EDOTCO builds Azure AI tool to speed up telecom tower planning

EDOTCO Group has built an AI chatbot, NaPA GPT, on Microsoft Azure to speed up decisions on where new mobile towers go. The Malaysia-based telecom infrastructure operator says planning teams used to wait between three days and a week for a specialist team to prepare the data behind that decision.

Deciding where to site a tower depends on several factors working together. EDOTCO weighs population distribution, weak mobile signal, demand growth, and the surrounding terrain when assessing a candidate location. Every new tower decision starts from the same question of where it should go, and answering it means pulling together planning, geospatial, and operational data that historically sat in separate systems.

EDOTCO built a platform called Network Planning & Analytics (NaPA) to bring that data into one place. Planners use it to identify coverage gaps, compare candidate locations, and evaluate rollout options without switching between separate reports or tools. The platform won the International Innovation Awards (IIA) 2025, which EDOTCO cites as recognition of its progress on data-driven network planning.

From a data science queue to conversational queries

Consolidating the data solved one problem, but reaching an answer still depended on specialist support. Planning teams previously sent requests to EDOTCO’s Data Science team, which needed three days to a week to prepare the required datasets depending on how complex the request was.

That wait led EDOTCO to build NaPA GPT, an AI-powered conversational interface running on Microsoft Azure, so planners could put questions directly to the system instead of routing them through a data science queue.

NaPA GPT runs on Azure Container Apps, Azure Blob Storage, and Azure Generative AI. EDOTCO says the tool securely processes complex queries and gives planners direct access to the operational and geospatial data behind the wider NaPA platform. Unlike a standalone chatbot, the system connects to EDOTCO’s live datasets to allow planners to explore planning scenarios directly instead of working from static reports prepared in advance.

How planners use NaPA GPT

A planner assessing expansion options can ask NaPA GPT which areas show the strongest potential for future network investment, based on a combination of planning criteria. EDOTCO says the tool returns a ranked shortlist of candidate sites within minutes. Planners can then narrow that shortlist through follow-up questions, prioritising locations near transport corridors or areas experiencing rapid development.

EDOTCO does not give a measured response time for individual queries beyond that shortlists appear “within minutes,” and also does not state how many towers, sites, or markets currently run through NaPA GPT, despite the company describing the tool as expanding across multiple markets.

NaPA GPT sits inside EDOTCO’s own teams, and the wider NaPA platform also feeds customised infrastructure dashboards to selected government agencies, supporting planning decisions outside the company itself. EDOTCO gives planners, commercial teams, and regional teams direct access to these insights instead of channelling every request through a specialist team.

Microsoft’s 2026 Work Trend Index found that 69 percent of Malaysians using AI say they are producing work they could not have managed a year earlier, a figure EDOTCO points to alongside its own deployment. The company frames NaPA GPT as one example of that broader pattern within its own planning function, though the Work Trend Index figure describes AI use among Malaysians generally rather than EDOTCO staff specifically.

Microsoft Azure as the underlying platform

As NaPA GPT expands into more markets, EDOTCO needed a cloud environment capable of securely handling large, live volumes of geospatial and operational data.

Pradeep De Almeida, Director of Engineering Technology & Innovation at EDOTCO Group, said: “Microsoft Azure provides a secure, scalable foundation that enables us to bring together live operational data, advanced analytics, and AI in a trusted environment, giving our teams the confidence to make faster, better-informed, and predictive planning decisions.”

The company’s stated aim with AI is to change how planning gets done so teams spend less time gathering and navigating data and more time evaluating future network investment opportunities.

EDOTCO is embedding NaPA GPT further into its planning workflows and describes ongoing work on predictive planning, “what-if” simulations, and AI-assisted recommendations for future network investment. The company also says it sees potential to apply the same approach outside telecoms, pointing to regulatory planning and smart city development as areas of interest.

The company’s next steps sit on the same infrastructure already carrying NaPA GPT. Predictive planning and AI-assisted recommendations would run on the existing combination of Azure Container Apps, Azure Blob Storage, and Azure Generative AI rather than a separate system built for the purpose.

See also: ByteLens launches AI platform for autonomous telecom fault repair

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