The Big 3 in the US face pressure to centralize AI or risk falling behind

Singtel's AI overhaul offers a clear signal of where large telecom operators may be heading next.

For US carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, the strategy highlights growing pressure to centralize AI, clean up fragmented data, and rethink how their workforces adopt automation at scale. That's what has been happening in Singapore's largest telco's kitchen recently.

The internal restructuring

Singtel launched a major internal restructuring to consolidate AI efforts that had previously been spread across multiple departments. The company brought these initiatives under a new centralized unit called AI and Data Analytics, or AIDA, with the goal of improving efficiency, avoiding duplicated work, and ensuring consistent security and governance as AI adoption expands.

AIDA has been operating for roughly six months and has focused first on establishing clear roles, responsibilities, and operating structures. Its next priority has been to pull together AI capabilities developed across network, IT, and other business units, select the most effective components, and integrate them into a shared platform.

At the heart of the plan is what Singtel calls a central AI kitchen, basically a shared setup where AI can be built and rolled out safely across the company. Over time, the idea is to stockpile ready-to-use AI tools that different teams can plug into, instead of starting from zero each time, all while staying within the same security rules.

Will this succeed?

Singtel measures its AI efforts across three areas: financial impact, employee productivity, and long-term strategic opportunities. This includes boosting revenue and efficiency with tools like Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT Enterprise, while also investing in emerging technologies such as autonomous networks, even when returns are not immediately clear.

Talent remains a key challenge. AIDA currently has around 60 to 65 staff and plans to double its team through a mix of hiring, reskilling, and partner support. Centralizing AI has caused some resistance from business units, but direct reporting to the CEO has helped, and human oversight is emphasized as AI begins to influence live operations.

Let's organize

Singtel's initiative goes way beyond chatbots and into the area that truly matters – the AI transformation should be more about preparing and organizing data, aligning the organization, and changing how employees work than just deploying new tools.

The company thinks it's ahead of the pack because its data's all in one place, instead of being stuck in messy old systems like many competitors.