AN Leadership Forum - Operationalizing autonomy: Accelerating the journey to Level 4

Chair: Aaron Boasman-Patel, VP, Knowledge & Innovation, TM Forum

Addressing the big question 

14:30 – 14:45  
Autonomous Networks: From Level 4 ambition to telco advantage – or Level 4: So what?  

• What does Level 4 autonomy really mean for the future of the telecoms business, and how can operators turn it from a technology ambition into a genuine competitive advantage? 
• Join Grant Lenahan of Appledore Research as he opens the Autonomous Network Leadership Forum with a provocative look at where the industry is heading, what may be holding operators back, and where the assumptions around autonomy deserve to be challenged. Drawing on Appledore’s research across orchestration and automation, strategy, systems architecture, virtualization, edge and Industry 4.0, Grant will explore how progressing towards Level 4 can do more than automate network operations; it can help telcos become simpler, more agile and more commercially effective businesses. 
• Expect some fresh perspectives, a few challenges to conventional thinking, and a practical question at the heart of the discussion: how do we make autonomy work harder for the telco?  

Grant Lenahan, Partner and Principal Analyst, Appledore Research

Where are we really?

14:45 – 15:05 
Case study: From intent to autonomy: Turning business goals into autonomous network action 

• What does it take to operate a Level 4 autonomous network at scale? Drawing on TM Forum's DTW Ignite 2026 Best Moonshot Catalyst, this session explores how CSPs can translate business and customer intent directly into network outcomes through AI-driven orchestration, assurance and automation. Discover how leading operators are building the foundation for autonomous operations, differentiated connectivity and new growth opportunities while reducing operational complexity. 
• Learn how leading CSPs are connecting business intent directly to network operations to accelerate Level 4 autonomy
• Understand the role of AI-driven orchestration and assurance in delivering autonomous decision-making at scale
• Discover how autonomous networks enable differentiated connectivity, dynamic services and new monetisation opportunities
• Explore a practical blueprint for scaling autonomous operations across network, cloud and service domains

Abhitabh Kushwaha, AVP Network AI, Verizon 
Ravi Vaidyanathan, VP, Head of Cloud & Software Services, Ericsson 

15:05 – 15:25 
Fireside chat: How AI-native telcos build autonomous networks  

• When customers demand flawless digital experiences, performance issues reduce engagement, loyalty and revenue. Operators need a new level of data and new approaches to incorporate that data to improve decision-making and enable predictive and autonomous networks.   
• Building the foundations: CEO-led accountability, cross-domain operating models, new talent needs 
• Investing in customer experience data, not just engineering metrics for a full picture of network performance  
• Building a shared intelligence layer that connects data, models and agents  
• Knowing where to start: proving value in the Network Operations Center 

Tejas Rao, Global Network Practice Lead & Cloud Advisory, Accenture 
Corey Anthony, SVP Network Ops, AT&T 

The road to autonomy
 
15:25 – 15:45 
An early adopters’ viewpoint: the opportunities and challenges ahead 

• Building a global autonomous network journey: governance, scale, and transformation 
• Measuring success: the KPIs that matter most for autonomy and business outcomes 
• The role of benchmarking in accelerating industry and organizational progress 
• Demonstrating value through efficiency, customer experience, and sustainability gains 
• Moving from pilots to industrialized Level 4 autonomous operations 
• Looking ahead: the evolution toward AI-native and fully autonomous networks 

Nilmar Seccomandi David, Director of Autonomous Network and Infrastructure, Telefónica 

15:45 – 16:05 
Case Study: Connectivity to intelligence: Comcast's journey towards a self-healing, AI-native network 

• Disaggregating and virtualizing the core network to create the right conditions for AI to operate, decide, and act across Comcast's entire infrastructure 
• Embedding AI at the network edge to transform reactive fault responses to intelligent, autonomous resolutions 
• Shifting to intelligent operations to unlock new commercial opportunities, from AI-powered resilience to edge application delivery 
• Data foundations, organizational change, and operational trust, separating automation from genuine network intelligence 

Sanket Walavalkar, VP, Comcast 

16:05 – 16:25 
Case study: Reimagining enterprise network services: A new playbook for the agentic AI era  

• Networks built for the AI era: How enterprise networks must evolve from connectivity infrastructure to intelligent, adaptive platforms supporting AI, edge and distributed workloads 
• From managed networks to managed eXperiences: AT&T’s perspective on moving toward autonomous, experience-led network services that align operations with business and customer outcomes 
• Turning autonomy into value: How AI-first operations can improve agility, customer experience, operational economics and speed-to-market for enterprise services 

Andrew Foerstner, General Manager, Managed Services, AT&T 
Thiyag Rajan, SVP & Executive Partner, Prodapt 

Beyond the network
 
16:25 – 16:45 
Case study: Detailing the journey from a telco to an 'AI Co' 

• How SoftBank has transitioned itself from providing basic connectivity in the telco era to providing the following new services:  

1. GPU-as-a-Service 
2. Managed Kubernetes 
3. Inference-as-a-Service in the AI era  

• SoftBank's relentless focus on network automation, from "INFRINIA" Telco OS Cloud to "AI-and-RAN Orchestrator" 
• Detailing SoftBank’s vision for the future and how operators need to define themselves in the AI era 

Shahed Mazumder, Senior Director, Product Strategy, SoftBank  

Turning autonomy into value 

16:45 - 17:00
What enterprises really want from autonomous connectivity 

• What enterprises expect from AI-ready connectivity and why predictability matters 
• How autonomous networks support mission-critical applications 
• Where edge, 5G and intelligent networking become differentiators 
• What ‘resilient connectivity’ actually means in practice 
• How autonomy changes the enterprise connectivity proposition 

Shawn Hakl, Head of AT&T Business Products, AT&T 

17:00 – 17:30
Leadership debate: What’s holding CSPs back from Level 4?  
While many operators are progressing towards higher levels of operational autonomy, major challenges remain around governance, interoperability, operational trust, and organizational readiness. Join us as we explore the realities behind Level 4 ambitions. 

• Are organizations ready for autonomous operations? 
• How Tier 1 and Tier 2 challenges differ 
• Where to invest first to unlock progress and how to measure real progress towards Level 4 
• How can we best prove the ROI from autonomous networks? What will customers pay a premium for? 

Aaron Boasman-Patel, VP, Knowledge & Innovation, TM Forum
in conversation with
Sanket Walavalkar, VP, Comcast
Nilmar Seccomandi David, Director of Autonomous Network and Infrastructure, Telefónica