AT&T (T) and D-Wave Quantum said Monday they agreed to broaden the telecommunications provider's use of quantum computing technology for network operations.

AT&T will initially integrate D-Wave's annealing quantum computing technology into tools that power its agentic AI solutions.

In earlier work, AT&T used D-Wave's technology to lower processing time for a network-optimization workload from about an hour to under 15 seconds, the companies said.

The companies plan to test the technology for additional functions, including outage detection and response, technician routing, network-build planning, and traffic management.

AT&T is also evaluating D-Wave's forthcoming gate-model systems for potential future quantum-security and quantum-communications applications.