Your guide to the Telecommunications Industry Experience at Data and AI Summit 2026

Your guide to the Telecommunications Industry Experience at Data and AI Summit 2026 | Databricks Blog

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-Telecommunications providers are grappling with mounting pressure on three fronts: delivering exceptional, personalized customer experiences; operating increasingly complex networks at scale; and defending against rapidly evolving fraud and cybersecurity threats.

-Data + AI Summit 2026 is taking place June 15-18 in San Francisco and will feature a Telecommunications Industry Experience, bringing together executive data and AI leaders from global carriers and operators to share how they're turning data into measurable business outcomes.

-From AI agents for autonomous network operations and churn prevention, to Genie-powered conversational intelligence for frontline teams, attendees will leave with a clear picture of where telecom's AI transformation is heading and how to accelerate it.

Telecommunications operators are facing a structural shift. You can see it on the balance sheets, in the network logs, and on the customer service floor. They’re operating in an increasingly complex landscape, caught between managing exponential surges in network traffic, intensifying regulatory pressures, and escalating cybersecurity threats, all while fighting fierce market competition and trying to stem customer churn.

To thrive, telcos must move beyond the AI hype cycle. The organizations winning the race are shifting from isolated experimentation to fully operationalized, AI-native operating models. And the answer lies in unifying data and AI on a single platform; when your organization can capture data across disparate network and billing silos, apply predictive intelligence directly to workflows, and do it safely within a governed framework, real transformation happens.

This year’s Data + AI Summit (June 15–18 in San Francisco) will serve as the blueprint for this transformation.

What we’re talking about at Data and AI Summit 2026

At Databricks, the possibilities of AI and agents built on enterprise data aren't theory, but case studies - and Data and AI Summit is where those case studies come to life. The Telecommunications Industry Experience will showcase operators around the globe who are putting these capabilities into production, with exciting use cases like:

AI agents that can predict, prevent, and protect  - whether that’s mitigating churn, self-healing before a major network outage occurs, or stopping fraud before it happens

Conversational intelligence for every team in the organization, technical and non-technical alike

Governance as the growth enabler, ensuring the telecom can safely and securely scale AI across the enterprise

Whether you're a CTO mapping your platform strategy, a data leader scaling AI across your organization, or a practitioner solving for network reliability or fraud in real time, Summit is where the telecom AI conversation gets concrete.

Here is a look at what’s in store.

The Telecommunications Industry Forum

Wednesday, June 17 | 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM PT | Marriott Marquis, Yerba Buena Salon 6

Learn more and register.

The flagship event of the telecom industry experience is the Telecommunications Industry Forum, a dedicated session featuring keynotes, presentations, and executive panel discussions from data and AI leaders across the global telecom ecosystem.

This year's forum will bring together a powerhouse lineup of industry voices, including:

Nevash Pillay, Head of Global Telecom Industry, Databricks

Andy Markus, AT&T

Sachin Chickballapur, CTPO, Airties

Eben Albertyn, EVP and CTIO, DISH Network

Kiran Thomas, CEO, Reliance Industries Limited

These leaders represent some of the most ambitious data and AI transformations happening in global telecommunications today. The forum will cover how operators from different parts of the world are deploying AI to unlock enhanced customer experiences, move toward true autonomous network operations, and build the fraud prediction and prevention capabilities their businesses require.

Attendees will leave with a grounded, pragmatic view of where the industry is — and a clearer roadmap for where it needs to go.

Breaking down cross-functional siloes to create a secure, centralized data foundation that supports both business analytics and real-time machine learning workloads.

Deploying autonomous AI agents safely within highly regulated corporate and network environments.

Quantifying the financial and operational ROI of moving from legacy data warehouses to a modern data intelligence platform.

This Forum provides a rare opportunity to connect directly with global telecom peers, share architectural blueprints, and discuss how leading operators are successfully navigating the balance between rapid AI innovation and strict data compliance.

Breakout sessions worth prioritizing

Alongside the Forum, attendees also have a rich catalog of breakout sessions to attend, With hundreds of breakouts, here are a few telecom-relevant sessions that highlight what is possible in when data and AI are operationalized at scale:

Bulk Metadata Generation To Bring Genie to Life

Scaling conversational intelligence across a massive telecom enterprise requires high-quality, comprehensive semantic context. This session offers a real-world blueprint of how leading telecom providers leverage automated metadata generation to bring Genie to life safely, allowing business leaders to query complex systems and receive instant, governed answers.

Dialing Up with Genie: How Telecom Providers Are Winning with Natural Language AI/BI

This session directly addresses the shift away from legacy, static corporate reporting. Attendees will discover how forward-thinking operators are implementing conversational data intelligence to put analytical power directly into the hands of frontline business leads and customer service centers, shortening resolution times from days to seconds.

Activating AI With Lakeflow and Agent Bricks

Moving from raw data ingestion to intelligent action requires a seamless pipeline. Attendees will get a technical look at how to orchestrate automated data pipelines with Lakeflow and leverage Agent Bricks to power contextually intelligent, enterprise-ready AI agents that remain strictly grounded in proprietary data rules.

A Unified Approach to Data Exfiltration Protection and Egress Monitoring to Build Secure Agents

Security and compliance are non-negotiable for telecom operators deploying generative AI. This session covers critical architectural best practices for enforcing data exfiltration protection and monitoring network egress, ensuring that autonomous agents operate safely without risking data leaks or compliance violations.

Visit us in the industry lounge

When you’re not in sessions, come find us in the industry iounge on the expo floor. Our technical experts will be running live telco demos, showing you how to turn conceptual architectures like Model as a Service (MODaaS) and agentic real-time decisioning for the enterprise into production realities.

Whether you are looking to accelerate your current GenAI roadmap or figure out how to scale data governance across multi-regional architectures, Summit is the place to get un-stuck.

The telecom industry’s AI transformation is underway; don't sit it out

The operators moving fastest aren't waiting for a perfect strategy or a perfect dataset. They're building on unified foundations, deploying AI where the business impact is clearest, and learning from real production experience. Summit is the best place to accelerate that learning, whether you're deep in the journey or figuring out where to start.

Come with your hardest questions. Come with your most complex challenges. Come ready to hear from the operators who've been in the trenches and built something that works.

See you in San Francisco, June 15–18.

Explore the full agenda and register today!

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