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The Massive Enterprise Opportunity For The Telecom Sector

The telecom industry has historically been focused on individual consumers who consume a bunch of services including voice, video, Internet, and other communication services. But almost every telecom company now finds the B2C market saturated, with little or no scope for differentiation or driving long-term innovation. The current challenges of the B2C market are a great driver to turn towards the B2B landscape to target large-scale enterprise customers to capture a bigger market share and achieve higher revenue.

The enterprise opportunity

Most global telecommunication carriers are largely focused on capturing growth in the consumer segment. But increasingly saturating mobile markets, the constant disruption from OTT providers, and growing price wars have put the B2C market under immense pressure.

Although large enterprise customers already have established, long-term contracts with Cisco, AT&T, Dell, and others for wired connectivity and Microsoft, AWS, Google, and others for cloud connectivity, there is sufficient room for a telecom service provider to provide the backbone for these solutions. This is in addition to the increasing demand for robust connectivity by the small and medium enterprise clients that presents a massive growth opportunity for telecom providers. This is especially evident in today’s post-pandemic age, where almost every business is looking to go digital.

But it’s not just higher growth rates that are enticing; along with growth, telcos also stand the chance of improving their profit margins, especially as digitally-savvy, new-age companies are willing to pay more for modern and differentiated services. As data services act as the foundation on which a broader Information and Communications Technology portfolio can be built, they present a great starting point for telcos to venture into the B2B world via the delivery of Managed, IoT, and unified communications and security services.

The benefits for enterprise customers

In the extremely crowded and competitive telecom market, enterprise customers offer a huge opportunity to drive business-wide transformation. As revenues across the B2C segment slowly stagnate, the B2B market acts as a treasure trove of opportunities, especially in today’s age of hybrid work.

As a massive number of enterprises across the world now leverage the hybrid workplace model to run their business, they find themselves struggling to keep up with the pace of modernization. The presence of outdated legacy systems and siloed tools restrict them from efficiently running their operations, while also hampering the experience employees and customers have with the business.

Although telecom providers have always been laser-focused on consumers to grow revenue through individual and residential services, as the pressure to digitalize intensifies post-pandemic, telecom companies can drive exceptional growth and success by targeting the enterprise customer, allowing them to:

Re-architect, refactor or replace complex legacy communications networks and systems
Move away from wired networks toward more efficient and scalable wireless options
Reduce the cost and complexity of managing rigid systems and bring innovations into the market
Enhance the ability of the enterprise network to combat threats while protecting the business, employees, and customers from cyberattacks
Improve the speed and efficiency with which enterprises within the business as well as with customers and partners
Meet service delivery requests in a way that best meets end-user expectations

The benefits for telcos

Telcos seeking to establish direct and strong relationships with enterprise customers have several reasons to now venture into the B2B market to sell modern and innovative services and fundamentally disrupt existing offerings. Leveraging agile and digital savvy tools can aid in creating new kinds of customer-centric solutions and bring them to market at an unprecedented pace.

Migrating to the B2B space is not only a good way to expand the footprint and enhance digital connectivity; it is also becoming a crucial element of business strategy and operations. Here are 3 reasons why it’s time for telecom companies to leverage the massive enterprise opportunity:

Drive innovation across industries: Unlike with individual customers where opportunities for innovation and scalability are limited, with enterprise customers, telcos can drive innovation that scales across industries. Telcos that capitalize on trends like 5G can enable manufacturers to more efficiently support critical applications, energy companies to remotely monitor their grids, healthcare agencies to deliver intelligent healthcare, and more. Other options include seamlessly bringing together M2M, Big Data, and AI to create a new world of business messaging. The ability to scale innovation across industries is a great way to seamlessly expand its footprint in the B2B space and boost revenue.
Exploit the as-a-service model: With the demand for SaaS-based offerings constantly surging, the enterprise market offers a great chance for telecom companies to keep up with the demand. As companies across manufacturing, retail, education etc. seek greater connectivity, speed, and efficiency, the as-a-service model is a great way to deliver top-notch cloud, IoT, edge computing, Unified Communications, and other advanced communications services to take the business to the next level.
Offer better platforms and bundles: The enterprise market also allows telecom companies to enhance their reach through the delivery of better platforms and bundles. For instance, telecom companies that offer connectivity services to a car manufacturer can also provide bundled services for consumers’ personal devices such as their phones and tablets. These bundled services can not only improve compatibility; they can also streamline the end-user experience.

For an industry that has largely targeted only individual consumers, the enterprise market offers a great opportunity for telcos to expand market share, reach new customers, and drive higher revenue. Although the concept is relatively new, prioritizing digital connectivity to conduct business operations should be a top priority for telecom companies in the coming years, especially as robust connectivity infrastructure has now become the backbone for smooth, resilient, and efficient business execution. Moving to the enterprise can not only aid in maximizing profits; it can also empower telcos to capture the low-hanging fruit and build a framework for continuous evolution and transformation.

A Look Back at the Movers and Shakers at MWC 2022

The MWC Barcelona 2022 welcomed 61,000 physical attendees this year and we are happy to report that we contributed to this number. It was a phenomenal experience being a part of all the buzz and excitement and witnessing it as we used to in the past.

The conference saw thousands of companies from across the globe represent the different facets of the industry. We received the opportunity to sponsor an event organized by Mobile Ecosystem Forum and are happy to report that our event saw great participation.

One of the largest and most influential events for the connectivity industry, this year’s edition saw over 1000 speakers, 1500+ exhibitors, 37 country pavilions. Here is a look at what the key highlights of the event were:

The Metaverse is all around

The tech world has latched on to the Meta concept ever since Facebook rebranded itself as Meta. The conversation around the metaverse has only increased since and it is now being positioned as the next big thing with platforms and services rendered in 3D virtual environments. MWC 2022 saw a rising crescendo with many companies announcing different kinds of Metaverse collaborations. FC Barcelona’s club president Joan Laporta, for example, announced that the sports club would “build its metaverse as part of a strategy to attract new supporters” and leverage the technology to support growth. For telecom companies, this means new opportunities as innovative and immersive solutions emerge and demand robust, quick, and highly-available bandwidth as the enabling infrastructure.

