This Appledore Research note reports from FutureNet Asia 2026, now in its sixth edition and hosted by Singtel, Axiata and Telenor Asia. The event has become a key forum for APAC operators to compare notes on autonomy, AI and monetisation, and this year the tone was notably candid.

We examine how leading CSPs are moving from ambitious use-case lists to the foundations that make value possible: cross-domain autonomy, operator-owned control layers, AI-ready data and governance for multi-agent operations. We set out our view on where agentic AI genuinely helps, why autonomy and AI must be kept distinct, and where fragmentation and legacy systems still stand in the way.

We also chart how the FutureNet agenda has evolved since 2023 and summarise how individual operators and vendors are positioning themselves.

For CSP strategy, network operations and vendor teams, this is a grounded read on what APAC operators are actually building, and what they believe they must own.

COMPANIES: Accenture, Aduna, AIS, Amdocs, AsiaInfo, Axiata, Bharti Airtel, China Telecom, Dell, Elisa, Ericsson, Huawei, IOH, Mavenir, NTT DOCOMO, NVIDIA, Oracle, P.I. Works, PLDT, Polystar, Rakuten Mobile, Rakuten Symphony, Singtel, StarHub, Telekom Malaysia, Telenor, Telkom Indonesia, Telstra, True Corporation, VIAVI, Wind River, XLSMART