Telco infrastructure can become the butler for enterprise AI

Turning infrastructure into outcome-based AI services

Communications service providers have spent decades building the networks, edge capabilities and compute assets that enterprises now need to support AI-native services. Yet too often, those assets are still sold as undifferentiated connectivity, leaving CSPs exposed to margin pressure while hyperscalers and digital platforms capture more of the value created by AI adoption.

The Catalyst project, The butler did it: Turning telco infrastructure into AI services, addresses that gap by showing how CSPs can turn network, edge, core and compute capabilities into AI-native services that are easier for enterprises to buy, consume and trust. Instead of selling technical components, the project proposes a model based on “Butlers”: autonomous, agentic services that interpret enterprise intent, orchestrate the right infrastructure resources and deliver guaranteed business outcomes.

The approach is designed to help operators move from complex, bespoke enterprise connectivity sales toward more standardized, personalized and outcome-based AI services. This is especially important for small and medium-sized businesses, which make up the majority ofenterprises but often lack the technical resources to design and manage advanced connectivity, edge and AI infrastructure themselves.

An agentic monetization fabric for XAaS

At the center of the Catalyst is XAaS, or X Agents as a Service, a model for packaging CSP assets as agentic services. These services translate enterprise requirements into intents, orchestrate 5G and future 6G network capabilities, core functions, edge cloud and hyperscale compute, and support outcome-based delivery and monetization.

The solution delivers what the team describes as an Agentic Monetization Fabric spanning engagement, integration, commerce and cloud runtime layers. This fabric enables CSPs to design, quote, deliver and monetize AI services with event-driven and outcome-driven billing. It also includes proactive spend assurance, giving enterprises clearer visibility of expected and actual costs when consuming AI-native services.

That cost transparency is a critical part of the model. Outcome-based AI services can only scale if enterprise customers have confidence that performance, consumption and billing are predictable. By building spend assurance into the service lifecycle, the Catalyst addresses one of the practical barriers to adoption: the fear that AI-native services will create unpredictable or opaque bills.

From complex enterprise sales to repeatable AI service blueprints

The commercial opportunity is substantial. The project team points to a potential $170 billion opportunity by 2030 if CSPs can shift from low-margin connectivity toward high-margin AI services. The Catalyst shows how a standardized, ODA-aligned blueprint can help operators do this repeatably, rather than building bespoke solutions for each enterprise customer.

For CSPs, the benefits include faster time to market for new offerings, potentially reducing launch cycles from months to days. The model also supports better retention and adoption by making services easier to understand, consume and trust. For enterprises, the value lies in gaining access to AI-native capabilities without having to manage the underlying complexity of networks, edge infrastructure, cloud runtime and billing logic.

The Catalyst identifies opportunities across sectors including aviation, logistics, energy, public safety, retail, mining and transport, where enterprises increasingly need AI services that are tied to measurable operational outcomes. In these environments, the ability to combine assured connectivity, edge compute, cloud resources and AI agents into a consumable service could help CSPs become more strategic partners in enterprise transformation.

Jorge Quiroz, Manager, OSS at Personal, said the Catalyst is valuable because it enables the telecom industry to unlock new business opportunities by leveraging agentic AI. As AI becomes a reality, he explained, companies are increasingly adopting intelligent agents to enhance processes and automate repetitive tasks. This Catalyst demonstrates how those capabilities can evolve into scalable services, improving operational efficiency while creating new revenue streams for the business.

TM Forum assets used

The Catalyst is aligned with TM Forum Open Digital Architecture and uses a broad set of TM Forum assets across engagement, integration, commerce and runtime capabilities. The team lists TMFO002, TMFO008 and components including TMFC025, TMFC030, TMFC024, TMFC020, TMFC028, TMFC031, TMFC005, TMFC002, TMFC003, TMFC053, TMFC013 and TMFC037 among the assets used or developed in the project.

Together, these assets support a reusable approach to service design, orchestration, commercial management and monetization. By grounding the solution in TM Forum standards, the project aims to provide a blueprint that can be adopted by CSPs globally and adapted across different enterprise use cases and market contexts.

At DTW Ignite, the project was named winner of the Best Moonshot Catalyst award for Showcase and storyline excellence and also placed in the Moonshot Attendees’ Choice category.