5G connections to witness record growth

The GSMA reported that 5G connections would surpass 1 billion in 2022. This number is expected to reach 2 billion by 2025. By the end of 2025, 5G is expected to represent one in five of the total number of mobile connections.

5G accounts for a larger share of global mobile connections than 3G or 4G has at the same point in their lifecycles. Innovative plans, an increasing number of 5G handset sales, video streaming, and network coverage expansions are some of the key contributors to this growth.

We can now expect to see a greater focus by telecom companies on network capability initiatives to support consumer and enterprise use cases across 5G including 5GmmWave, 5G Advanced, Private networks, etc.

AR, VR, and XR gain momentum

The MWC 2022 also pointed out the rising interest in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality applications. Supercharged by meta, AR and VR are seeing increasing interest in the consumer space. Advances in computing power and consumer-friendly devices and applications have contributed to the rise of these technologies. These technologies are also finding applications in improving worker safety in industries such as manufacturing, oil, and gas, automobiles, etc where workers need unobtrusive, and hands-free devices to work.

The conference also revealed that Extended Reality (XR) will also come into the AR/VR mix and will roughly generate around generate $1.5 trillion in GDP by 2030, especially as the focus on user experience increases. This is a massive opening for telcos looking to layer business applications on top of their services for greater value add.

Service provider trend updates

The results of the study commissioned by Cavell Group revealed the lasting impact of the pandemic on service providers. The report revealed that one-third of the enterprises would be looking at changing service providers in 2022 as enterprises look at improving ‘band-aid’ responses and move towards enabling a hybrid work environment. Some of the major trends the report identifies are:

Service providers are under increased pressure to create new revenue sources and buttress margins and drive differentiation and retention with unified communication assuming strategic priority across enterprises.
Distributed video, Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS), Contact Centre as a Service, and CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service) services will see increased demand as the need to recreate in-person experiences continues
Service providers will have to increase service offerings in data, voice data, and other analytics

The hyperscale and OTT market is expected to become even more competitive in 2022

Enterprises will be looking at tightening up across infrastructures including communication infrastructures to navigate the compliance, security, governance landscape. Ransomware and risk-mitigation solutions will also grow in prominence. These developments will need service providers to become more agile and develop capabilities to deliver new and differentiated service offerings.

The global service provider industry will have to grow and adapt to the changes brought on by the distribution of workforces over the last two years and as threats and opportunities demand a rethinking of the traditional role of the service provider.

In Conclusion

We showcased some new-age solutions in areas like messaging, security, and even AI-led solutions that simplify onboarding for a new age of mobile service provider.

Powerful conversations around edge computing were also a highlight of the event as edge cloud enables architectural innovation to effectively build and evolve the 5G network cost-effectively.

Along with this, there were some major announcements such as Cisco’s Private 5G as-a-Service offer to enterprises to fuel productivity with mass-scale IoT adoption. The MWC also saw a number of product launches and a few big press conferences. Mobile was also at the centre of policy debates as political, regulatory, and telecom leaders debates issues challenging the telecom world and had pertinent conversations regarding economic recovery and creating a more digitally inclusive world.

The MWC 2022 saw some powerful discussions and keynotes and some phenomenal innovations. There was, however, a resonating theme across conversations amongst industry leaders – that mobile technology has been driving transformation. The MWC provides those operating the mobile and communication space a fabulous platform to collaborate, share insights and deliver innovations to drive positive business environments and societal change.

The Coming Roller Coaster Ride for Private Networks

The chorus of industry voices is now drawing our attention to the rise of private networks. As the world becomes increasingly smaller owing to rising connectivity, private networks offer the opportunity to further shrink the world of business while ensuring elevated interactions and seamless communication.

Today, high-speed, ultra-reliable, low-latency, high-density, power-efficient, wireless connectivity has become essential for enterprises. As such it hardly comes as a surprise to see enterprises looking for solutions that help them manage their sprawling wireless LAN ecosystems.

Data has also become an essential commodity in the wake of a growing appetite for 5G and WAN connections. Safeguarding data also now emerges as a top priority.

Private networks are becoming uniquely positioned to offer a solution to these challenges. They promise enterprises the capability to keep their data protected while providing the capacity and superior connectivity needed to realize the advantages of technology applications such as M2M and IoT.

What are private networks?

A private network is a telecommunication network that is built and operated by a telecommunication provider and is built specifically for an individual enterprise. These networks are usually deployed on a single site and extended across the length and breadth of the enterprise. Private LTE/5G networks can also help address wide-area network requirements, such as a utility’s need to monitor a transmission network.

While a private network needs similar elements as a public network, these networks are different from public mobile networks in some specific ways. That said, they can capably manage and provide support to the wide-area network requirements of the enterprise while supporting tools acquired from the consumer smartphone market.

The private networks, however, need spectrum. The spectrum can be leased from a carrier or another spectrum owner. These networks also need a virtualized core, be it as proprietary equipment from a vendor or disaggregated hardware and software from one or more different vendors. The core can also be commodity hardware that runs open-source software.

Apart from containing the database of subscribers and SIM management, the core ensures complete control over how and which users connect and their usage parameters. The other functions of the core include traffic shaping, billing and data plan rules, quality of service rules, and network monitoring-related parameters.

Private networks improve speed, latency, privacy, and security for enterprise network operations. This is so because the network traffic stays bounded “on-premise” and does not need to be sent back and forth to a core network in a distant location.

With the world moving towards becoming even more connected than it is today, the growing value of data and increasing data needs of technologies such as IoT, leveraging private networks seems like an attractive next step for enterprises. For telecom providers, this spells tremendous opportunity. They stand to gain as enterprises lean towards high-performing and reliable wireless networking solutions to drive business outcomes.

New factors contributing to the continuing rise of private networks

The role of private networks in enterprise operations is well understood. As we have seen, the use-cases are many and the benefits clear. The interesting thing now is the many new application scenarios, use-cases, and prospective user segments that are emerging to further drive up the buzz around private networks.

