“Networks Reimagined – AI, Monetiszation, and the Next Wave of Telco Innovation”

Omdia’s ‘Analyst Breakfast Briefing’ provided a comprehensive assessment of how AI‑driven infrastructure demand is reshaping optical networks, data‑center architectures, and long‑haul transport systems. Drawing on their latest research, the briefing outlined the scale of investment underway, the emerging bottlenecks, and the technology transitions required for operators to remain competitive in an AI‑centric era.

AI Infrastructure Acceleration

The discussion opened by highlighting the unprecedented pace of AI infrastructure build‑out. This surge is driven by hyperscalers expanding facilities, acquiring advanced processing units, and commissioning new fibre routes. The session emphasised that AI workloads, training and inference, are central to cloud investment cycles, with GPUs, TPUs and emerging xPUs forming the core of next‑generation compute layers.

Data‑Center Growth and Power Constraints

A major theme was the rapid densification and diversification of data‑centre markets. Greater density in established hubs (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin) is being matched by expansion into emerging markets such as the Nordics, Poland, Portugal and the Gulf states. Power availability is becoming the defining constraint, with EMEA capacity projected to rise from “29 GW today to 47 GW in 3 years.” This dynamic continues to drive operators to rethink network placement, routing and interconnection strategies.

Bandwidth Demand Across the AI Workflow

The briefing outlined three major bandwidth growth domains: upgraded enterprise access, the AI “middle mile,” and high‑capacity data‑centre interconnect (DCI). Operators face bandwidth opportunities at tremendous scale across 100G/400G access, 400G/800G/1.6T middle‑mile links, and terabit‑class DCI cores. Enterprise data lakes, private campuses and AI training centres are creating continuous east‑west traffic growth that requires ongoing optical modernisation.

Fiber Construction and New Network Bottlenecks

A notable trend is the resurgence of fibre construction, with operators commissioning low‑latency, geo‑diverse routes to connect increasingly distributed data‑centre footprints. Traditional long‑haul amplifier huts, described as “too small and underpowered for the AI era” have become a structural bottleneck, prompting plans for more than 500 new AI‑ready shelters.

Optical Technology Evolution

The coherent optics roadmap was presented as a critical enabler of AI‑era transport. The session emphasised the rise of 800G coherent pluggables with 1000 km reach and the transition toward 1.2T/1.6T for maximum performance. Interoperable PCS and multi‑vendor convergence were highlighted as essential for scaling multi‑layer networks.

Strategic Priorities for Operators

The briefing concluded with three strategic priorities for operators:

• Optical interoperability

• Multi‑generation convergence

• Preparing for quantum‑era security threats.