Telecom in 2024... Looking forward...

2023 has been a mixed bag for the telecom industry. The year saw the industry taking some hard decisions around investments but at the same time innovation has become a key driver determining the future of the industry.

1. In 2023, we saw that virtualized and cloudified radio networks with open interfaces getting into prime time with the announcements from major telcos on rolling out such solutions. Disaggregated networks will drive interest in 2024 both in terms of development and deployment. We also expect in 2024 that 5G will be offered as a standalone service and operators will aggressively look to monetize networks. Networks will become platforms, accessible through APIs and it has the potential to enable a developer ecosystem who will develop richer and secure applications leveraging such APIs. As a result, we expect network-as-a-service to become a mainstream lever for monetization in 2024.
2. Cost pressures will also drive innovation in 2024. The emergence of Generative AI and Network AI will transform many aspects of a telco’s operations from automation to network management and customer experience. The journey towards autonomous network will start with all seriousness in 2024. The potential is immense. The target for the industry would be to achieve level-4 autonomous networks in 3 years. This could mean several new initiatives around network AI R&D. Network automation will move from being more programmable to being more predictive. The goal is to have a preventive, predictable, self-healing networks in few years and this requires significant focus around network planning, optimization, maintenance, traffic management, security, customer experience and resource management. AI is expected to touch all such areas in the coming years.
3. Edge computing is now a reality for several industries. Processing data closer to its origin is now seen as a strong transformation objective. The telcos will have to start innovating in new business models, developing developer ecosystem, and pursuing partnerships to offer enterprises a valuable solution for the edge to cloud continuum in 2024.
4. With the increase in number of devices, edge and more cloudification of services, the surface area of potential cyber-attacks will increase significantly. We expect that telcos in partnership with cyber-security specialists will leverage AI for better threat detection and response.
5. Sustainability will continue to be core to how networks are designed, developed, deployed, and managed. Optimization strategies to data-driven techniques will be applied as the telcos move towards more greener and sustainable networks.
6. The connectivity roadmap will continue to evolve in 2024 with the emergence of Non-Terrestrial Networks like satellite communication for 5G, 5G Advanced and features for wider industry and private network adoption with newer, constrained but 5G-enabled devices. Fixed Wireless access, rural connectivity, small cells, and specialised industrial networks will continue to have strong investment.

Overall, 2024 will be an important year for the industry. I am excited to see how this unravels…