The conversation around digital transformation has become increasingly louder. This has changed how data is viewed, stored, collected, and analysed. This is compelling regulators to contemplate and help create an environment that enables responsible usage of data and other public resources in enterprise digital transformation paradigms. Given this, regulators across the globe have to look at models to drive spectrum licensing by taking inspiration from the existing licensing models across Germany, the UK, or the US (shared licensing) model.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic also cannot be ignored in contributing to the rising demand in private networks. Schools, districts, municipalities, and other segments that do not fall under the addressable market associated with private networks need digital capabilities. As such they are now looking at deploying private LTE networks to add and leverage digital capabilities that will increase their reach and improve accessibility.

For telecom providers, the focus, so far, has been towards enabling enterprise mobility and WAN networks. However, with telecommunications becoming the lifeblood of the modern enterprise, telecom providers now have ample opportunity to increase their service portfolio and help enterprises embrace digital transformation and keep pace with technological transformations.

However, before we realize the true potential of private networks, telecom providers will have to address the existing network slicing challenges. Network slicing is one of the most compelling capabilities promised by 5G. Telcos will have to identify how to apply different slices to different enterprises connecting to their core network while ensuring that the same is not implemented among different application types and device groups within the same enterprise. As such telcos will now have to understand enterprise IT needs better and build compelling programs to address the enterprises’ communication needs.

Enabling technology adoption, driving digital transformation, and cloud-enabled/driven everything is table stakes now for enterprises. For telecom providers, this spells tremendous opportunity. Talk to us to understand more about the possibilities and challenges of adopting such next-gen technologies.

Is It Time For The Next-Gen Option To OTP?

Two-factor authentication is now a staple in the business world when it comes to validating customer communications. Allowing businesses to verify user identity through two or more authentication mechanisms, the method has been helping in adding an extra layer of protection to any sign-in process and protecting the business against breaches due to lost or stolen credentials.

While receiving a code or OTP on a registered mobile device for one login or transaction has been one of the most popular authentication mechanisms, it is now time for the next-gen option to OTP: Flash Call!

What are the challenges associated with OTP?

When users try to log into an app or try to make a banking transaction, OTP has been the go-to choice for secure authentication. According to reports, SMS-based authentication revenue will reach$39 billion globally in 2022, representing 5% of total operator-billed revenue.

Although OTPs help adds an additional layer of security, they bring with them their own set of challenges. For instance,

OTPs are known to be inconvenient and not very user-friendly. Users who aren’t very tech-savvy often find the OTP process confusing, unnecessary, or even cumbersome.
OTPs demand a reliable cell phone signal as well as sufficient battery life, which when not guaranteed, can result in delivery failures.
Many times, due to poor network, users fail to receive the OTP or receive it very late, requiring them to reinitiate the authentication process all over again – causing a high level of frustration, especially with banking transactions.
Some OTPs that are sent to the mailbox also tend to be delayed or land in the spam folder, which again leads to lost access.
For apps or transactions that make use of 3rd party messaging providers, users are also likely to incur a per-text charge to access their OTP and go ahead with the authentication process.
When using a mobile application that initiates an OTP process, toggling between the app window and the SMS window isn’t always everyone’s cup of tea; there is also the possibility of the wrong code being entered by the user, which requires users to start over again.
Users who need to authenticate a login while travelling abroad often do not receive an OTP because they do not have the international roaming facility enabled on their device.
For users whose OTP device is lost or stolen, multiple login attempts by bad actors can permanently lock them out of their accounts.

That apart, SMS is also the target of fraud and prone to security issues created by routing through questionable providers and grey routes.

What is Flash Call?

As the latest method for two-factor authentication, Flash Call reduces the widespread dependency on OTP, while helping overcome issues about inconvenience, data security, and lack of user-friendliness. It uses voice – instead of messaging – for authentication and is a far more customer-centric and cost-efficient solution to authenticate users, helping verify a user’s identity – without involving an SMS code. Since it involves no user interaction, Flash Call has the potential to disrupt the highly established A2P SMS market.

For instance, the global messaging app WhatsApp is reportedly working on integrating Flash Call as an alternative to OTP. Instead of making users enter a one-time, 6-digit code that they receive by SMS, the new Flash Call feature will allow WhatsApp to directly make a call to their device and verify the phone number – without users having to take any action. Such authentication will not overcome all the drawbacks of OTP; it will also pave the way for quicker verification and improved customer satisfaction.

How does it help businesses?

Flash Calling authentication is expected to near 128 billion calls globally by 2026; here’s how the new mechanism can aid businesses:

Accelerate the authentication process: Unlike the time-consuming OTP process where users have to open their SMS application to check for the OTP and enter it to authenticate themselves, Flash Call automates this verification process – without users having to do anything. As an automatic call is made – and then rejected – and the last four digits are automatically inserted, the device is instantly verified – thus accelerating the authentication process.
Offer a richer user experience: Flash Call allows businesses to have a greater ability to customize the user interface, the overall user experience is richer and more engaging. Since users no longer have to go back and forth between apps, there is a considerable increase in user satisfaction, which, in the long run, can also lead to better loyalty and retention.
Improve conversion rates: Flash Call is also a great way to improve conversion rates. Since users are no longer distracted by receiving and entering one-time passwords, businesses can pave the way for automatic verification and ensure quicker user signup – which can result in improved conversion rates in the long run.
Enable better security: Flash Calls are also known to more secure and amenable to privacy. Since the mechanism cannot be intercepted or terminated by fraudsters, it results in a higher level of security. At the same time, for apps or transactions that are used across multiple devices, Flash Call will make it easier and safer for users to log in to each device separately.
Reduce operational costs: Businesses today end up spending way too much money running their business for activities that span marketing, online advertising, analytics, and more. Common 2-factor authentication mechanisms like OTP only add to these costs, especially in countries where operators charge high rates for SMS and phone calls. Flash Call is a great alternative to the expensive OTP, allowing businesses to save a considerable sum on the authentication process.

