< PreviousPREPARING FOR THE NEXT STEP IN THE 5G JOURNEY “To date, operators have quite rightly been focused on deploying the Radio Access technologies, with differ- ent operators at varying stages of this jour- ney, employing their own unique strategies. In general, the transport network has basi- cally been using the existing 4G backhaul networks in non-standalone mode and even in the minority of cases where they are start- ing to look at standalone backhaul the focus is entirely on building ‘big’ capacity pipes. “The next stage in the journey will be upgrading the 5G mobile core, with an ultimate destination of a renewed focus on the transport that connects the radio to the core. As soon as the mobile core and the radio become distributed, operators need to develop a transport network that is dynamic and flexible enough to meet shifting demand, to easily instantiate and de-instantiate services. We spoke to David Stokes, senior portfolio marketing manager at ECI, to discuss the challenges of scaling up 5G “Current transport networks weren’t built to enforce SLAs or guarantee perfor- mance of the vast array of services which will be carried over them, so this is another factor to take into consideration. And let’s not forget that the new 5G timing mecha- nisms are not supported by the current transport networks. In all, the transport needs to be upgraded to support the vari- ous classes of services, and in order to do so efficiently and cost effectively, network slicing is required.” MAKING A RETURN ON 5G INVESTMENT “The transition to standalone is a key step to enabling new use cases, but, standalone itself does not enable these use cases. As mentioned previously, the initial focus is around providing capacity and then con- nectivity to 5G new radio to enable the eMBB type services and the Fixed Wireless Access that this enables. Most operators now state that the eMBB use case needs to fly by itself, and in fact as some opera- tors transition to 5G, others are forced to transition or be left behind and face a high- degree of user churn – so it becomes a self- fulfilling prophecy. “However, it is the next step that stan- dalone facilitates that provides access to new revenue streams. Standalone’s ability to provide deterministic transport for ser- vices, whether this be guaranteed latency and pdv OR assured capacity and reliabil- ity. With guarantees on latency, we see im- mersive, AR cloud-based mobile gaming and the high potential revenue associated with it becoming one of the first use cases. “Additionally, the standalone network is more dynamic than the existing static MBH network used for 4G. This dynamism provides the dynamic capacity and con- nectivity required to support multi-access edge computing. With this dynamism and determinism operators can start to ad- 40www.commsmea.com INTERVIEW ECI CommsMEA June-August 2020 Network slicing will offer operators a genunie opportunity to earn a return on their 5G network investments, according to Stokes. dress new business and mission critical ap- plications and services.” THE INTRODUCTION OF NETWORK SLICING “A complete set of slicing technologies is required to cost efficiently support multi- ple different service types each with totally diverse policies and parameters. Network slicing opens up a wealth of consumer op- portunities in the low latency video space. Real-time ultra-low latency video connec- tions have potential in fields such as sports broadcasting, online gaming and e-sports, and even remote medical applications. Or for example real time video communica- tion capabilities, where a consumer can quickly and easily set up a highly reliable, low latency connection for a variety of ap- plications such as remote health, family or work conferencing. “A revenue opportunity unique to 5G network slicing is the opportunity it pre- sents to operators to offer differential tariffing, whereby businesses or consum- ers can pay to access extra bandwidth and capacity during periods of increased net- work demand.” people working from home, the demand on the network is growing, and changing. Many are realizing that best effort broad- band, does not quite deliver all it promised. As a consequence, some service providers are investing in adapting capacity to deal with increased demand. And yet in many cases, they are not launching new revenue generating services in the back of this - in- stead this additional capacity is being ‘giv- en away for free’ under the current bundles and packages. Thus, in the short term they are not seeing much in the way of additional ROI. While many analysts and companies believe that COVID-19 will have a negative impact on network investment (other than capacity) in the short-term, others believe that 5G investment will actually be pulled forward. Time will tell.” PREDICTIONS FOR THE FUTURE “In the next 12-18 months there will be an even greater focus on connectivity, capac- ity, reliability and unified communication services and tools. The uncertainty and turbulence surrounding COVID-19 is driv- ing operators to beef up their networks both to cope with the greater demand now, and to handle that increased demand po- tentially well into the future. The impact COVID-19 has had on business operations has been seismic and businesses around the world will be exploring more virtual ways of working and communicating, cre- ating new network challenges and connec- tivity requirements.” A complete set of slicing technologies is required to cost efficiently support multiple different service types each with totally diverse policies and parameters. Network slicing opens up a wealth of consumer opportuni- ties in the low latency video space.” David Stokes, marketing manager, ECI. NEW BUSINESS MODELS “It’s very possible that 5G is the last real- istic opportunity for operators to rethink their business models, moving from sup- pliers of raw bandwidth, to suppliers of dy- namic, reliable, flexible and differentiated connectivity services. Speed, and simply building a bigger pipe, will