Telco AI Ambitions Risk Failure Amid Critical Data Access and Governance Gaps

Cloudera published findings from its Data Readiness Index 2026 on telecommunications organizations and data readiness. The report focuses on where infrastructure and data management practices limit the ability to use network and user data for strategic initiatives.

According to the Index, 90% of telco leaders cited infrastructure performance issues that restricted operational goals. The report also found a mismatch in data ecosystems: 89% of respondents said they had full visibility into where data resides, while 60% said they could not access the data required for their strategic initiatives. Governance coverage was limited, with 33% maintaining fully governed data.

The Index tied those gaps to data quality and the outcomes of AI and analytics programs. Nearly one-quarter of respondents, 22%, said data quality issues led to poor return on investment for AI and analytics initiatives. In contrast, 91% of organizations reported a clearly defined data strategy supporting broader business objectives, and 93% said executives prioritized the infrastructure needed to enable AI at scale.

Cloudera said network data is constrained by regulation and, in its view, making frequent moves to public cloud was impractical and too expensive. “Network data is immense in scale and often constrained by regulation, making it impractical and too expensive to move every fragment to public cloud. To truly maximize AI value, telcos must bring AI directly to the data,” said Athul Prasad, Global Director, AI Industry Solutions Telecoms, Media & Entertainment at Cloudera. Cloudera advised telecommunications companies to move toward unified, trusted data ecosystems that can support real-time intelligence at scale.

Provided by Globe Newswire on behalf of Cloudera. Click to read original content.