With 101,000 in-person attendees, Cellular World Congress (MWC), one of the necessary annual tech occasions in Europe, practically returned to pre-pandemic attendance ranges. The occasion had nice vitality and positivity and was very nicely acquired. In 2024, MWC was about all tech subjects, past simply telco themes. MWC ‘24 felt extra like a B2B than B2C occasion and was dominated by the massive themes of AI and APIs. I’ve now had a while to mirror on these MWC themes, and my observations are that:
- The ServeCo vs. NetCo debate remains to be ongoing. NetCos deal with the community platform play, pushed by price discount and infrastructure consolidation potential, exemplified by Nokia and Ericsson’s effectivity efforts. Possession of nationwide community infrastructure is debated amid growing nationwide safety considerations. Regulation will closely affect NetCos’ future, with fashions such because the UK’s Openreach and Australia’s nbn (Nationwide Broadband Community) serving as examples. ServeCos, alternatively, emphasize the API play, requiring telcos to shift towards network-aware purposes and expanded companies. Asian carriers like Axiata and Jio are main this evolution. A holding construction, as explored by Liberty World, may combine each ServeCo and NetCo fashions underneath one umbrella.
- Carriers are pursuing deeper alliances for his or her telco API initiatives. The GSMA Open Gateway initiative, working underneath the CAMARA framework, facilitates standardized telco APIs, forming an ecosystem of 47 carriers overlaying 65% of worldwide connections. With practically 100 community APIs, CAMARA allows common entry for builders, aiming to make sure constant service supply throughout provider networks. It accelerates service deployment and helps software-as-a-service suppliers. Community APIs empower builders with capabilities resembling SIM swaps and quality-on-demand connectivity, fostering innovation and income alternatives. Success is determined by efficient provider collaboration and overcoming challenges associated to monetization and conventional cost mindsets.
- Clouds are “blowing” into the community core and the RAN. Carriers are adapting to a service-oriented and versatile price base, collaborating intently with hyperscalers like AWS, Azure, and Google. Community tools distributors and rising cloud-based suppliers are additionally shaping the panorama. Cloud RAN is a part of this evolution, aiming for a completely open agile community. Carriers more and more anticipate open RAN choices from distributors however stay cautious about operational modifications. Conventional provider mindsets pose hurdles to community developments, emphasizing the necessity for openness to alter and stronger partnerships. Community cloudification, a long-term course of, prompts carriers to reevaluate methods amid rising public cloud prices and whole price of possession considerations.
- The potential for carrier-hyperscaler competitors is rising. Relationships between carriers and hyperscalers will probably be redefined by the community cloudification development. As hyperscalers are pushing to deploy public cloud options inside core and radio entry networks in addition to OSS and BSS, this poses threat to the carriers’ worth propositions. There may be nothing inevitable about hyperscalers consuming the carriers’ lunch. However hyperscalers should be cautious to not abuse their more and more highly effective place vis-à-vis the carriers. Regulators are more likely to focus extra on the connection between hyperscalers and carriers as networks change into extra cloudified, not least from a nationwide safety perspective.
- AI and genAI will play a a lot better position for telcos going ahead. Telcos have built-in AI into community lifecycle administration, specializing in automation to fine-tune {hardware} and software program for vitality effectivity and reliability. AI’s position is increasing in community assurance, zero-touch operations, and edge purposes. Generative AI (genAI) is rising in telcos, initially specializing in service empowerment and assist by way of examples resembling Ask Telstra and SK Telecom’s A. Deutsche Telekom’s T Cellphone with Mind.ai and Qualcomm represents a step towards app-free AI telephones. Telco massive language fashions are facilitating efficient inside information base searches for workers and can more and more allow intent-based community administration, as seen with Aira RANGPT and NetMaster. The AI-RAN Alliance, launched at MWC ‘24, goals to remodel radio infrastructure utilizing AI to optimize RAN asset utilization and QoS, in addition to unlock new income streams. Key members embody Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, Microsoft, and AWS, specializing in spectral effectivity, RAN operational effectivity, digital twins, and AI readiness for 5G and 6G RAN evolution.
- Stratosphere community protection is rising as a further community “channel.” Excessive-altitude platform stations (HAPS) have been round for many years, however curiosity in them is rising, as they probably supply fascinating alternatives for carriers to “plug holes’’ of their broadband community protection. HAPS, like fixed-wing aircraft-type autos, flow into at about 60,000 ft above floor, which in area phrases is “a stone’s throw away,” and so they can keep there for weeks. This makes them basically a “cell tower within the sky” and allows direct hyperlinks to telephones on the bottom — in contrast to LEO, MEO, or GEO constellations. HAPS cowl a couple of 400-km. radius with round 250 cell towers. Therefore, key HAPS gamers like AALTO, Aerostar, or Stratospheric Platforms unlock a number of wants for cell community operators, resembling supporting very low latency and excessive bandwidth, offering direct-to-handset connectivity, and providing cost-effective connectivity for underserved, rural, blue-light/navy, and catastrophe restoration utilization situations.
Forrester shoppers can join with me by way of an inquiry or steering session to debate these subjects in additional depth.