As a new technology that can be used to authenticate users, Flash Call is a great alternative to the traditional, costly, and ineffective OTP authentication method. Not only does it enable quicker and more efficient authentication; it also aids in improving the end-user experience through automated verification. Given the numerous benefits it offers over OTP, Flash Call might just become a hot favourite for commerce, payments, and telecom companies. When that happens, let us show you how a powerful new alternative to OTP could work!

5 “New-Age” Digital Solutions that Could Occupy the Thoughts of Telecom Leaders

The digital revolution, driven by high-speed internet connectivity and a plethora of software products and services has become the backbone of social, economic, and technological prosperity today. Communication systems are evolving. As the technology landscape matures and provides more robust solutions to help enterprises and businesses navigate a complex, dynamic, and competitive business world, new and creative business models, products, and services are emerging to fulfil consumer demands.

The telecom sector has a pivotal role to play in this dynamic new age.
Here is a look at five new-age digital solutions that telecom leaders should care about

CPaaS and telecom

The CPaaS market has been on an incremental and steady rise. The demand for cloud communications expanded use cases and prompted new suppliers to enter the market. CPaaS, or Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS), allows organizations to cherry-pick real-time communications features, such as voice, video, and messaging, and embed them into business apps and services. This delivery model allows organizations to customize their communication stack and allows employees to communicate with each other and with customers on a platform and device they want.

CPaaS is cloud-based and software-driven and allows application developers and product owners to tap into and leverage digital and mobile features without having to build or locate any of the expensive physical network infrastructures.

While API providers and network owners are riding the CPaaS wave, it is time for telecom providers to identify how to cash in as well. Telecom providers often do not partner with CPaaS developers since they offer few APIs. The process infrastructure also tends to increase the time-to-market.

However, telecom leaders have the opportunity to get a share of the CPaaS pie since they have access to mass telephony. The cost and routing control, the database of phone numbers, and SIP or traditional switch infrastructure can be put to use to deliver a value proposition for CPaaS.

That apart, telecom companies can extend their services to a wider range of sectors such as entertainment, gaming, fintech, social media, etc. to advance their projects that blend video, voice, text, data analysis, and interactive communications and help deliver better feature-rich services.

IoT

Forecasts estimate that there will be more than 50 billion connected IoT devices in use across the globe by 2030. The greatest advantage that the telecom companies have is that of the infrastructure that exists with mobile phone towers and internet cables infrastructure serving the groundwork for creating new solutions and services based on 5G and IoT.

The IoT market is also expected to reach $381.16 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 24% as IoT use cases and industry adoption continues to increase rapidly. Apart from the use of IoT in home automation where the role of the telecom providers becomes that of providing exceptional mobile and network connectivity, there are significant opportunities for telecom companies to leverage in industries such as manufacturing, security, agriculture, logistics, smart cities, etc. that run on IoT.

Especially as 5G arrives, there will be a need for IoT specialists to help telecom companies implement the technology into existing infrastructure and business processes. Some telecom companies might need to build their own IoT platforms that aid the development of custom products and services to meet customer needs.

Telecom can not only help organizations adopt IoT to drive better outcomes but can develop IoT-linked products and services. IoT connectivity services and data storage and management are the usual suspects of where telecom providers come into the picture. Telcos can also provide better data and analytics from IoT-generated data and help businesses extract valuable insights from raw metrics.

Telecom leaders can drive real-time asset monitoring by employing extended communications networks in conjunction with cloud computing to collect signals from embedded devices and deliver them to the industry-tailored applications.

By adding IoT to their offering mix, telecom leaders can increase revenues by offering IoT services and solutions, retaining clients, and attracting new ones.

Edge Computing

Edge computing is gradually becoming a mainstay in the digital solutions toolbox especially as 5G explodes onto the scene. Analysts reveal that almost 75% of enterprise-generated data is expected to be created and processed outside the cloud or the traditional data centre by 2025. Most cloud computing giants such as AWS and Google are not ready for operating in massively distributed and remote edge environments.

The need to run edge computing at a massively distributed scale and the increasing reliance on the cloud to enable remote/hybrid work has accelerated the race to 5G adoption. With edge computing coming into the picture, telecom leaders have a greater chance for market dominance. This is because the hyperscale data centre advantage demonstrated by public cloud providers becomes irrelevant at the edge even though the uniform software stack advantage persists.

With 5G, organizations can distribute workloads to run at the Edge and reshape cloud computing and user experiences. 5G offers increased distribution, greater network speed and reliability, and the capability to provide new experiences because of reduced latency. These experiences will be powered by applications running on the network edge in contrast to running in the cloud.

For telcos, this means accelerating their move from a hardware-driven appliance model into a software-defined architecture and developing the capabilities and taking advantage of open-source technologies like Kubernetes as a potential foundation for 5G deployment. Delivering higher performance, lower latency, distributed scale, and stringent SLAs will become essential for telecoms as 5G and Edge become the next cloud disrupters.

Rich Communication Service (RCS)

RCS or Rich Communication Service is now emerging as the successor of SMS services. RCS is a feature-rich messaging service that allows organizations to create richer conversations with their customers. RCS delivers the eye-catching function of OOT applications and also leverages the unbeatable reach of SMS.

WhileRCS is not going to replace OTT applications, native messaging based on RCS is the next evolution of operator-led SMS and will play a big role in the new messaging environment. Customers are also ready to embrace RCS with some major brands already leveraging RCS heavily.

Telecom leaders have to work towards providing fully interoperable, RCS-based cross-operator advanced messaging platforms and develop the right partnerships with aggregators, and connectivity service providers to ride the RCS boom.

AR and VR

AR and VR are attracting a lot of attention today as these technologies are in the next stage of delivering new value propositions. They are now moving out of the realm of gaming and finding real-world applications across industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, worker safety, and compliance, aviation, oil, and gas, etc.

Telecom providers can dip their toes in the AR and VR pool since they are an essential part of the ecosystem. They help with the discovery and delivery segment and help subscribers find differentiated AR experiences.

