“Tomorrow’s smartest utilities will not be defined by the billions of data points their meters collect, but by the intelligence they extract from them. Artificial intelligence will transform ordinary meter readings into extraordinary insights, turning information into foresight, infrastructure into intelligence, and reactive utilities into predictive enterprises. The future belongs not to those who collect the most data, but to those who understand what their data is trying to tell them.” – MJ Martin
Nokia’s Vision of 2035
On November 4, 2026, Nokia released its Global Network Traffic Report, forecasting a fundamental transformation in global communications. By 2035, worldwide network traffic could approach 3,789 exabytes monthly, nearly four times today’s levels, with artificial intelligence responsible for 44% of that traffic.
Importantly, Nokia distinguishes between AI-native traffic, representing 26%, and AI-influenced traffic, representing another 18%. The latter includes additional internet activity stimulated by AI recommendations. The forecast also includes certain cloud-based AI communications, not simply traffic crossing consumer networks.
Nokia predicts autonomous AI agent traffic will increase 160-fold, while physical AI traffic, involving intelligent robots and connected machines, will grow 105-fold. Furthermore, 36% of AI-native traffic could be served through edge and metropolitan infrastructure.
The implications are substantial. Tomorrow’s networks will increasingly resemble two-way highways carrying information between intelligent machines rather than primarily delivering content to people.
Source: Nokia Global Network Traffic Report, 2026.
Is Nokia’s Forecast Credible?
My assessment is that Nokia has correctly identified the direction of change, although its precise numerical projections deserve caution.
Ericsson’s June 2026 Mobility Report provides supporting evidence. Among 55 telecommunications operators examined, 43 experienced faster growth in upstream than downstream traffic. Ericsson also projects that AI applications could triple mobile uplink traffic between 2025 and 2031 under its medium scenario.
However, Ericsson cautions that only widely adopted, data-intensive AI applications will materially increase network traffic. More efficient compression and local processing could moderate demand.
The International Energy Agency’s 2026 research provides another supporting indicator, forecasting global data-centre electricity consumption rising from 485 TWh in 2025 to approximately 950 TWh by 2030. Nevertheless, infrastructure constraints and improving computational efficiency introduce considerable uncertainty.
Nokia’s 44% should therefore be considered a plausible planning scenario, not an inevitable outcome.
Implications for Canadian Smart Metering
For Canada’s water, natural gas, and electricity utilities, the greatest transformation will concern how metering information is interpreted, rather than how much data individual meters transmit.
Water utilities could employ AI to identify hidden leaks, recognize unusual consumption, and predict infrastructure deterioration.
Natural gas distributors could improve demand forecasting, identify abnormal consumption patterns, and combine meter readings with pressure and temperature information to strengthen operational analysis.
Electricity utilities could exploit interval readings, voltage measurements, and power-quality information to identify overloaded transformers, anticipate equipment failures, and improve outage restoration.
Importantly, Nokia acknowledges that conventional meters and sensors will remain relatively low-bandwidth devices. AI’s principal contribution will emerge through analytics platforms, data integration, and distributed intelligence.
A meter becomes considerably more valuable when its readings contribute to understanding the entire distribution network.
The Challenges and Risks
Greater intelligence introduces greater responsibility.
Cloud dependence, cybersecurity exposure, privacy concerns, communications congestion, and increasing operational costs could challenge smaller Canadian utilities.
Canada’s Cyber Centre already identifies operational technology as a significant vulnerability in critical infrastructure, particularly water systems.
AI-generated recommendations also introduce risks involving incorrect predictions, automated decisions, and excessive dependence on remote computing infrastructure.
Utilities must preserve secure communications, independent safety controls, local operating capability, and appropriate human oversight.
A Canadian Perspective
Nokia’s forecast is persuasive about technological direction, but less certain about magnitude. For Canadian utilities, the objective should not be generating more traffic simply because networks can accommodate it.
The opportunity is transforming existing meter readings into actionable intelligence while maintaining reliability, affordability, and public trust.
The essential question is whether Canadian utilities will invest primarily in smarter meters, more sophisticated networks, or the analytical intelligence capable of extracting greater value from both.
Ultimately, the intelligence of tomorrow’s utility will not be measured by how much information it collects, but by how wisely it uses that information.
Supporting Research
– The supporting research includes Nokia’s original forecast Nokia Corporation | Nokia +1,
– Ericsson’s network measurements and AI traffic scenarios Ericsson Mobility Report +1,
– the IEA’s updated energy outlook IEA,
– and the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security’s assessment of water infrastructure vulnerabilities. Canadian Centre for Cyber Security
Question to Ponder
One strategic question worth exploring further:
Should Canada’s smaller municipal utilities concentrate their investment in AI-enabled AMI analytics, or would improving the quality, accessibility, and security of their existing metering data deliver a better return on investment first?
About the Author:
Michael Martin is the Vice President of Technology with Metercor Inc., a Smart Meter, IoT, and Smart City systems integrator based in Canada. He has more than 40 years of experience in systems design for applications that use broadband networks, optical fibre, wireless, and digital communications technologies. He is a business and technology consultant. He was a senior executive consultant for 15 years with IBM, where he worked in the GBS Global Center of Competency for Energy and Utilities and the GTS Global Center of Excellence for Energy and Utilities. He is a founding partner and President of MICAN Communications and before that was President of Comlink Systems Limited and Ensat Broadcast Services, Inc., both divisions of Cygnal Technologies Corporation (CYN: TSX).
Martin served on the Board of Directors for TeraGo Inc (TGO: TSX) and on the Board of Directors for Avante Logixx Inc. (XX: TSX.V). He has served as a Member, SCC ISO-IEC JTC 1/SC-41 – Internet of Things and related technologies, ISO – International Organization for Standardization, and as a member of the NIST SP 500-325 Fog Computing Conceptual Model, National Institute of Standards and Technology. He served on the Board of Governors of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) [now Ontario Tech University] and on the Board of Advisers of five different Colleges in Ontario – Centennial College, Humber College, George Brown College, Durham College, Ryerson Polytechnic University [now Toronto Metropolitan University]. For 16 years he served on the Board of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Toronto Section.
He holds three master’s degrees – in business (MBA), communication (MA), and education (MEd). As well, he has three undergraduate diplomas and seven major certifications in business, computer programming, internetworking, project management, media, photography, and communication technology. He has completed over 80 next generation MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) [aka Micro Learning] continuous education programs in a wide variety of topics, including: Economics, Python Programming, Internet of Things, Cloud, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive systems, Blockchain, Agile, Power BI, Big Data, Design Thinking, Security, Indigenous Canada awareness, and more.
Martin is a volunteer, a photographer, a pilot, a learner, a technologist, a philosophizer, and a romantic optimist.