Over the past 30 years the mobile telecom industry has used new tech to deliver the changing needs of its customers. And current trends show that hasn’t changed: telco businesses have an ongoing need to monetise their networks and services, supported by AI to optimise their resources and cut down operational costs.
In 2022, Gartner estimates that 5G infra revenue will increase to $23 billion, and IoT and private mobile networks business will also continue to grow. To support the new services, migrating telecoms networks and their operations to the cloud is key for service providers. The shift to more mission-critical enterprise and industry services, based on streaming applications, will trigger a need for flawless connectivity and optimal performance for manufacturing robotics, remote healthcare, autonomous driving, public safety and other critical services. It is an exciting time in the market, and telecom service providers are reshaping their business as a result.
The profile of the future telco
Telcos are dealing with the evolution of newer business models. This evolution is primarily driven by the smart industry, which requires ubiquitous connectivity with high reliability. This will in turn push service providers towards a rethinking of its business model and how it does things.
Telecom providers will need to offer further advanced connectivity services, delivered on demand and in real time with the highest availability and quality. The enterprise user would expect the network to operate seamlessly because critical services, such as driverless autonomous cars, precision factories and drones depend on them. SLA guarantees will increasingly become critical to the enterprise’s business model. From healthcare to transportation, smart industries will provide the impetus for connectivity providers to meeting their performance standards. For context on why telecom operators will focus on this, Research and Markets estimates the global market for Industry 4.0 to be huge: $123 billion in 2022.
Aligning with the customer for strategic objectives
Increasing intelligence is required to deal with the immense complexity, scale and diversity of use cases that the new telecoms service provider and its smart industry customers would need. To deliver the industry 5G use cases, telcos are heavily investing in fibre and connectivity. A UK-based telco is aiming high by investing £15 billion in building a nationwide full-fibre network by 2026, and providing 5G everywhere in the UK by 2028. Its top priority is creating a standout customer experience for both consumers and enterprise customers. There is a major need to monetise these new services and optimise costs, yet deliver high-quality services.
An intelligent connectivity is needed for an intelligent industry. Whether intelligence is organically built into the networks or extracted from network or customer data, it is crucial to how telecom businesses will deliver the goods for smart industries and rebuild their revenue models.
Products that support the smart industry from here on will be governed purely by what the customer demands. Innovation in products will be determined by the longevity of the product and the flexibility of the vendor to adapt and customise to the needs of the customer. This renewed focus on customers will help get the service providers’ margins back on track.
In addition, service and usage metrics are critical for the enterprise. If telcos can offer tools to check the status of the service-level agreement for a connectivity service, services will be guaranteed, and the customer will feel empowered. This shift in power from the telco to its customers is new and essential; it will enhance trust between the provider and the customer.
How to rethink for tomorrow
A change in technology and business model can bring great opportunity as well as challenges.
MYCOM OSI has helped tier-one telcos around the world achieve their business and strategic objectives for the past two decades. And by offering network assurance and experience assurance solutions, MYCOM OSI has helped them deliver the best performance to support their customers, including enterprises. MYCOM OSI’s key objective is to drive economic outcomes for telcos by reducing their CAPEX and OPEX. AIOps will be key to unlocking the potential of data for building revenue and keeping telcos fully aligned with their customers’ needs. Assuring customers of the experience of the smart industry is crucial: through clever predictions of service needs, service behaviour and network response, service providers can delight their customers and rebuild their businesses.
This blog was first posted on Business Reporter on 22nd Feb 2022: https://www.business-reporter.co.uk/management/helping-telcos-adapt-into-a-new-business-model