not be the route to 5G return on investment. Instead, op- erators must invest in service-oriented infrastructure. This infrastructure will need to be supported by both hard and soft network slicing, to achieve dynamic pric- ing, something that is already the norm in industries such as hospitality, travel, entertainment, and energy. Enterprises are already investing in their own private networks, and in many of these projects, operators are being left behind or reduced to providers of simple connectivity. Opera- tors need to bring their outdated business- es models up to date in a dynamic business world, driven by services consumed on an as-needed basis.” THE IMPACT OF COVID 19 “There are a number of elements impact- ing plans. Firstly, given the increase in 41www.commsmea.com ECI INTERVIEW CommsMEA June-August 2020 Got something to say? If you would like to be featured in Backchat, please message: Chris.Kelly@itp.com Angus Ward, CEO, BearingPoint Beyond, discusses the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on enterprises around the world Digitalisation and automation will help enterprises adjust to the ‘new normal’ Adjusting to the new normal Technology innovation is constantly in motion but the next decade will see this significantly ramp up with Covid-19 highlighting the huge im- portance for enterprises to digitalise and automate. As a result, it’s also acting as a catalyst for enterprise demand for 5G technology solutions which is good news for CSPs. Indeed, 5G invest- ment in China is already recovering because the country recognises the importance of accelerating the digitalisation of industries to guard against future risk. This trend is likely to unfold globally as the pandemic makes digitalising the physical, enabling a work-anywhere economy and mitigating risk in supply chains through an ecosystem play, more relevant than ever. It has never been more important to bring that digitalisation plan to fruition, incorpo- rating the adoption of essential cloud, IoT and edge technologies. This may seem like a daunting prospect for some enterprises but 5G can act as the per- fect accelerator for this innovation to provide customers with the solutions and quality of service they’re seeking. Seizing the 5G opportunity This is where CSPs can seize the 5G opportunity. However, the problem is that CSPs just want to sell connectiv- ity and standardised ‘connectivity plus infrastructure’ products, while Published by and Copyright © 2020 ITP MEDIA GROUP FZ-LLC. MEDIA PO Box 500024, Dubai, UAE Tel: + 971 (0)4 444 3000 www.itp.com Offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, London and Mumbai ITP MEDIA GROUP CEO Ali Akawi Managing Director Alex Reeve EDITORIAL Editor Christopher Kelly Tel: +971 4 444 3120 email: Chris.Kelly@itp.com Contributors Peter Branton ADVERTISING Content Marketing Manager Paul Hylden Tel: +971 4 444 3637 email: Paul.Hylden@itp.com ITP LIVE General Manager Ahmad Bashour Tel: +9714 444 3549 email: ahmad.bashour@itp.com PHOTOGRAPHY Senior Photographers Efraim Evidor, Adel Rashid Staff Photographers Aasiya Jagadeesh, Ajith Narendra, Fritz John Asuro, Jessica Samson PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION Group Production & Distribution Director Kyle Smith Production Manager Basel Al Kassem Production Co-odinator Manoj Mahadevan Image Editor Emmalyn Robles CIRCULATION Distribution & Warehouse Manager Praveen Nair Circulation Executive Loreta Regencia MARKETING Director of Awards & Marketing Daniel Fewtrell ITP GROUP CEO Ali Akawi CFO Toby Jay Spencer-Davies Subscribe online at www.itp.net/subscriptions The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability for error or omissions contained in this publication, however caused. The opinions and views contained in this publica- tion are not necessarily those of the publishers. Readers are advised to seek specialist advice before acting on information contained in this publication, which is provided for general use and may not be appropriate for the readers’ particular circumstances. The ownership of trademarks is acknowledged. No part of this publication or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without the permission of the publishers in writing. An exemption is hereby granted for extracts used for the purpose of fair review. businesses want to buy more sophisti- cated, complete solutions that better fit their needs and require the integration of multiple technologies from multiple players. In fact, 95 per cent of enterprises and SMBs would rather invest in solutions that are co- created through an ecosystem of partners than 5G technologies. A change of mentality So to benefit from this, CSPs need to get out of the mindset that they are simply connectivity providers and become 5G ecosystem orchestrators, using their stature in the industry to build ecosystems of a wide variety of partners, whilst also working closely with enterprise custom- ers to address their business needs. This environment can then be used to co-create completely new products and services, packaging innovative technologies and ca- pabilities from multiple providers including connectivity, devices, AI, applications etc. The opportunity is there for the taking. This month, our research with Omdia revealed a worrying result of that inaction: only one in five early enterprise 5G deals are CSP-led. To drive positive disruption, CSPs must shift from a 5G-first to an ecosystem- first thinking and start developing new partnerships, ideas and services to become more open to experimentation. To be at the forefront of innovation and disruption in the next decade, CSPs need to demonstrate a willingness to change and to collaborate with businesses, rapidly mastering the art of ecosystem orchestration. The risk of inac- tion is irrelevance. 42www.commsmea.com BACKCHAT BEARING POINT CommsMEA June-August 2020TECH,TELECOMS AND TOMORROW COMMSMEA.COMSUSTAINABILITY REPORT -- 2019 zain.com A Wonderful World SR Pres Add 20.5x27.5 new cover 2020 AW.indd 15/14/20 3:22 PMNext >