While telecom companies do not stand great monetization opportunities directly from AR presently, they can leverage AR to drive better operational excellence with improved network inspection/maintenance, repairs, inventory management, workforce training, customer service, etc. using AR-based remote assistance.

Interestingly, the rise of digital solutions and the pursuant push towards digital transformation also demands a convergence between IT and telecom. Whether it is IoT, CPaaS, Edge computing, RCS, or the use of immersive technologies such as AR and VR, the telecom sector has a role to play as the enabler of everything.

2022 Priorities for telecom leaders

Over the past few years, telcos have come under pressure to identify new modes to add value to customers as traditional value pools deplete. This year, the telecom industry is geared to face new challenges and opportunities as the technological, regulatory, and competitive environments continue to evolve and change.

While augmenting network capacity by enabling wireless and fibre deployments to fulfil the demand for high-speed networks, telecom providers will also have to enhance the customer experience to remain relevant in this increasingly competitive market.

Some of the priorities for telecom providers in 2022 are:

Enhance customer experience

Industry surveys reveal that 56% of telecom operators rank enhancing customer experience as one of their top priorities for 2022. Research shows that 82% of telecom consumers would consider alternatives if they experience a poor customer journey. 27% of them would abandon the purchasing process entirely.

Telecom providers thus must identify ways to create more viable alternatives to deliver high-quality communication and internet services and identify opportunities to make new service and bundled service offerings.

Telecom players will have to identify how to redefine their interaction models and offer more Uber-like online experiences and also assess how they can leverage technologies such as AI, ML, Big Data, and analytics to redefine service delivery and enhance value capture models.

They also have to identify ways to continuously add value by streamlining new offerings to match an evolving voice market and support their customers with new models and technologies.

Adopting the managed services model

In 2022, telecom players will grow in their role of being business enablers. As the pandemic continues to influence the way people live and work, telecom players will have to identify ways to enable customer success by delivering end-to-end managed services.

Comprehensive managed services such as switch partitioning, geographically distributed switches with redundant connections to the Internet providers become important capabilities. That apart, burstable bandwidth and switch port usage flexibility, and the capacity to manage billing, accounting, credit monitoring, deal management, market management, dispute management, fraud control and usage alert, traffic report, and various other services are other essential capabilities to develop.

Routing optimization drives RoI

Telecom players have to look at optimizing revenues and plugging leaks to improve business outcomes. Establishing cost-efficient traffic routes, optimizing operations by efficiently routing voice traffic will be critical contributors of the same. Technologies such as AI and ML will emerge as enablers with deep analytics facilitating improved decision making.

Telecom players will have to leverage comprehensive technology solutions to make intelligent routing decisions and ensure improved call quality and the best rates. We cannot ignore the role of enabling technologies like AI and ML to drive greater efficiency for voice traffic and maximize the ROI.

Eliminating friction

Telecom players will have to eliminate friction from all customer and user interactions to accelerate growth. They have to gear up to support evolving customer needs and deliver elevated user experiences by providing world-class service.

Leveraging technologies such as API’s telecom players can integrate voice calling within applications and enable their clients to receive and control calls across global locations.

Telecom players have to also identify ways to build their virtual presence with geographically specific numbers and capably service their customers.

Rich Communication Messaging will need to rise

Telcom players will also have to enable businesses to upgrade from SMS to RCS especially as feature-rich messaging assumes the role of a new business driver. Much like proprietary messaging applications, RCS offers some rich features and allows compelling media exchanges. RCS is all geared to disrupt the world of business messaging by delivering a more compelling messaging experience.

The coming of 5G is further aiding the adoption of RCS messaging with 67.44% of online consumers located across Australia, Brazil, China, South Africa, the UK, and the US stating that they were already using a telco-based rich messaging service or would like to do so in the near future.

Telecom providers thus have to look at ways of upgrading their ecosystem by developing the right partnerships with aggregators, connectivity service providers and meeting the market demand for RCS.

Plug revenue leaks

As with every year, this year too, telecom players have to look for ways to plug revenue leaks and improve revenue opportunities by identifying new business opportunities, increasing their customer base, and improving brand recognition. Recent research shows that between 2020 -2024 telecom operators could be looking at revenue leaks amounting to an approximate $37.1 billion, or an annual average leakage of $7.69 billion to grey route traffic.

Adding new-age technology solutions powered by intelligent technologies such as AI thus become increasingly important for telecom providers. Plugging in big-data analytics with traditional messaging firewalls helps telcos identify fraudulent patterns faster. Implementing blocking rules will also become essential to reduce the time between fraud and fraud detection and improve the overall security posture.

Deploying deploy anti-fraud capabilities including data analytics, and 24/7 monitoring, reporting, and alerting also become crucial capabilities for telecom players this year.

In Conclusion

The international wholesale voice traffic is expected to exceed 1 trillion minutes by 2027. Along with VoIP networks, this is likely to fuel international wholesale voice carrier industry demand. While telecom players must capably fuel the growing demand for voice termination services and international roaming with the proliferation of the LTE network, they need to identify ways to amplify their network and infrastructure to enable new services, drive customer satisfaction, and capture new markets by stimulating market demands. Let us help you on your modernization journey to take on the new challenges of the new marketplace!

How can Africa’s telecom players become mobile money winners?

Research shows that much of the population in Africa has limited access to financial services. As incomes in the continent rise, that has meant that it’s become one of the most attractive places for banking opportunities.

Mobile money has been on the increase in this continent with deployments increasing 39% annually in the past decade. Both transaction volume and the value of mobile money have also witnessed double-digit growth. Some of the reasons for the growth of mobile money can be attributed to a lack of formal savings or credit, something that is prevalent in emerging markets as well as the rise of the telecom sector.

That apart, non-participation in the formal economy owing to social and economic reasons also pushes the population towards digital finance. The pandemic further accelerated the pace of digital/ mobile money adoption especially as African governments made it easier to leverage mobile money by reducing the barriers to sign up. In Rwanda, for example, mobile money transactions increased fivefold during a lockdown as governments eased regulations and reduced/waived transaction fees. In Malawi, 2019 IMF statistics reveal that fewer than 170 of every 1,000 adults have deposits in a bank account, whereas nearly 600 have a mobile money account.

