en.Wedoany.com Reported - Microsoft and Tech Mahindra have expanded their 5G-based collaboration, unveiling an advanced network digital twin solution designed to modernize network architecture, support operations, enhance service performance, and drive monetization of next-generation 5G capabilities.
This partnership builds on the agentic AI telecom joint venture announced earlier this year. The digital twin integrates Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Fabric, Azure Digital Twin, and Microsoft's AI-centric Foundry, Fabric IQ, and agentic AI framework. The solution is said to unify high-capacity network telemetry data into a real-time, AI-ready data asset, supporting advanced simulation and predictive modeling.
Alessandra Antonelli, Senior Director of Global Strategy at Microsoft, stated that Tech Mahindra's solution brings real-time intelligence to the most complex network environments, enabling operators to shift from reactive monitoring to proactive, intelligent decision-making, leveraging agentic AI to reason, simulate, and act within real-time network environments. Amol Phadke, Chief Transformation Officer at Tech Mahindra, added that through integration with Microsoft, the company combines digital twin technology, unified data intelligence, and agentic AI to help operators move toward autonomous network operations, improve service assurance, and create new revenue growth opportunities through AI-driven network innovation. Phadke noted that operators face pressure to manage operational complexity and unlock new value sources, with many still struggling with reactive operational models, rising costs, and limited visibility into service performance.
Tech Mahindra, known for providing IT services to telecom operators such as Telefónica/O2 Germany and AT&T, has expanded its scope to serve Vodafone and Australia's Optus. The launch of this digital twin solution follows Nvidia's promotion of digital twins at this year's Mobile World Congress (MWC). Nvidia believes digital twins can verify the impact of AI agents on operators' production environments before changes are implemented.
AI agents also dominated Microsoft's previous deal with Tech Mahindra. Announced after MWC in March, the deal involved an ontology-based agentic AI solution aimed at modernizing telecom data. The solution is powered by Microsoft Fabric and Azure AI Foundry, with agentic governance at its core to support the secure deployment of AI agents.
As Microsoft expands its hyperscale coverage in the telecom sector, competitors Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud are also actively positioning themselves. Amazon recently expanded its partnership with Nokia, bringing its autonomous network hub to AWS. The two had previously achieved 5G-Advanced network slicing based on agentic AI in real-time 5G networks and launched a commercial mobile service based on 5G core software-as-a-service (SaaS) for Belgium's Citymesh. Google Cloud, meanwhile, introduced an agentic AI suite designed for autonomous network operations. This launch followed Nokia's expansion of its Network-as-Code (NaC) telecom API ecosystem at MWC, with Google Cloud's agentic AI embedded into NaC through no-code integration.
Chief Analyst and GN Director Arun Menon, along with MTN Consulting, believe the gap between Google Cloud and Microsoft in telecom-related hyperscale revenue is narrowing. According to estimates, Alphabet's (Google's parent company) hyperscale telecom revenue is expected to reach approximately $3 billion in 2025, compared to Microsoft's $3.85 billion and Amazon's $4.2 billion. Menon noted that the gap between Microsoft and Alphabet has narrowed significantly over the past two years, primarily due to Alphabet/Google's heavy investment in AI-driven telecom use cases and data platforms, which aligns closely with operators' current priorities around automation and customer analytics.
