One NZ speeds up network repairs with Amazon Bedrock powered AI

One NZ has implemented a new AI-powered tool to improve the speed and effectiveness of its responses to network issues, marking a shift in the way telecommunications operators handle outages and customer complaints. The company’s ‘Network Concierge’ agent employs Amazon Bedrock and AWS agentic AI to automate the analysis of network data, enabling faster diagnosis and issue resolution for customers.

The Network Concierge system collects and collates data from a variety of internal tools and systems. Customer service staff can enter a customer’s details and the AI agent retrieves performance figures, alarm status, and past incident records for a concise summary. This reduces the time required to analyse customer complaints about network coverage by 80%.

“Building on the success we’ve seen with AWS’s generative AI in our contact centres, we wanted to apply this technology to speed up diagnosis and resolution when our customers report network and coverage related issues. Our Network Concierge agent pulls everything into one place and gives our engineers clear answers in minutes, which in turn reduces wait times for customers,” said Thaigan Govender, GM Mobile Networks, One NZ.

The agentic AI system has become a critical tool during weather-related outages. During storms and power cuts, engineers must quickly determine which sites require temporary generators to maintain network services. Previously, this entailed manually examining disparate data sources, which slowed down response times.

With the new AI tool, information about network sites running low on backup power and sites deemed most critical can now be identified quickly. The tool was put to practical use during recent severe weather events in the South Island, enabling faster and more informed decision-making regarding resource deployment.

One NZ is now considering further integration of AWS agentic AI into its systems to automate more aspects of incident management and field team operations. The AI handles time-consuming data gathering tasks, allowing employees to focus on more complex and high-priority challenges.

“These new tools let our teams work smarter and much faster. Our goal is to become the world’s most AI-enabled telco. Working with companies like AWS helps us get there. By weaving AI into the way we run the network and support customers, we’re changing how we respond to outages, solve issues and deploy people on the ground. AI handles the repetitive, data gathering type work that is time consuming, and our people focus on the tricky and important things. AI-first, human when it matters most,” said Govender.

Amazon Web Services said the implementation could set a new precedent for AI use in telecommunications, emphasising operational efficiency and continuity of services for customers.

“Today, losing network connectivity even for a few minutes can disrupt people’s daily activities, and that’s why we think One NZ’s Network Concierge is so impactful. By reducing analysis time by 80%, it can help Kiwis get back online much faster. Looking ahead, this technology will predict issues before they occur and automate repairs in the background before they turn into major disruptions. One NZ’s implementation of Amazon Bedrock and agentic AI demonstrates how leading New Zealand companies are leaning into the latest AI technologies to improve customer experience and operational efficiencies, and we look forward to supporting their AI journey,” said Manuel Bohnet, Country Manager for AWS New Zealand.