To successfully commercialise APIs, the telecom industry must reach new customers – application developers – and sell significantly different services than traditional voice and data. We outline how telcos can meet developers where they are and identify strategies for operators to maximise their share of value creation from API capabilities.
Telcos leading the development of mobile network APIs must set strategies now to scale the market beyond the first wave of customers and use cases. We explore three potential pathways for growth: courting new customers, creating new capabilities and a combination of both.
Despite the hype around edge computing, telcos have been slow to commit investments amid competing priorities for networks teams. How can they work with partners to get the right balance between cost, speed of deployment and developer needs in a fast moving competitive market?
This is part 2 of a 3-part series taking an in-depth look at how 5G pioneers have evolved their approaches to commercialisation since launch, navigating a maze of factors such as handset availability, technology immaturity and more. What should others take from their experience to date?
Edge computing is a strategic opportunity for telcos. We examine the driving needs and applications for telco edge computing, describe the market and the options for telcos, discuss their partnerships with hyperscalers and recommend key actions.
The use of edge computing is accelerating rapidly in applications such as live streaming, drone management, and AR/VR. Developers, the key catalyst of growth, need infrastructure fast and certainty on pricing. Through seven case studies we outline why developers want from edge computing, and how telcos can support them.
Facebook set up the Telecom Infra Project in 2016 to drive open source standards in core telecoms hardware and network operations. In this report we examine the implications of this project for telcos and other industry players, and recommend how they should respond.
MEC (Mobile / Multi-Access Edge Computing) puts compute resources at the edge of telco networks. These servers can be used for distributing internal network functions – typically linked with NFV deployments – or made available to third-party developers as part of an “edge cloud” service offering. What are the realistic use cases, and can telcos monetise them?
Dialog Axiata in Sri Lanka has developed a fast growing API platform that engages developers significantly more than plays by big telcos like AT&T, Orange and Vodafone relative to its scale. How has it achieved this and driven monetisation, innovation and efficiency within the company? And what is next?
How Sprint’s necessary shutdown of Nextel turned into a commercial disaster, losing valuable customers, reputation, and market share. Our analysis shows that amdist the drama of the Softbank deal and the complexity of a major network upgrade, SMB customer needs were neglected, and its competitors (VZW, AT&T and T-Mobile) stepped smartly in.
Vodafone 360 was meant to be a new, social-network centred approach to managing the customer interface. Unfortunately, it was also bug-ridden and dogged by a lack of clarity of purpose. Now, its availability on Android Market and iTunes may create a strategic opportunity for Vodafone to access more customers. (August 2010)
A write up and analysis of new research plus participants’ and speakers’ views at the May 2009 Telco 2.0 Executive Brainstorm exploring the challenges of open APIs. (May 2009)
LiMo is the most Telco 2.0 of mobile Linuxes – why did their showing at MWC impress us so much?