Defining the future telco — and what it means for operators and their partners
The industry is still on track to deliver 5G Standalone and various types of virtualised RAN – but progress is a lot slower than originally expected. In this update of the Telco Cloud Deployment Tracker, we look beneath the hood of the numbers to assess what if anything will accelerate growth in 2024.
New players, technologies and business models are raising the prospect of valuable, new satellite connectivity services. But how credible are the new opportunities and what do operators need to do?
There is much debate in the industry on the topic of edge computing, but little clarity for vendors and potential customers on how much capacity will be available. STL Partners’ Network Edge Data Centre Forecast estimates the number of network edge data centres and their capacity from 2021-2027. We also breakdown who will operate these sites: telcos, hyperscalers or other third parties.
The first commercial deployments of open RAN networks have been announced. But operators are unsure whether to deploy quickly for first-mover advantage or play it safe and wait for more proof points. We explore the causes of open RAN inertia and how operators can get deployments back on track.
AI applications will require low-latency, local compute for rapid inferencing and large scale data collection, triage, and engineering. Edge compute will therefore play a key role in AI app delivery. However it’s not just about infrastructure – commercial scale for edge AI will depend on effective ecosystem collaboration models.
Since 2015 STL Partners has helped telecoms operators to develop their edge computing strategies. We summarise our learnings from those engagements as a manifesto for how the industry can address the edge computing opportunity.
Most consumers do not need FTTH speeds and capacity, but there are other reasons why households may pay a premium for full fibre connectivity.
Gen AI has great potential usefulness to telcos, provided its capabilities and limitations are well understood, and projects implemented judiciously. This report directs telcos to the most promising use cases.
Telcos and policymakers need new metrics to power evidence-based decisions. New tools and data sources can help build greater understanding and transparency in telecoms.
This report leverages findings from an extensive research programme conducted in EMEA, including interviews with eight different CSPs and a survey with 54 responses from CSPs across the region. The research explored the progress of telcos within EMEA as they adopt techco practices.
We examine four ecosystem business frameworks to see how they might look when applied to the emerging network API opportunity to assess whether these sorts of models can unlock commercialisation possibilities in uncertain markets.
At the start of 2023, we were hopeful that the year would be that of 5G SA. In the event, only seven deployments materialised in the first 6 months leaving a staggering 30 in our tracker as “in progress” and to be completed in the second half of 2023. In this report, we discuss how likely it is that these deployments will take place in 2023 or at all and if 5G SA still matters.
The use of A3 in open RAN will be an important part of the solution to specific open RAN challenges for telcos. This report reviews the significance of A3 in Open RAN, xAPP and rAPP market opportunities and identifies eleven A3 requirements in developing Open RAN capabilities for telcos.
Consumer use cases offer a variety of opportunities for telcos and other stakeholders in the area of distributed edge. This report explores seven such use cases and the implications for telcos.
The pace of GAI development over the last 12 months raises questions for telcos around what else is coming down the track in analytics, AI and automation. How should they respond to GAI, thing as customer, decision intelligence and digital immunity, among others?
Although the metaverse has been engulfed by a wave of scepticism, there are some compelling consumer and enterprise use cases for interoperable virtual environments rendered in 3D. Over time, these use cases will drive demand for connectivity and other telco capabilities.
In the rapidly evolving ecosystem of private networks, collaboration and partnerships are becoming critical for success. Our report examines the key elements shaping this dynamic market and how partnerships, verticalisation strategies, and wide-ranging channel approaches are reshaping the private networks landscape.
Our research focuses on how telcos and their partners can embrace industry disruption.
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