Virgin Media O2 Deploy AI Tech to Minimise Downtime on UK Mobile Network
Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) has announced that they’re working with Zinkworks to deploy AI-driven automation technology to “minimise downtime” across their 4G and 5G mobile network. The move is said build on “proven results” with their fixed broadband network, where similar automation has already had a big impact.
The expansion to the mobile side of their network means that the new Artificial Intelligence (AI) based monitoring tools will be used to predict and prevent network issues. This is said to work by “identifying patterns and behaviours, detecting and resolving issues faster, and anticipating faults before they escalate into service issues.”
The system will be particularly useful during periods of high demand, allowing operational decisions to be made “before customers are even impacted“. By comparison, the same sort of solution on their fixed broadband network is said to have reduced repair times by more than a third and cut the need for engineer visits by 12%.
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The new technology is set to be deployed across key parts of O2’s mobile network, including radio access, core systems and network operations. “By combining real-time network data with intelligent automation, the network can continuously monitor itself, anticipate potential problems, and take corrective action, with engineers retaining complete oversight,” said the announcement.
Jeanie York, CTO of VMO2, said:
“At Virgin Media O2, we are investing every single day to improve our mobile network and provide a more reliable experience for our customers. Greater automation will help us predict and prevent issues and allow us to better spot and fix problems when they arise, reducing downtime and ensuring customers can trust us to deliver the dependable mobile experience they rely on.”
The initiative, which is leveraging the core Google Cloud platform and features such as Gemini and Vertex AI to deliver autonomous network capabilities, sounds as if it could be one of the better examples of how such technologies can be used to enhance existing broadband and mobile networks. The announcement doesn’t mention it, but we suspect there may also be a cost-cutting angle too.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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As VM uses this AI for its fixed-line business, it makes sense to do the same for its sister company O2. Same principle for fixed or mobile: watch the network, spot patterns, predict problems — only the telemetry and faults differ. On O2, radio access networks (RANs) and core systems generate huge volumes of telemetry, so AI can catch issues faster than human monitoring alone. However it’s not magic; it will improve efficiency and reliability incrementally, not eliminate downtime entirely. Expect some cost savings, but also better service consistency, which is attractive to customers.