Time to read: 3 minutes In telco operations and technology decision making, do you sometimes feel like you have to choose between security or a flexible, cloud-native 5G core? At times the debate and market messages can make you think that. But I would say it is quite the opposite, and here is why. Cloud migration has been widely discussed as a technology foundation for telco transformation, often assuming it will go hand in hand with the introduction of 5G. Part of the discussion has concerned the security of cloud-native 5G core networks. “Hacking 5G is too easy” is something you hear people ..read more

Time to read: 3 minutesThe mobile telecom world is driven by data, not just the transactional data between a user and the internet but the data about the user, their subscription, their physical devices etc. How this data is managed and secured is a major issue, as the ecosystem of what is stored, where it is stored and who has access, is evolving quickly. Not updating the data security strategy will be a red-flag for a move to cloud-native storage and management, and this could ultimately impair business flexibility. Subscribers are arguably an operator’s most valuable asset. Protecting thei ..read more

Time to read: 2 minutes Virtualization and disaggregation architectures such as Open RAN give mobile operators the freedom to choose best-of-breed products from multiple vendors. That’s a welcome break from the longstanding tradition of being locked into a single supplier. Or is it? A lot of mobile operators aren’t so sure - according to a Q1 2022 survey of 44 Tier 1 and 2 providers around the world by the Technology Innovation Council. Operators were asked about their deployment concerns, priorities and strategies for their 5G cores and subscriber data management, including their perception ..read more

Time to read: 4 minutes The extreme focus on network stability led to the tremendous success of 8.2 billion mobile subscriptions in 2021. Stability made the core network a revenue generating machine. But what worked in the past does not always work today, as we see many operators struggling to secure a return on their 5G investments. Revenues are flat because operator differentiation is limited, resulting in the delivery of more data for less income. The focus on stability provided a steady revenue stream, but the average revenue per subscriber (ARPU) keeps declining. As a result, many operato ..read more

Time to read: 3 minutes Telecom operators and their customers love freedom. So why don’t they have it? Nobody likes lock-ins, especially during times of economic turbulence and inflation. Consumers, for example, hate being forced into contracts where they have to buy a big bundle of services just to get the ones they really want. And telecom operators hate being locked into a single vendor’s ecosystem instead of being able to choose best-of-breed hardware, software and services from multiple suppliers. Lock-in contempt isn’t a new phenomenon, of course, but hyper-inflation and hyper-competitio ..read more

Time to read: 3 minutes In the race for 5G deployments we have spent a lot of time focused on speed and latency and rollout. Rightly so, as these have retail value in the market and demonstrate the clear differentiator between 4G and 5G. When we look at the use cases in their diversity and the richer set of users and devices this will create, it is important to look at how these subscriptions to the network are managed. After all, getting the right data to the right part of the network at the right time will enable proper authentication and management of resources consumed – which will in turn ..read more

Time to read: 4 minutes It’s here. After the hype, commercial and enterprise 5G adoption is finally becoming a reality. According to data published by the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), the number of companies investing in private LTE or 5G mobile networks increased by 20% between 2020 and 2021 – a figure that will only continue to increase as more use-cases are realized. What’s more interesting, however, is that of those companies polled, nearly half (44%) have already deployed 5G for a private mobile network or plan to do so in the near future. What this data amounts to is an unq ..read more

Time to read: 3 minutes The first couple of things people think about with 5G are speed of access, or connecting all sorts of devices in different environments. We have seen commercials where planes can be landed from someone’s home living room (current UK 5G ad) or utopian views of how every device will connect and we will have tomorrow’s world here today – in an instant! What is generally not considered is that beyond just connecting people and devices, data resources should be controlled, usage tracked, and a seamless and safe telecom environment created.  This safe telecom environment ..read more

Time to read: 2 minutes Global economic turbulence and political tensions are impacting the basic economic reality of cost for almost every industry. The telecom industry is no exception and is not insulated from this scenario. The cost of goods and energy consumed cannot be directly passed on to users because the disposable income of users is under the same pressure. Leading network infrastructure providers are being impacted by the increasing costs of hardware and services. Ongoing supply chain issues are becoming a major constraint, notably within the network infrastructure and optical net ..read more

Time to read: 2 minutes The telecoms industry regards itself as one of the most innovative, so why is it twice as polluting as aviation? If technology is the key to unlocking net zero, surely one of the most technologically advanced industries should be leading the way, shouldn’t it? According to a recent report, ICT and telecoms companies worldwide have a carbon footprint two times the size of the aviation industry. That’s a cause for concern, particularly as telecoms alone accounts for around 2% of global energy demand - a figure that’s only likely to increase as the world becomes more conn ..read more