Broadband Forum survey says 97% of participants cite that AI-powered features enhance the connected home experience

A large majority of survey participants noted that emerging AI applications have potential for both operational efficiency in the delivery of home broadband and enhanced customer experiences.

Sean Buckley

Oct. 16, 2025

5 min read

Key Highlights

97% of service providers consider AI a key tool for analyzing customer usage patterns, indicating widespread industry adoption.
42% of providers currently use AI for network traffic optimization, with many planning to expand AI deployment within the next year.
AI deployment is part of a broader strategy to develop broadband value-added services and increase revenue in mature markets.
Global broadband revenues are expected to reach $400 billion by 2030, emphasizing the importance of innovative growth strategies.
Providers are focusing on increasing broadband ARPU to sustain growth as household penetration nears saturation in many markets.

A new joint Broadband Forum and Omdia study called the “Future of the Connected Home” revealed that a large group of service providers (97%) see AI as a key tool for analyzing customer usage patterns.

Sponsored by Aprecomm, Calix, Friendly Technologies, Incognito, Motive, and Nokia, the new study presents findings from a global service provider survey of 116 companies across 32 countries.

Meanwhile, 42% of respondents advise that they use AI technology for network traffic optimization, and a third are considering it for improved energy consumption.

When it comes to the deployment of AI, 33% of respondents to the survey said that they had already deployed AI within their broadband service, a further 28% were due to launch within 6 months, and 56% within 12 months.

The implementation of AI is part of Broadband Service Providers' (BSPs) move to focus on creating broadband value-added service (VAS) home broadband offerings.

Broadband providers are at a crossroads moment. With global revenues set to rise to $400 billion by 2030, broadband access is clearly a success.

But to achieve new growth after capturing a subscriber, the study notes that “all this growth currently comes from increasing subscriptions, which are nearing saturation in mature markets as household penetration reaches its limit,” so “if telcos are to continue to grow revenue in this critical sector, it is crucial that they look also to increase broadband ARPU.”

A cautious outlook

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, forcing a large population of the workforce and even students to work from home, it should be of no surprise that work-from-home solutions were one of the fastest-growing broadband value-added services (VAS). Since the previous 2023 report, nearly 30% of BSPs have already deployed it to support this environment.

Other widely adopted services include smart or managed Wi-Fi, speed testing/diagnostics, and consumer cybersecurity. Also, in the newly surveyed VAS, parental controls have been widely deployed by BSPs.

But for all the potential of these services, the report revealed that service providers were taking a “cautious approach” when it came to VAS investments.

The report’s authors said that one of the biggest barriers was “growing uncertainty around the telcos’ ability to monetize them, especially among the smaller telcos, successfully.”

And while there was a decline in several broadband VAS areas, the report noted that broadband providers still recognize the utility of VAS, particularly in improving the home Wi-Fi experience, where investments in new services like managed Wi-Fi are being made.

As providers move forward with their managed Wi-Fi strategies, they are quickly adopting the newest Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7 technologies. According to the study, 74% offer Wi-Fi 6 technology, and 23% offer Wi-Fi 7.

The 2025 Telco Connected Home Survey supports these trends, in which 40% of respondents stated that their companies had launched Wi-Fi 6, and another 41% said that they would launch within the next six months. Likewise, another 15% stated that they had also launched Wi-Fi 7, and 53% said they would launch within the next 12 months.

Despite some near-term slowness, the study found that cybersecurity represents a potential growth area.

Still, the cybersecurity service also faces monetization challenges. On one hand, some providers are seeing penetration rates of 10–50% and cite cybersecurity as one of the most successful VAS they offer after TV and video. However, most providers struggle to get a large take rate of cybersecurity services, and others have decided to stop offering the services.

Overall, the main challenge BSPs have in growing VAS is low customer demand.

Consumers’ perception of VAS varies according to the needs of individual households and broadband demands. Some services, like cybersecurity, appeal to a broader customer base.

Service providers selling VAS also face the challenge of educating consumers about each element's value.

“For each VAS, telcos must engage and communicate with their customers, not just at the first launch of the service but continually, so they fully know and understand the value of the VAS on offer,” said the report. “All the telcos that Omdia has spoken to that have had success with VAS list good communication and customer engagement as one of the key factors that created that success. But of course, this takes expertise, time, and cost.”

USP adoption remains uneven

At the heart of enabling BSPs to move forward with VAS is the emergence of standards like the Broadband Forum’s USP/TR-369 specification.

Broadband Service Providers (BSPs) are planning to move to Broadband Forum’s User Services Platform (USP/TR-369) standard to introduce AI, Wi-Fi sensing, (Low Latency, Low Loss, and Scalable Throughput) L4S, and more into their home broadband offerings.

The role of USP is simple: a specification to deploy, implement, and manage all aspects of the home network, including consumer IoT. It creates a data model, architecture, and communications protocol to enable devices from many vendors to connect to the Wi-Fi home gateway and be managed by the broadband service provider, opening up new business model opportunities.

While USP is perceived to achieve new Wi-Fi optimization and deliver new broadband VAS and smart home managed services, not all service providers are on board yet.

During the process of constructing the study, Omdia found that while there are executives who list USP as a priority, a smaller number said they had no current deployment plans.

Omdia’s quantitative surveys revealed similar results. In one segment, 32% of respondents said that they have already started to invest in USP, but a further 29% said that they plan to do so within 6 months, and another 27% in the next 12–18 months.

The research firm said the “results were similar to those of the 2023 study, with a slight increase in the number of those already deployed.”

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About the Author

Sean Buckley

Sean is responsible for establishing and executing the editorial strategy of Lightwave across its website, email newsletters, events, and other information products.