The mobile money boom presents tremendous opportunities to telecom players to leverage the burgeoning market. Research also shows banks looking to partner with telcos to add value to their portfolio of services and grab a share of the mobile money boom. Mobile money is making financial services more accessible without the dependencies on traditional infrastructure.

As Africa becomes the world’s hottest place for mobile money, here are a few things for telecom operators to consider:

Keeping security top of the mind

Telcos have to keep security top of their mind to drive mobile money acceptance and adoption. Ensuring secure transactions by enabling next-gen impenetrable, robust, and resilient SMS firewalls will play a crucial role to ensure secure transactions since authentication messages and OTP’s are sent through these messages.

That apart, they need to ensure that no revenue leaks and illegal traffic flow through their routes. Identifying and blocking grey route traffic will assume paramount importance to prevent fraud, block illegal traffic and increase customer reliance on their services. Technologies such as Real-time monitoring, System-level filtering, and Intelligent SMS Firewall Rules will be of immense help to overcome the grey route and security challenge for telecom operators.

Friction-less customer experiences

To emerge as mobile money winners, telecom operators have to ensure that they deliver a frictionless payments experience to their customers. Whether it is the security of transactions or the ease of setting up digital identities, telecom operators have to look at ways to improve customer experience by identifying customer pain points and challenges.

Enabling facilities such as eKYC to simplify the verification process, make it more accurate and seamless not only enhances the authentication process but also makes the process more secure. Technologies such as AI and Machine Learning can further help in optimizing the KYC process and simplify identity and document verification.

Elevating network security

Network security is essential for telecom operators to win the mobile money wars in the African continent. With the promise of 5G on the horizon and technologies such as AI and IoT becoming commonplace, telecom operators have to make sure that the network connection and endpoints are secured appropriately.

While legacy networks will struggle to meet the modern-day network security requirements, looking at network virtualization and other strategies such as network slicing, more detailed and individual authentication processes, and technologies that identify changes and anomalies in traffic or behaviour patterns become important areas to consider.

Update the technology stack

One of the challenges that telcos need to navigate in Africa is that of the unavailability of skills in modern technology and a heavy reliance on ageing technology. Inadequate IT infrastructure and insufficient skills and experience with modern-day telecom tech can impact the pace of growth when telcos want to increase their portfolio and cash in on the mobile money trend.

Updating the technology stack to drive better security, ensuring end-point security, developing applications that are robust, fast, thoroughly tested, and optimized for speed and security, network infrastructure security and zero-trust application security architectures can help telcos expand their capabilities to increase their service portfolio.

These considerations apart, telecom players will also have to navigate the challenge of SIM jacking, SMS phishing, and SMA Spoofing to prevent information manipulation. Enabling proactive route testing, home routing and rerouting capabilities come in handy here.

Analysing the information exchanged between two parties to identify discrepancies proactively also becomes important for ensuring secure transactions. AI-ML-based voice firewalls, features such as global tile blocking, legal interception, blocking messages based on system-level filtering, intelligent SMS firewall rules, map operation codes, Live GUI, and CDR for analysis, etc are other ways to ensure greater security to prevent fraud and unhappy customers.

Currently, there are about 100 million active mobile financial services customers across Africa. The total MFS opportunity in this market is close to $2.1 billion or approximately two per cent of total African banking revenue pools. While banks identify ways to increase their footprint and get a share of this pie, telcos already have a large number of unbanked people on their networks. The ones to win the mobile money game will be those who can roll out the right products according to customer needs more securely. Telcos have already got one piece of the puzzle sorted. They can win the latter with advanced and cutting-edge telecom solutions with ease.

Focusing on operator readiness for next-gen messaging

The world of business messaging has evolved greatly. A2P messaging is seeing steady growth and enterprises are recognizing immense value from strategically adding SMS to their omnichannel strategies. This growth in A2P messaging has also offered MNO’s compelling growth opportunities as volumes and applications grow. OTT messaging apps have also gained traction, especially in the enterprise communication market. While OTT messaging platforms are steadily integrating into enterprise omnichannel strategies, challenges associated with rolling them out on a global scale, limited reliability and privacy concerns have discouraged enterprises from leveraging this medium to exchange critical and sensitive information.

Given the universal applicability, A2P messaging will continue to be a part of the enterprise messaging strategy. MNO’s however have to now gear up to enable next-gen messaging services such as RCS or Rich Communication Services, M2M communication etc. to meet with the enterprise needs to enable next-gen messaging.

The growth of next-gen messaging

By enabling RCS messaging, MNOs will be able to deploy an enhanced native messaging experience for their enterprise customers (and their end customers!). RSC messaging promises to deliver an elevated and seamless experience using personal and interactive messaging and rich media to drive customer engagement. While OTT platforms offer elevated messaging experiences, mobile operators provide ubiquity, reliability, and trust thereby making them more suitable to the enterprise narrative.

That apart, there is also an incremental incline in the usage of M2M (Machine to Machine), communication. Technologies such as Big Data and AI are working in M2M to improve customer experiences by ensuring maximum speed and deliverability. M2M messaging also makes it easier to schedule bulk message delivery and helps businesses stay top of the mind of their customers. Applications are also growing in the context of enterprise automation and autonomous actions driven by M2M capabilities.

5G is also poised to become a mainstay in the mobile mix sooner rather than later. While 5G promises to enable the interconnected world and make business messaging even more personalized and effective, it also opens up the surface area of cyber-attacks demanding greater and more airtight cybersecurity standards.

Given the forces of change and evolving market dynamics at work, focusing on operator readiness will assume paramount importance to enable next-gen messaging. A few of the things MNOs have to evaluate are:

Capacity to address the grey route challenge

Revenue leakage due to grey routes will lead to a cumulative loss of $37.1 billion, or an annual average leakage of $7.69 billion between 2020- 2024. Next-gen messaging is attractive to MNOs because it comes with the promise of greater profits thereby placing paramount importance on addressing the grey route challenge.

