CSP Digital Transformation: 3 Keys to Success in the 5G Era

CSP Digital Transformation

Like their global peers, Communications Service Providers (CSPs) in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region face challenging decisions in their digital transformation journeys. Investments in spectrum, networks, and applications must be offset by future operational savings and increased pressure to identify new revenue opportunities aggressively. As 5G rollouts expand and consumers and businesses eagerly await new 5G-enabled services, CSPs that take the proper steps are in a prime position to control their destiny. The following are three keys to driving successful outcomes.

  • Transform from “Telco to TechCo” enabling platform for growth opportunity ahead

Traditional operational and business models will not help CSPs realize 5G’s promising opportunities. Instead, a tech-centric approach is needed to deliver the unique services and applications that consumers and enterprises desire. Past siloed, closed IT environments must give way to flexible, partnership-driven ecosystems. Additionally, the battle for subscribers and employees will require service providers to adopt the best characteristics of open architectures, AI-assisted operations, automation, DevOps, and the flexibility of cloud infrastructure. By doing so, CSPs can then adapt to the rapidly evolving tastes and usage characteristics of subscribers.

  • Expand partner ecosystems

Despite aggressive global rollouts of 5G, most CSPs still seek business models that will generate a return on their considerable network and spectrum investments. They want to leverage their 5G capabilities to expand their B2B revenues and appeal to their enterprise customers with solutions that are applicable to their respective industry challenges. However, providers can’t realistically develop industry-specific insights and quickly launch new, targeted services singlehandedly.

Instead, partners can step in to provide industry expertise and solutions that leverage the unique capabilities of the service providers’ 5G network. For example, the healthcare sector can significantly benefit from partnering with Oracle and CSPs to take advantage of 5G to rapidly bring new drugs to the market. The keys lie in experimentation and agility. The more partners in an ecosystem—including application developers, hyperscalers and others—the more opportunities to collectively meet customers’ distinct needs. Oracle recently launched a global network of hands-on industry labs to address diverse industry challenges and foster this very type of co-creation.

  • Embrace the telco cloud

CSPs are often faced with the dual challenges of driving new revenues and reducing operating expenses. Telco clouds are critical to addressing both sides of this equation. On the revenue side, the shift from voice and data to on-demand connectivity, network slicing, and enterprise-driven services requires the agility of cloud. On the cost side, CIOs and CTOs seek to automate everything that can possibly be automated by shifting to cloud native auto-scaling solutions, programmable and SDN-enabled networks, and consumption-based pricing models. The cloud is clearly an enabler of large-scale transformation. For example, Oracle Cloud for Telcos enables leading service providers around the world to modernise their enterprise IT and OSS/BSS in the cloud and run their core and edge networks as cloud native services to reduce capex and increase agility, all with powerful security and performance.


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