Among the enterprises and network operators I talk with, respect for the current level of government functionality is limited. Given that, it’s interesting that according to a Light Reading piece, the DoD and other agencies are looking at promoting open 5G deployment by holding a forum on advancing the RIC, or RAN Intelligent Controller. This…
I doubt that there’s anyone in networking who doesn’t realize that there are some profound changes happening. In fact, they’ve been underway for some time, but as usual both vendors and operators have tried to stay the course and hope for a return of the good times. Both groups, at least at the planner level,…
We need a technical framework for network evolution if we’re to go forward with the NetCo/ServCo organizational shift the TMF paper I’ve been blogging about suggests. If the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (NGMN) could define anything useful as the model of next-generation telco-centric hosting infrastructure, it would be a great service. If they could…
Suppose that the telcos were to follow the implicit recommendation of the TMF/Tech Mahindra report I blogged on earlier, and create a “ServCo/NetCo” separation of their organization. How would that transformation happen, and where would the current organizational elements fit in the new picture? That new organization was, IMHO, the best part of the report….
There’s no shortage of material offering advice to communications service providers (CSPs), often called “network operators” or “telcos”. I’ve contributed my share in these blogs, in fact. One organization that’s specialized in the CSP space for decades, the TMF, has recently worked with Tech Mahindra to produce a paper called “Reigniting telecoms growth: A playbook…
I don’t think there’s anyone out there who wouldn’t agree that AI, and in particular generative AI, is a fast-moving technology. There are literally dozens of announcements relating to it every week, and the sum of these are creating not only increased interest and opportunity, but also increased confusion and indecision. One CIO told me…
Before the US Labor Day holiday, I promised to look at a question operators have been asking for a couple of decades. Is there a way of building networks that would reduce opex? By that, I mean “Is it possible to design infrastructure in a way that’s less opex-intensive”, and that has two answers, depending…
You probably know by now that one of my pet peeves is a technology concept that’s essentially an invitation to self-definition. Such a concept cannot fail because you get to define it around your standard of success. It’s universal because everyone sees in it what they want to see. It’s great for generating media attention…
One of the greatest frustrations for the network operators plying their broadband trade is the fact that competition demands they push speeds upward, with 1G now substandard and speeds as high as 8G being touted, even as customers reject these speeds when offered. A recent article quoted Calix as saying that less than 20% of…
If you look at the things network operators say have helped them control costs the most, opex reductions top that list for well over 90% of operators. In contrast, only 67% say that capex reductions have been a help. The problem is that almost all of the operators who say that opex reductions have helped…