The Month in Telecoms: June 2023

It has been a couple of months since I was last able to put pen to paper and there is plenty going on in the CPaaS industry.

The events calendar is as busy as ever, virtual numbers and 2-way messaging is becoming the hot new/old thing, the CPaaSAA have released their latest report and of course we still have plenty of M&A activity.

International Telecoms Week

In May, I was at International Telecoms Week - ITW | a techoraco brand in Washington which is now firmly set as the 2nd biggest event on the CPaaS schedule (behind MWC). Having not attended since Chicago in 2016 I was surprised by the scale and international focus. It was historically a voice focused show but is now very much a multi-product event with messaging, numbering, voice and data all being key topics.

During the show, MTN announced (loudly) the rebrand of their hubbing business to Bayobab . This is part of an ongoing trend among Mobile Networks to rebrand their API service offering to try and detach it from the core infrastructure business. Telia ( Arelion ) and TNZ Group Limited ( Symbio ) are a couple of other examples of traditional mobile operators rebranding their API offering. My assumption is that they are attempting to position their offering as a global service rather than limiting themselves to a specific country or group. I wonder whether T-Mobile and others will eventually rebrand their play at the CPaaS market.

CPaaSAA

The CPaaS Acceleration Alliance is a key trade body in the telecommunications industry. Founded by Rob Kurver and Kevin Nethercott , with members including Microsoft, Radisys, KPN and many others it is becoming a key forum for industry players. They bring together platform providers, sales partners, industry experts and media members to help accelerate growth in the communications industry.?

They released the State of CPaaS report in May which predicts the industry to hit $100 billion by 2030.

I was also recently invited to take part in a Webinar discussing the role of messaging in the CPaaS products suite and wrote the following blog on behalf of the CPaaSAA covering the latest report and what it means for the messaging business.The title is a little bit antagonistic as if we move on from messaging then I am out of a job!

Humans of Telecom?

Anurag Aggarwal continues to build his reputation as one of the hardest working people in the business with his Humans of Telecom podcast. With 20 episodes in 20 weeks, he is churning out episodes thick and fast. Guests including Simon Nainkin , Luisa Sanchez and Sarah Keller have given a fascinating insight into some of the big personalities around the industry. You can find the podcast on your favourite streaming app.

Virtual Numbers?

It is by no means a new service, but it seems that finally the virtual mobile number is getting some traction. 10 years ago, during my time at tyntec the tt.one product was ahead of its time in providing a ‘real’ mobile number hosted in the cloud. This technology has taken some time to really catch on but it seems that more and more use cases are popping up especially in the contact centre market.

Ring4 is my personal app of choice to host my second line (UK mobile number) and it provides a convenient and good value option for personal communications for small businesses and individuals. Founded by Alex Botteri in 2017 it is one of the simplest and lowest cost options for personal and small business communications.

UK based Devyce provides mobile numbers to businesses of all sizes and provides a mobile first phone system that allows people to have personal and business lines on the same handset.

There are plenty of other vendors of all sizes offering virtual number solutions and it will be interesting to see how technology (and regulation) will develop as more and more telephony services move to the cloud.

Earlier this month I travelled to China for the first time and it was impressive to see the scale of some of the big technology companies. The CPaaS industry was focussed on the US market for a long time but there has been a considerable shift towards China (and Asia as a whole) and the investment and growth in the country is a clear indicator to continued growth. There is stiff competition for some of the ‘traditional’ internet giants.

On my return to Munich I was invited to take part in an online discussion on the impact technology has on international trade with the EU Tech Chamber (EUTECH) , Shahid Hussain of Green Proposition Consulting shared his insights and it is interesting to see how technology is empowering trade across the Asian region. Thanks to Judith Yong for organising the webinar.

Mergers and Acquisitions

The big news in mainstream media is the merger of Three UK and Vodafone . This will create the largest Mobile Network in the UK with 27 million subscribers. This is a trend of major European countries moving to 3 main MNOs (Telefonica acquired E-Plus in Germany back in 2014). Heavy investment in infrastructure, especially 5G, is one of the key reasons for the merger and it should theoretically improve the service for customers without impacting price. I guess the regulator will decide.

Tata Communications have also announced (as I am writing) the acquisition of Kaleyra for $100m. This is a strategic investment and it will be interesting to see how that plays out over the next few weeks.

Movers and shakers

It has been a busy few months and plenty of movement in the jobs market.

Deon Carstens has joined S and BTS as a senior account manager. He brings 8 years of experience in the SMS business with previous roles at Clickatell and Kaleyra.

Bojan Sadzak has been the latest hire at Globe Teleservices Pte. Ltd. as they look to widen their reach into Europe. He joins as European Director from Telesign.

IDT Corporation are continuing to make waves in the SMS industry and have hired Greg Henderson as Director of Enterprise Sales. He has extensive experience across multiple commercial roles at tyntec and Kaleyra.

Belgrade based Stefan Cukovic has joined Vonage as Director of Operations from Telesign.

Industry legend Mark Henstone has joined Mr Messaging as VP of Sales from Twilio.

Finally, Nicholas CS Soo has left Telin after 6 years to run the Indosat Wholesale business.

It is a healthy time for new opportunities across the markets.