While mobile operators are proactively trying to address this issue and thereby securing messaging revenues, fraudsters and non-compliant SMS aggregators are working hard to identify loopholes and other methods to deliver SMS’. Advanced firewall solutions and integrating traditional firewalls with big data and advanced analytics can assuage this problem by identifying fraudulent patterns faster and hence become imperative capabilities to develop to enable next-gen messaging.

Building zero trust networks

With M2M communication coming into the messaging mix coupled with the rise of 5G, operator readiness also involves establishing zero trust networks to keep the network safe from malicious intent and activity.

Aligning 5G specifications with zero-trust tenets helps in establishing a zero-trust architecture. A zero-trust architecture ensures secure network access to resources (data, devices, and services) and provides access to only the authorized and approved subjects ((users, devices, and services).

Securing digital identities, and the communication transport and of user and signalling data across 3GPP interfaces, along with designing the right security posture of network assets contribute towards creating a zero-trust architecture.

Plug leaks and increase monetization opportunities

The mobile playing field is only set to become more competitive with next-gen messaging entering the channel and services mix. Mobile operators have to develop their capabilities to deliver differentiated and more personalized experiences while identifying monetizing opportunities. While doing so, they also need to ensure that there is no revenue slipping through the cracks.

Operators thus have to employ the right anti-fraud solutions to actively monitor and block fraud and SPAM. Intelligent AI and ML-based firewall solutions become critical enablers of 360-degree network protection of messaging traffic. Such intelligent solutions protect subscribers against fraud by proactively monitoring security breaches with contextual analysis to block fraudulent messages.

The added advantage of using intelligent solutions is the access to advanced analytics that provide insights into usage and consumption patterns and help MNO’s identify revenue-generating opportunities and gaps.

In Conclusion

As next-gen messaging evolves, the focus has to be on improving the security posture. Concerns on network security, grey routes, SIM jacking, and SIM phishing have to be addressed and there has to be an increased focus on data security. Mobile operators will have to develop their capabilities to proactively deal with security threats that are increasing in scope and complexity. Partnering with experienced telecom solutions providers to access robust solutions that improve monetization and performance will become inevitable to enable next-gen messaging services. Let us help you get ready for the next-gen of messaging solutions.

Is Pricing The Achilles Heel Of SMS?

Any marketing leader for a consumer brand would agree that today one of their most successful customer approach channels for conversion is SMS. With an open rate of 98%, SMSs, are still among the most trusted sources of information that sparks customer interest worldwide.

The worldwide trend in digital adoption has seen traditional incumbents being massively disrupted or even displaced from their very existence by new-age startups that have sought to leverage technology to beat customer expectations. Another scenario we have seen is the poor fate of protectionist policies against digital alternatives in industries like music and software. For years, brands tried to chase down online portals and channels with labels of piracy, but for every website or illegal channel they tried to curb, thousands more sprang up in a matter of days. Ultimately, the leaders in these segments realized that rather than try to fix the rest of the world, their pricing and business models were the inspiration of such a huge illegal market booming.

The solution to the problem arrived when the music and software industry took to the cloud and came out with their streaming avatars. Today the SaaS, music streaming, and OTT industry are worth trillions of dollars worldwide. This business model innovation has enabled billions of consumers to access services that they would have never been able to afford earlier owing to large upfront license or ownership costs.

Businesses moved into a consumption-based subscription model of pricing that spreads their revenue generation cycle over a period of time rather than tied to an upfront fee. This allowed them to book recurring revenue and eventually profit from economies of scale with more users. As often happens, this also reduced piracy because the risk-reward ratio was no longer in favour of trying to circumvent the legal channels when the cost was so minimal.

Now, coming to the SMS industry, one of the biggest pain points that brands face today when leveraging SMS as a key marketing tool is the high pricing bands that they have to deal with from providers. In an age where a variety of options exist to bypass the telecom providers and adopt admittedly grey routes, the temptation of cost savings may prove too great.

Let us examine 3 ways in which pricing can hurt the industry critically and set the grounds for the untimely demise of SMS as a whole:

Unaffordable Mass Communication

As businesses today transition into a volume-based economies-of-scale model for deriving revenue, their messaging services need to cater to hundreds of thousands or even millions of customers daily. Traditional SMS price points would result in brands incurring massive operational costs that will easily overwhelm the savings they achieve through lower customer acquisition or retention costs with SMS.

Rise of Illegal Services

If providers aren’t willing to consider a restructuring of their SMS pricing strategies, there will be a rising number of illegal and incompetent players in the market that will partner with businesses offering lower costs. The problem here is that these services will ultimately put customer information and credentials at risk as they will have first-hand access to important A2P messaging services between brands and their customers.

Spamming and Fraud

Another big challenge that illegal SMS service provider partnerships will result in is that they will also open a whole new dimension of cyber fraud which will cost the industry dearly. To offer lower costs to businesses for SMS services, they will leverage the SMS message and append ads or promotional links for added revenue. Criminals and fraudsters can intercept these communication lines and compromise the appended links and message information. They can then use it to plug malware and other high-risk threats into end-user devices of unsuspecting consumers.

What these 3 major drawbacks of higher pricing do for the SMS industry is that it makes SMS a less trusted entity from a consumer perspective. More spam, fraudulent activities, and threats will result in customers eventually deciding not to avail SMS-based alerts and notifications from businesses. This has the potential to lead to the demise of the industry’s revenue prospects soon.

With so much potential for customer engagement and opportunities to diversify usage scenarios with each guaranteeing higher conversion, it will be a huge blow for the industry to let SMS die a slow death solely because of traditional and hidebound pricing problems.

SMS providers and businesses can collaborate on ideas to restructure pricing options that are meaningful for both stakeholders. One of the key factors that providers and businesses cite for costly SMS services is the need for enabling secure communications and fortifying their infrastructure to prevent spam and fraud. Rather than leveraging costly manual efforts to solve this problem, providers and businesses can leverage modern technology solutions to enable a more secure and integrated SMS communication channel. Over time, these solutions will reduce the manual effort, deliver scale, and create more secure channels. This will also lead to better cost control and management that could translate to better pricing options.

