Blue Planet, Telefónica unveil AI-powered 5G slicing design proof of concept

Telefónica Deutschland and Blue Planet have revealed a proof of concept (PoC) to show how artificial intelligence (AI) agents can help simplify complex, standards-based service design, improve consistency and reduce reliance on specialist expertise.

The collaboration builds on Telefónica Deutschland’s multi‑domain service orchestration (MDSO) environment. This is designed to provide end‑to‑end orchestration across network domains, and underpins the introduction of new, complex services. The fruits of the partnership will be integrated into the telco’s existing environment to support intent-based design, service and fulfilment.

It also forms part of Telefónica Deutschland’s ongoing transformation of its operations support systems (OSS) and its plan towards creating higher levels of network autonomy. The telco said it is focused on industrialising service and network deployment through its Service and Network Factory. A key enabler of this transformation is the MDSO programme.

The partners claim that the results of their PoC highlight the potential of agentic AI‑driven operations for next‑generation B2B services, reducing complex service design from weeks to minutes, accelerating the design and fulfilment of advanced 5G network slicing services.

Telefónica Deutschland and Blue Planet regard 5G network slicing as representing a critical use case: that is, a high‑value B2B service characterised by complex specifications, evolving standards and a strong dependence on expert knowledge. Designing and deploying slicing services efficiently is essential to reducing time to market while maintaining service quality and consistency across domains.

To address these challenges, the two firms tested how AI agents could support engineers throughout the service lifecycle – from intent‑based design to catalogue creation and fulfilment. The PoC used the Blue Planet AI Studio OSS‑native platform for building and running AI agents, integrated directly with the existing MDSO environment. This was said to ensure that AI‑driven automation was embedded into real operational workflows rather than operating as a standalone experiment.

The firms claim the results of the PoC were “significant”. First, they said tasks that previously required highly specialised expertise and manual effort – such as defining slice specifications and generating standards‑compliant service payloads – were completed in minutes instead of weeks.

In addition, they note that by abstracting complex standards and parameters into AI agents and reusing catalogue elements managed through MDSO, the service improved design speed, consistency and quality, while reducing errors through guided, repeatable processes.

Beyond the immediate outcomes, the firms say the PoC provides “valuable” insight into how AI‑driven automation can complement multi‑domain orchestration to support the future evolution of network and service operations. By validating the role of AI agents in the MDSO framework, Telefónica Deutschland and Blue Planet believe they have established a foundation for scaling this approach to additional use cases and enabling more dynamic, intent‑based services.

“Designing and delivering 5G network slicing services at scale is inherently complex and places significant demands on engineering teams,” said Eva Ulicevic, director of architecture, strategy and technology enablement at Telefónica Deutschland.

“This proof of concept has shown that AI agents, when integrated with our MDSO framework, can meaningfully simplify service design, reduce lead times and help democratise expert knowledge. It is an important validation of how intent‑based, AI‑driven approaches can support our evolution toward more autonomous operations, allowing us to provide additional and enhanced customer services.”

Telefónica added that the PoC also reflects a broader vision for AI-native operations and increasing network autonomy, reinforcing the role of AI in transforming service and network operations.

For Blue Planet, the collaboration highlights the value of combining agentic AI with a mature orchestration foundation. “Telefónica Deutschland brought a clear operational vision and a robust MDSO programme to this collaboration,” said Joe Cumello, senior vice-president and general manager at Blue Planet.

“By building AI agents directly into their orchestration workflows using Blue Planet AI Studio, this PoC demonstrates how service providers can accelerate innovation while maintaining control, standards compliance and operational rigour.”