On the sidelines of TM Forum’s DTW Ignite 2023 conference in Copenhagen, Nastasi Karaiskos, UK Managing Director of Rakuten Symphony, shared his take on why the time has come for telecom to rethink its use of technology – or face a challenging future to grow its traditional business.
TM Forum’s recently launched ‘CEO Playbook’ set the scene perfectly for DTW Ignite 2023 by providing telecom with a few uncomfortable truths.
The association body’s research claims the telecom industry has reached a “strategic breakpoint” and has become “disconnected from growth." Stagnation is imminent, the report says, with telecom’s collective investment of $1 trillion in the last five years delivering just 0.9% growth.
On the sidelines of TM Forum’s Copenhagen conference, Rakuten Symphony's UK Managing Director Nastasi Karaiskos discussed how the telecom industry should look for fresh approaches to address industry inertia, and that the time has come to re-evaluate operating and deployment models to ensure its long-term prosperity.
“The industry has been approaching network build cycles in the same manner for the last 10-20 years; changing this perception and behavior is desperately needed, but it is not as monumental a challenge as some think,” he said. “How do you change that mindset? You start by implementing automation on smaller scale and track its value to the business as you expand, running new tech alongside the old. It’s also up to us on the vendor side to strike the right balance between guiding operators out of their comfort zone, and ensuring they are confident with deploying new platforms and processes. Importantly, you need to drive a change in telecom people culture which embraces automation.
“Looking at Symphony, we’ve been at the forefront of telecom innovation and our products and services deployed in our mobile network in Japan has attracted attention from independent network testing organizations recognizing Rakuten Mobile on and above par with Japan’s incumbent operators. Seeing is believing and once global operators realize what can be achieved, I can promise you they won’t look back.”
The telecom industry’s struggle to keep pace with big tech in terms of innovation practices is an open secret, but one that must be addressed, Karaiskos added. “There is a very serious need for cost reduction on the operations side, first and foremost. As things stand, there is progress in adopting AI, automation and other new technologies - but certainly not at the speed that we’d like to see.
“An operator’s end customers don’t care whether you’re using Open RAN, disaggregation, or cloud native for the mobile network. All that matters to them is quality, experience and price. How we bring all these efficiencies to the end customer is the key and we’ve been showcasing this very successfully with Rakuten Mobile in Japan. We’re addressing telecom industry’s problems head-on.”
The Rakuten Group’s wider ecosystem represents a major advantage in the bid to deliver broader services alongside connectivity, Karaiskos said. “If telecom operators continue to just provide connectivity and fail to diversify services, current operator business models will not be sustainable in the near future. Operators have no option but to evolve and expand into providing value-added services. That has to be done by collaborating with other key players - OTT players, or other partners.”
“Most mobile customers are not interested in whether their network uses Open RAN, disaggregated networks or the cloud. What matters most is quality of the service, customer experience and attractive offers.”
Expanding service offerings is just one piece of the puzzle, however. Karaiskos believes that courage, broadly speaking, is imperative if operators are to successfully transition to new technologies. “It’s our responsibility to help operators see the bigger picture and the value that will inevitably come if they are willing to start their transformation today. Virtualization, cloudification was never easy when it first began. Ten years ago, even the hyperscalers had their teething issues.”
Karaiskos concluded by highlighting why Rakuten Symphony’s ‘open’ approach differentiates it from other telecom vendors. “Rakuten Symphony isn’t looking at things the traditional way - we’re looking to the future. It's not just about the Open RAN, cloud or automation that we bring to the table. The openness that we bring, right from the disaggregation of hardware and software, along with the willingness to open things - including API's for the future - is key for the technology, and the industry, to flourish long-term.”