Using technology, businesses can also enable borderless communication strategies through SMS services. What they need is the right guidance and the aptest digital tools to enable this experience. This is where our expertise can help make a difference. Get in touch with us to explore more about building an amazing customer experience through SMS engagement without compromising on security or worrying about scale or geographic expansion capabilities.

5 Telecom Technology Trends To Keep An Eye On For 2021

The telecom industry has been at the crux of the global pivot to remote operations. Lacking robust and resilient connectivity, most of the world’s industries would have run aground during the pandemic!

Of course, telecom has always been a dynamic industry and sensitive to technological developments. So, what can the telecom industry look forward to in 2021?

From 5G to cybersecurity, here are five trends around telecom technologies to consider in 2021.

#1. 5G and IoT

5G and the Internet of Things are set to create a much bigger and broader backdrop for the telecom industry’s enterprise offerings.

2021 and beyond, 5G will be much more than high-speed downloads. Its combination of high-bandwidth connectivity, low latency, and universal coverage will facilitate smart vehicles and transport infrastructures like connected cars. 5G will allow telcos to create differentiated value-added offerings by embedding connectivity with products and services.

With 5G, telcos are all set to emerge as connected industry orchestrators. This implies trading fully connected industry solutions, embracing sensors, connecting value chains, cloud connectivity, and device as a service ecosystem. Telcos have changed the world around us by connecting phones, tablets, and other mobile devices, but connecting and managing increasing numbers of cars, meters, sensors, and consumer electronics lucratively will demand innovative business models.

Presently, most telco’s IoT revenues are derived from connectivity, but future revenue will also come from service enablement platforms, apps, and services. Telcos that can build and manage an ecosystem of service partners, filter data from their IoT platforms, and convert bulk data into smart data will build incremental revenue based on the data’s value rather than their ability to transport it.

#2. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Advanced Automation

Artificial intelligence is likely to impact the telecommunications landscape as it will all other sectors. As the telecom industry multiplies its networks faster, service configuration, customer support, and billing processes become increasingly complex. In the face of customer demands for superior quality services, telcos are seeking useful innovations and applications to cater to their customers with delightful customer experience and service.

The chief driver for AI growth in the telecom industry is the rising demand for autonomously driven network solutions. With networks expanding rapidly, they become increasingly complex and challenging to manage. AI could profoundly impact several areas – most critical being traffic classification to reduce network congestions, enhancing network quality, anomaly detection and prediction in networks, resource utilization, network optimizations, and network orchestration. Furthermore, AI will also help to improve customer experience with virtual assistants and bots.

With advanced automation, telcos can automate back-end activities like data entry, reconciliation, or validation, streamline customer support, and carry out cross-sell and up-sell via AI-powered assisted calls. Advanced automation will help telcos lower costs, improve accuracy, enhance efficiency, and deliver better customer experiences.

#3. Blockchain

Driven by stories around BitCoin, Blockchain has captured the popular imagination. The telecom industry is looking at Blockchain too. In this context, 5G could become a powerful enabler for a blockchain-led wave of telecom disruption empowering many cross-industry applications.

Blockchain is could help streamline processes, deliver cost savings, provide new revenue streams, enhance collaborations, and drive real-time transparency. Blockchain can help telcos in 2021 and beyond in areas like:

Roaming and settlements frauds, human errors, absence of transparency can be eradicated using smart contracts on Blockchain
Identity management can be fetched from multiple 3rd party agents and employed safely with Blockchain, passing greater control to individuals
SLA monitoring can be made tighter with Blockchain’s smart contracts, which builds ‘one version of the truth.’
Prevention of phone theft by storing unique device or SIM data on Blockchain which can potentially help find devices instantly
Mobile number portability can also be accelerated with Blockchain wherein telcos can review and action requests easier

#4. Edge Computing

Edge computing, commonly known as Mobile Edge Computing, or MEC, is set to radically reshape telecom networks, with a little help from its allies 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT). A study revealed that edge computing would power roughly $7 billion in revenue by 2025. Whereas as much as two-thirds of this revenue will accrue to cloud players, telcos, neutral hosts, and enterprises will play critical roles in hosting sites and facilitating connectivity.

Until now, edge computing was only building up use-cases. In 2021 and beyond, novel business models will come up that power the deployment of the edge in production. Organizations will find new ways to leverage the enhanced computing power and storage available closer to where the data is being generated and will appreciate the network saving achieved by not having to transmit data continuously between the cloud and the devices on the frontlines.

#5. Cybersecurity

Today, the telecom industry has become an enormous data repository with access to uber-sensitive customer data. They are also the platforms upon which digital lives revolve so that any service outage or loss of data can trigger significant inconvenience for the end-users and a large-scale disruption of business operations across industries. These aspects make telcos lucrative targets for cybercriminals looking to tamper with data and networks at scale.

With strict policies like EU-GDPR now in action, telcos – whether in India or abroad – can’t afford to regard cybersecurity as anything less than a critical function. With data security becoming a vital business mandate, a large-scale shift within the telecom industry is predicted towards a security-led method.

In the coming years, we will witness players prop up their defenses against direct threats, like distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, along with indirect vulnerabilities like data breaches and internal leaks. The IT frameworks facilitating telecom networks will become more robust. There is also the probability of telcos pushing cybersecurity solutions as part of their service offerings to assure better threat defense for their consumers.

Looking Beyond the Present Landscape

After undergoing numerous years of sluggish economic growth, the telecom industry, as we know it today, is enthused by these tech trends and the opportunities presented by digitization. To thrive in the long run, telcos need to drive customer value while reducing costs and differentiating themselves. It is irrefutable that the success or failure of telcos relies on their adoption of technology. In 2021, telcos can attain a competitive edge, flexibility, agility, and capacity to gain more opportunities with technology.