LightTrends Newsletter

LightCounting publishes newly updated report on CSPs Network Transformation

There is a cause for optimism as the communications service providers (CSPs) enter their second decade of network transformation. That is the main finding of LightCounting's latest edition of its network transformation report entitled: Network Transformation Reaches a Pivotal Phase.

On the surface, it is business as usual: CSPs are experiencing paltry growth and continue to search for new revenue opportunities. Yet under the surface, much is being done.

Open RAN, a flagship network transformation project, encompasses all its key ingredients: disaggregation, virtualization, automation, and open networking (software and hardware).

With their wide-scale deployments, Rakuten Mobile and NTT Docomo show that multi-vendor open RAN solutions benefit greenfield and brownfield networks. Meanwhile, DISH Networks has partnered with AWS for its cloud-native 5G rollout that includes open RAN, highlighting what a decade of network transformation has made possible.

Open RAN has changed forever how the radio access network is designed.

Automation is another pillar of network transformation in its early stages. Yet several operators have ambitious plans to achieve advanced automation in their networks by 2025, built on the work of organizations such as the TM Forum and ETSI and its ZSM work. These efforts suggest network operations will be vastly different by this decade's end.

Lastly, the strong revenue growth of the Chinese operators in 2021 points to the promise of 5G and edge technologies applied to the digital transformation of industries. Such growth from industrial digitalization is what all the CSPs seek.

This period and the coming next few years will be vital in determining whether network transformation and the increasingly advanced connectivity it enables will be the engine of much-needed growth.

LightCounting sees the above developments as reasons for optimism during a challenging time for the CSPs.

The complete report is available to LightCounting clients at: www.lightcounting.com