Appledore Research’s Telecom Digital Twin Primer offers an introduction to the essential components and concepts of a digital twin for telecom. Digital twins can revolutionize telecom operations and unlock true network autonomy. Far beyond static replicas, digital twins are evolving into dynamic, AI-integrated systems that simulate, monitor, and optimize real-world networks in real time. The report explores how agentic AI—AI that makes autonomous decisions—requires trustworthy, high-fidelity digital twins to validate actions before deployment.

Examples from AT&T and NTT Docomo illustrate how digital twins are already reshaping workflows, root cause analysis, and infrastructure planning. The primer breaks down the essential building blocks of telecom twins: inventory and topology, data pipelines, observability, models, ontologies, knowledge graphs, services, and twin-to-twin communication. It emphasizes the unique complexity of telecom networks—constantly shifting topologies and multi-vendor environments—and how inventory systems form the backbone of scalable, holistic twins.

Digital twins are no longer optional—they’re the key to unlocking proactive, intelligent networks.