Imagine you’re at a dinner party. Someone says, “I had to leave work early to see the dentist.” Most people understand what that means, but if someone from another country hears “dentist” and thinks it means “optician,” the conversation breaks down. Misunderstandings happen when people don’t share the same meaning for the same words.
The telecom industry faces the same problem. We’ve made great progress with standards for APIs, data models, and interfaces — but while we’ve agreed on structure, we still haven’t agreed on meaning. And without meaning, automation hits a wall.
Standardisation Has Paved the Way but…
The TM Forum has done excellent work standardising APIs, data models, and interfaces. These make it easier for systems to talk to each other. But while the APIs define how systems communicate, they don’t define what the data actually means.
It’s like having a perfectly structured spreadsheet but no idea what the columns represent. You can pass the data around, but without shared understanding, decisions can’t be automated.
Why Meaning Matters More Than Ever
Today’s networks are bigger, more complex, and more dynamic than ever. Operators are investing in Dark NOCs, AI-driven operations, and fully autonomous networks. But for AI and automation to work, systems need to reason — and reasoning depends on meaning.
If one system calls something a “customer,” another calls it a “subscriber,” and a third calls it a “service endpoint,” they may all be talking about the same thing but can’t understand each other. Without a shared language, AI agents are left to guess — and guesses lead to errors, inefficiency, and missed opportunities.
Beyond APIs: The Missing Standard
APIs alone aren’t enough. To achieve trustworthy automation, we need a common, machine-readable way of defining what things are, how they relate, and what they mean. This is where semantics and ontologies come in.
An ontology provides a shared model of reality: defining entities, relationships, and dependencies in a way machines can understand. It’s not just “data about data” — it’s knowledge about how the world works.
The Box Without Instructions
Imagine opening a box of LEGO bricks without any instructions. You could try building something, but without knowing how the pieces are meant to fit, you’ll waste time guessing and rebuilding. Now imagine if every LEGO set had a different naming system and incompatible pieces. That’s the telecom industry today — lots of components, lots of data, but no shared understanding of how it all connects.
Semantic standardisation is the missing instruction manual. It ensures that all systems — from vendors, operators, and partners — are speaking the same language. When everyone shares meaning, automation scales faster, AI agents reason better, and operations become smarter.
The Road Ahead
The industry has already proven it can come together to define structural standards. Now it’s time to do the same for semantics. By adopting shared ontologies and common definitions, operators can unlock the full potential of AI-driven automation.
Without it, autonomous networks remain a promise. With it, we enable trustworthy reasoning, faster decisions, and better outcomes for operators and customers alike.
