TM Forum: Cloud OSS/BSS Fuels AI Growth for Telcos

The telecoms industry stands at a pivotal juncture. After a decade of investment and experimentation, Communication Service Providers (CSPs) are beginning to reap the benefits of migrating their OSS/BSS systems to the cloud. As AI becomes the next major operational frontier, the groundwork laid by cloud transformation is proving essential to realising its potential.

Dean Ramsay, Principal Analyst at TM Forum and veteran of the telecoms software sector, describes the moment as an “inflexion point,” where cloud maturity and AI ambitions align. “Driving instant success in the AI era is proving to be complex and challenging,” he explains, “but it is becoming clear that telcos that have placed greater focus on their drive towards cloud-native IT are having an easier time than others.”

A Decade in the Making: The OSS/BSS Cloud Journey

For many years, CSPs have worked to dismantle legacy IT structures, driven by the need for greater agility, innovation and cost efficiency. Ramsay notes that what began as a shift in infrastructure quickly evolved into a full-scale modernisation initiative. “CSPs have expanded the migration to the cloud into a broad modernisation exercise to make telecoms operations akin to that of cloud natives,” he says.

Cloud-native IT has now become foundational, not just for cost control but for unlocking future growth through AI. “As we enter the era of AI-enabled operations, the move to the cloud is an essential component of success with AI deployment,” Dean adds.

From Hesitation to Acceleration

Security and compliance concerns once slowed CSPs’ adoption of cloud infrastructure. However, Dean believes those barriers have largely been overcome. “Security and compliance concerns have now been allayed by many years of constant improvement by the hyperscale cloud service providers,” he says. “We are now passing the adoption inflexion point.”

TM Forum’s research supports the claim, revealing that a significant portion of OSS/BSS applications are already running in the cloud. In the coming year, Dean expects to see “a more dramatic uptick in service innovation, customer experience improvements, operational efficiency gains and cost base reductions.” AI will both drive and benefit from the momentum, creating what he describes as “a positive cycle of reinforcement.”

Telco Success Stories: Odido and giffgaff

Examples of the transition in action were shared at TM Forum’s DTW Ignite 2025 event in Copenhagen, where Ericsson and AWS demonstrated how their collaboration is accelerating OSS/BSS transformation for CSPs across Europe.

In the Netherlands, Odido (formerly T-Mobile NL) undertook a significant transformation by migrating its billing systems to Ericsson’s platform on the AWS Cloud. “Switching to Ericsson’s Billing Platform on the AWS Cloud enabled Odido to introduce modularity into their service deployment while centralising operations,” Dean explains.

The result? Enhanced performance, greater automation and faster time to market, including the launch of the country’s first 5G fixed-wireless access product for consumers.

Another example is giffgaff in Ireland, which migrated its Ericsson Mediation data platform to the AWS Cloud. The move enabled more efficient data collection and standardisation, leading to improvements in network performance, billing accuracy and customer experience.

Dean says these types of transformations “improve the monetisation and launch of new disruptive offerings” and reflect the outcome-driven nature of modern OSS/BSS partnerships.

AI Adoption: From Hype to Industrialisation

While AI has been a hot topic in telecoms for some time, Dean notes a shift from experimentation to practical deployment. “Augmenting OSS/BSS features with AI—either predictive, generative or now agentic—is starting to pass from the proof-of-concept phase into mass market acceptance and industrialisation scales.”

CSPs must deploy AI incrementally and flexibly and platforms that support this agility are key. Ericsson and AWS are tackling the challenge by integrating AWS AI tools such as Amazon Bedrock and Amazon SageMaker into Ericsson’s OSS/BSS applications.

The goal is to provide an agile environment for CSPs to apply AI where it delivers the most significant value.

However, Dean cautions against paralysis by analysis. “The broadness of the AI challenge can leave many companies in a state of inaction as they are overwhelmed with the possibilities of implementing AI,” he warns.

The role of technology partners, he argues, is not only to provide the tools but to “suggest a strategic approach for CSPs to derive the highest return from their investments.”

Cloud-Native Foundations Drive Future Innovation

The telecommunications industry has reached a crucial milestone. Years of cloud modernisation are enabling CSPs to scale AI deployments in ways that were previously unattainable.

As Dean puts it, “OSS/BSS is now driving a sea change in CSP operations for the first time in many years, genuinely passing the inflexion point into the AI-enabled operations era.”

With cloud-native platforms firmly established and trusted partners like Ericsson and AWS helping CSPs focus on outcomes, the next chapter for telcos promises greater efficiency, innovation and customer impact than ever before.