The open telco infrastructure will accelerate an operator's ability to roll out new services, lower TCO, and most importantly, foster innovation and optionality in vendor selection. At the recent Digital Transformation World (DTW) 2024 event, Daisuke Morikawa, CTO of KDDI Digital Life, and Rahul Atri, Managing Director and President of the OSS Business Unit at Rakuten Symphony, discussed the pivotal role of the open telco infrastructure in the telecommunications industry. Their insights provided a comprehensive look at how open-source technologies and collaborative frameworks are set to revolutionize the sector. The discussion was moderated by Abe Nejad, Publisher of the Network Media Group.
“Our methodology is to start with an iteration of our idea, gather feedback from customers, and continually improve."
- Daisuke Morikawa, CTO, KDDI Digital Life
“Technology has always been evolving and this will continue. The inertia we need to overcome is around adopting the right internal culture and technologies.”
- Rahul Atri, Managing Director and President of the OSS Business Unit, Rakuten Symphony
Watch the full interview here.
One of the significant challenges in adopting open telco infrastructure is the internal culture and adaptation to new technologies. The telecommunications industry often operates in silos, with vertical organizational structures and domain-specific platforms and budgets. This compartmentalization can hinder the implementation of horizontal, platform-based approaches that are common in the IT world. To overcome these obstacles, telecom operators must rethink their organizational structures and foster a culture of collaboration and knowledge-sharing. Embracing common platforms for data governance, AI, and other critical functions can enable this. By leveraging these platforms, telecom companies can enhance their capabilities and ensure that their technology stack and skills are aligned with the evolving demands of the industry.
This involves a layered approach involving intent management, autonomous configuration platforms, and programmable networks.
Open-source technologies can accelerate the operators’ roadmap to accelerate innovation and reduce time-to-market for new services. This takes a complete cultural and organizational shift. Telecom companies need to break down silos and adopt a platform mentality that involves rethinking organizational structures, promoting collaboration, and investing in skills development.
Market leaders like KDDI are exploring new business models and use cases. One notable example is network slicing, which allows for the creation of multiple virtual networks on a single physical infrastructure. This capability enables telecom operators to offer tailored services to different customer segments, enhancing flexibility and efficiency. In addition, iterative testing practices and continuous feedback from customers enable KDDI to enhance services continually.
