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This Industry Spotlight was authored by Melissa Morgan, Head of Product Marketing at Sitetracker
Reviewing potential sites for selection, sourcing equipment amid supply-chain bottlenecks, managing in-house and contractor labor, dealing with permitting, and a whole lot more: Installing a single 5G site represents a formidable management challenge. Now try it with thousands of sites across vast geographies as 5G rolls out at a torrid pace. … [visit site to read more]
Nokia today introduced its pioneering Core SaaS for 5G to provide communication service providers (CSPs) and enterprises the option of running the heart of their network through a highly flexible, fully automated, scalable software model that enables greater business agility and faster time to value for delivering and monetizing network services.
Nokia Core SaaS allows operators and enterprises to move away from the legacy practice of deploying customized software that runs on private infrastructure; and to consume Nokia’s Core software, including 5G Packet Core, on demand through a more cost-effective subscription service that eliminates large up front capital expenditure and avoids the need to perform on-site software maintenance and updates.
Nokia Core SaaS begins with 5G Core services; trials are expected to commence shortly, and commercial availability is expected in the first half of 2023.
Nokia Core SaaS is the first complete 5G core solution to market with all core cloud-native network functions available through a SaaS delivery model.
Nokia is leading the 5G Standalone Core market, with over 70 CSP customers around the world. In addition, 25 of the top 40 CSPs by revenue rely on Nokia Core network products.
Roberto Kompany, Principal Analyst, Service Provider Networks at Omdia, said: “As telecom SaaS goes more mainstream, we are seeing more solutions offered in the marketplace that provide operators with much needed options for getting the most out of the network. Nokia’s launch of its Core SaaS offering through a subscription model today is a new dimension to telecom SaaS and I would expect to see more of this into 2023, as the marketplace more closely examines the potential benefits of going down this path.”
Fran Heeran, SVP & General Manager of Core Networks, Cloud and Network Services, at Nokia, said: “Nokia Core SaaS changes the way core networks are built, deployed and run, with important customer benefits that include Network on demand, speed to market, and easy and fast scaling, in an affordable way. Nokia Core SaaS is not the core network we’ve known for decades, but something entirely different. And this reflects the technology leadership Nokia continues to deliver to the market.”
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Four news items from four continents and four spots in the ecosystem: … [visit site to read more]
IBM announced today at the IBM Quantum Summit 2022 that Vodafone Group is collaborating with IBM on quantum-safe cybersecurity, and also joining the IBM Quantum Network, which will give the company cloud access to IBM’s advanced quantum computing systems, as well as IBM’s industry-leading quantum expertise. The multinational telecommunications company will work with IBM to help validate and progress potential quantum use cases in telecommunications.
As part of this collaboration, Vodafone will explore quantum computing for a variety of telco use cases. The company will also advance their employees’ skills in quantum technology through iterative prototyping led by IBM, as well as actively recruit quantum computing experts, to build a dedicated capability within its ranks.
Throughout this engagement, Vodafone will explore how to apply IBM Quantum Safe cryptography technology across its entire and diverse network infrastructure and systems. Future quantum computers will pose a threat to today’s standard security, such as public key encryption. Quantum-safe cryptography protocols not only exist today, and offer the capability to help protect classical data and systems from these future quantum computers’ potential decryption capabilities, but the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently announced that four algorithms — three of which IBM helped develop have been chosen to be part of a protocol for standardization by 2024. Vodafone’s exploration of these protocols marks an IBM Quantum Safe first in understanding and preparing for this risk in telecommunications.
“Partnering with IBM provides us with access to quantum technology which has the potential to provide incredible network optimization. It’s the sort of innovation that existing computers will never achieve alone, allowing us to save energy, reduce costs and give customer great connectivity in more places,” said Luke Ibbetson, head of group R&D at Vodafone Group. “Investing in quantum-safe cryptography, now, also gives us the peace of mind that our infrastructure and customer data will also always be secure as we explore the benefits of quantum computing.”
“Vodafone, as a leading mover in telco, is setting the example for their industry by exploring quantum computing applications for their business operations, as well as applying quantum-safe cryptography protocols to protect their long-term data and systems,” said Scott Crowder, Vice President, IBM Quantum Adoption and Business Development. “We’re excited to partner with Vodafone to help them simultaneously adopt quantum technology, and move to quantum-safe technology as they serve an entire ecosystem of operators, vendors, regulators, and open-source community.”
IBM and Vodafone are also among initial members of the recently announced GSMA Post-Quantum Telco Network Taskforce, whose mission is to help define policy, regulation and operator business processes for the enhanced protection of telecommunications in a future of advanced quantum computing.
Vodafone joins more than 200 members of the IBM Quantum Network, a global community of Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, academic institutions, and research labs working to advance quantum computing and explore practical applications. Their engagement is designed to set them on a path to tap into this future of quantum advantage capabilities: when a computational task of business or scientific relevance can be performed more efficiently, cost-effectively, or accurately using a quantum computer than with classical computations alone.
For more information, visit: https://www.ibm.com/quantum/quantum-safe.
Statements regarding IBM’s future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only.
Operators have called on the lowering of red tape to enable a revamp and diversification in services, particularly in fintech – a move highlighted to avoid flattening revenues seen in western service providers.
In a panel discussion at Africa Tech Festival in Cape Town, Vodacom CTO Dejan Kastelic (pictured, far right) pointed out that European operators reported flattening or declining revenues in the past two years. He warned connectivity is becoming a “commodity” if African operators do not learn from their western counterparts to diversify away from “limited connectivity businesses”.
He pointed to Vodacom’s mobile money M-Pesa service which has proven wildly successful for the company, as it currently serves 51 million people across seven countries.
“I have to say here we are quite lucky here in Africa compared to the likes of for example Europe because we have one of the greatest fintech solutions called M-Pesa. That’s a part of our value chain outside of the connectivity business and is providing new service or additional services, and we’re actually growing that more than double digits,” said Kastelic.
Around 18% of Vodacom’s revenues stem from “non-core connectivity” services such as M-Pesa, which the group is aiming to increase up to 25% in the next two years.
Telkom group executive of regulatory affairs and government relations Siyabonga Mahlangu (pictured, second from left) urged governments to lift restrictive regulations on operators to enable them to become true technology companies.
He claimed international hyperscalers are able to move more freely with their strategies whereas operators are stuck behind more red tape, an example being having to gain certain licenses for fintech or roaming.
Pointing to the surge in operators working in fintech, Mahlangu said more could be done by operators if given permission.
“What we learnt from fintech or payment systems and so on in that intersection between technology telco and financial services – we see that it’s easier for the financial services company to play to in that space than it is for a telco,” said Mahlangu.
“But then what is really holding telco back? We need to then see if there’s any need to liberalise some of the banking and financial services regulations to enable telcos to play.”
Examples he stated where telcos can expand their fintech services include providing investment services and accepting deposits. But such services require partnerships with financial institutions which can slow down growth
“I think it’s time that we free up telcos to be able to play beyond being a telco. That’s where I think in our approach to sharing in our approach to services, we need to start lowering the barrier or at least redefining it,” said Mahlangu.
One of the most ambitious subsea cable projects currently being built has come ashore in southern France. The 2Africa cable has officially landed in Marseille, completing its Mediterranean landing plans. There is plenty of work left to do though. … [visit site to read more]
STACK Infrastructure has purchased the necessary land for a major new data center campus out in the southwestern US in order to continue meeting hyperscale demand. Yesterday the digital infrastructure provider announced its intention to invest in a 50-acre campus in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. … [visit site to read more]
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