Deutsche Telekom, SK Telecom, e&, Singtel, and SoftBank have officially launched a joint venture to advance AI technologies tailored for the telecommunications sector. These industry leaders aim to create Large Language Models (LLMs) specifically designed to enhance customer interactions through digital assistants and chatbots.
The collaboration will focus on developing LLMs that cater to the diverse needs of each partner’s market, collectively serving approximately 1.3 billion customers across 50 countries. These AI models will support multiple languages, including Korean, English, German, Arabic, and Bahasa, ensuring wide-ranging applicability.
Each partner will make equal financial contributions to support the venture’s initial development phase. This new initiative builds on the foundation laid by the Global Telco AI Alliance, which was formed last July to foster AI-driven innovations and business opportunities within the telecom industry.
The Alliance’s inaugural meeting at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last February set the stage for this joint venture. At that time, the founding members expressed their commitment to establishing the venture within the year, aiming to redefine industry standards and drive growth through AI-powered solutions.
In a joint statement, the companies emphasized their ambition to revolutionize industry practices and create new growth opportunities through AI. “Our shared goal is to redefine industry paradigms, establish new growth drivers through AI-powered business models, and pave the way for a new era of strategic cooperation, guiding our industry towards an exciting and prosperous future,” they stated.
The second Global Telco AI Roundtable, held this week at DTW 2024 in Copenhagen, showcased each company’s potential applications of LLMs in telecommunications. The demonstrations focused on improving contact center operations and infrastructure management, highlighting the practical benefits of this cutting-edge collaboration.
