demand in the market for network connectivity and capacity, network security, and "digital sovereignty" aligns perfectly with the core advantages traditionally held by telecom wholesale service providers. However, only those wholesalers who can combine this solid foundation with practical service agility, reliable network performance, and smooth transaction processes will be able to further accumulate development momentum and achieve accelerated revenue growth in an increasingly "automated" and "autonomous" market environment.