how AI is changing fibre, automation and risk

As AI-driven workloads accelerate toward 2026, the way networks are built, secured, and sold is starting to change. Predictable growth curves are giving way to sudden traffic spikes, new data centre clusters, and demand patterns that are harder to forecast.

Across the UK and global telecom markets, the 2026 outlook is persuading operators to rethink everything from fibre deployment to security and commercial models.

How AI-driven traffic is reshaping fibre planning

At the physical layer, AI is already changing where and how capacity is needed. Lee Myall, CEO of Neos Networks, says early signals from AI-driven traffic look very different from traditional cloud growth. Instead of steady increases, demand is appearing in bursts and in new locations, driven by emerging AI and data centre zones. The patterns require infrastructure that can handle higher volumes while remaining flexible.

“AI is about to reshape the UK’s connectivity landscape faster than most people realise. The traffic patterns we’re beginning to see around emerging AI and data-centre growth zones are fundamentally different – more volatile, more capacity-hungry and far less predictable than traditional cloud workloads,” he says.

Rather than triggering another uncontrolled fibre boom, the response is more measured. Operators appear cautious, building where demand is real rather than flooding the market. Myall argues that lessons from earlier build cycles, combined with tighter economics, are leading to more cooperation in the sector.

“But this time, the sector is behaving very differently to the fibre boom of 20 – 25 years ago. Operators are building with much more caution and far more cooperation. You can’t simply flood the market with new fibre anymore,” he says. The more targeted approach could reshape the UK’s backbone over the next few years, aligning high-performance fibre more closely with where AI workloads actually emerge.

From fibre build-out to service differentiation

At the edge of that network build-out, another shift is underway. After years of intense construction, alternative network providers are reaching a point where the focus is no longer on digging up roads. According to Myall, much of the last-mile fibre is already in place, even as financial pressure and consolidation dominate headlines. “The reality is they’ve now laid down an extraordinary amount of last-mile capacity in the UK, bringing more competition to the market,” he says.

As ownership structures change, the fibre itself remains a long-term asset. What comes next is a push to stand out through services rather than coverage alone. Myall expects altnets to compete on what runs on top of their networks, including managed access, security, and smarter offerings for homes and smaller businesses.

“What’s coming next is the phase where altnets shift from a race to build to a race to differentiate,” he says, adding that this shift in focus is likely to play out through 2026.

Automation, security, and new ways to buy capacity

While physical networks adapt, intelligence is moving deeper into how they are run. At Ciena, the focus is shifting from general AI tools to models built specifically for telecom environments. Kailem Anderson, Vice President of Global Products and Delivery at Blue Planet, says 2025 marked early use of broad language models in networks, but the next phase will look very different.

“In 2026, we’ll see a move to telco-specific AI models that actually understand network structure, performance patterns, and past incidents,” he says.

The models are expected to support digital twins that can simulate network behaviour in real time. The idea is to allow operators and AI systems to test changes before applying them to live environments, reducing risk as networks become more autonomous. “This will be a major step towards genuine multi-domain automation,” Anderson says.

Greater autonomy, however, introduces new risks. Anderson points to a growing concern around AI agent manipulation, where attackers interfere not with the network itself, but with the goals or behaviour of the AI systems managing it.

“If an attacker alters an agent’s goals or behaviour, the system could make harmful changes while believing it’s operating normally,” he says.

As a result, securing AI systems is becoming as important as protecting the infrastructure they control.

Alongside AI risks, long-term security threats are also coming into sharper focus. Paulina Gomez, Senior Advisor for Product and Technology Marketing at Ciena, says concern over future decryption of today’s data is driving action on quantum-safe communications. “Faced with the urgent threat of ‘harvest now, decrypt later,’ crypto-agility is no longer optional for those handling high-value important in-flight data,” she says.

Rather than a single solution, Gomez expects hybrid approaches to take hold, combining post-quantum cryptography and quantum key distribution. Trials and early deployments are likely to expand in 2026 as operators work to protect data moving in their networks.

Beyond how networks are built and secured, the way capacity is sold is also changing. Telstra International sees growing demand for flexible consumption models as AI and cloud workloads scale. Wayne Lotter, head of international networks, says customers are moving away from fixed capacity orders toward more adaptive arrangements.

“The industry is moving towards ‘capacity as a service’ models, where customers subscribe to flexible pools of capacity that can be deployed wherever needed in subsea and terrestrial routes,” he says.

Instead of negotiating each upgrade, enterprises and hyperscalers are beginning to focus on outcomes. Capacity can shift as needs change, helping organisations respond faster to new services and workloads. “As AI and machine learning increasingly enable networks to operate autonomously, offering capacity as a service will become more valuable for customers,” Lotter says.

Taken together, these changes point to a quieter but deeper transformation. Networks are being built with more care, run with more intelligence, secured against longer-term threats, and sold with greater flexibility. As AI continues to reshape demand, the pressure is not just to add more capacity, but to make networks smarter, safer, and easier to adapt.

(Photo by Scott Rodgerson)

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Tags: ai, europe, fibre, networks, telecoms