Trends & Innovation in Telecom in 2023

The way we communicate and obtain information has been greatly influenced by developments in the telecommunications sector. They have facilitated global interconnection and produced new business opportunities and social interaction by making communication quicker, less expensive, and more accessible. Telecommunications developments have also fueled economic expansion and had a significant impact on a number of industries, including healthcare, education, and entertainment. The telecommunications industry has been so impactful that it's now nearly impossible to imagine an “offline” world, as nowadays, our livelihoods practically depend on it.?

From days to seconds: what were some of the key developments in telecom?

Since its humble beginnings in the 19th century, when the first telegraphic message was sent, telecommunications have come to permeate almost every nook and cranny of our lives. “What hath God wrought? ” - the message Morse dispatched over an experimental line from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore - is an apt phrase to capture the awe one might feel about the exponential advancements in telecommunications in recent decades.

Each new invention shortened the time it took for a message to travel from the sender to the recipient; long-distance communication slowly became the norm, not the exception. One of the first, though not the sole, harbingers of this reality was broadband, ushering in a new era of high-speed internet. Almost parallel to the shift from wired to wireless connections, there was a dramatic transformation in the mobile sector with the emergence of smartphones that gave users previously unseen capabilities for mobile phones. Nowadays, it might feel like the industry is moving so fast that it is hard to catch up with all the buzz about new developments. From 5G and AI to innovative smartphone designs and virtual reality, these are some of the trends in the sector, some of which we have explored in our Telecommunications Report .

The long-term game of 5G

Innovation has been the backbone of the telecom industry, so it is hardly surprising when the next big thing comes along. The early rollout of 5G technologies divided people based on their belief of what the technology could bring. The coronavirus “infected” this area as well in that it both made some people fear 5G due to widespread conspiracy theories and slowed down its launch due to the healthcare crisis.?

Nevertheless, the optimism about the technology stayed at a level high enough to warrant steady investments even when other sectors fell sharply behind. Looking into the future, IHS Markit has even brighter projections which are best expressed in one sentence: 5G will drive $3.8 trillion of gross output by 2035 and create 22.8 million new jobs. Safe to say that 5G is here to stay as the industry starts to seize its potential.??

Leading phone manufacturers jumped on the bandwagon during the early deployment of 5G networks and released the first 5G-compatible smartphones as a nod to consumers’ eagerness for faster speeds and lower latency. While brands exploited the future potential of 5G, they also tapped into the childhood nostalgia of today’s millennial consumers with the release of a new wave of foldable phones. Since their comeback, they have been dubbed a gimmick by some and adored by others. Whatever your phone preference, it's undeniable that foldable phones represent innovative engineering that merges phone and tablet features

As frontiers of innovation continue expanding in the mobile industry, AI advancements keep spreading into more and more areas of the mobile sector. Impacting both the consumer and producer, AI tends to make things “smoother” by way of improving user experience. In the upcoming years, we can expect AI to run even more seamlessly on mobile devices as dedicated AI processors will do the job on-device instead of offloading the computing to the cloud. These specialty microprocessors were already incorporated into more than 30% of the world’s smartphones by 2020.

5G: the enabler of IoT

Going from being unable to browse the internet if someone in your household was using the landline telephone to accessing mobile 5G networks at speeds of up to 20 Gbps has indisputably changed the trajectory of innovations and, with that, consumer expectations for the future. Nowadays, we hear talk of the sixth generation of wireless technology that would bring record-breaking speeds. While it is still in its research and development phase, 6G holds the promise of enabling a connection density ten times higher than that of 5G.?

But let’s stick to what’s currently becoming even more and more readily available. The 5G connection density of 10? devices per square kilometer (km2) will give an enormous boost to IoT use cases. This means that telecom companies stand at the fore when it comes to leveraging IoT technology for their operations and enabling and enhancing IoT applications for other industry verticals. AT&T seized this opportunity and utilized IoT for energy management, reducing its energy consumption by 9 million kWh per year, thereby saving almost $1 million in costs. On the revenue-making front, telecoms should take advantage of their position to provide IoT-related services, much like Huawei , which has ventured into the sphere with data, device, and operations management solutions catering to a wide array of industries.?

The growing number of IoT devices, which is projected to reach 29 billion by 2030, will complicate issues related to management and security. This is where blockchain technology steps in, enabling easier device identity and security management. Apart from this use case, Infosys compiled a list of applications where blockchain will have the biggest impact, according to CSP executives. Among them, identity management, SLA monitoring, roaming and settlements, and prevention of phone theft address long-standing challenges of the telecom industry. Nevertheless, as with other technologies, blockchain’s widespread adoption across the industry is still pending.?

Once controlled by large national and regional operators, the telecommunications landscape is slowly but surely getting a new look shaped by novel technologies, innovative companies, and customer expectations. This rapid evolution presents new opportunities and challenges for incumbent telecom industry players as they are forced to reinvent themselves to remain relevant on the scene of ever-demanding customers. On the other hand, young companies entering the sector are disrupting the market, bringing a “breath of fresh air.”

Current and potential innovations in the telecommunications industry might make it hard to separate what we once thought to be science fiction from reality. Each advancement opens up new opportunities from a business and consumer perspective. One thing is certain, avant-garde thinking won’t cast you on the outside of the telecommunications circle; on the contrary, it will bring you closer to its core, as the industry has always depended on realizing unorthodox ideas.