- Execs from Google Cloud and AWS said they want to keep up on telco standards
- They also assist their telco customers with their AI and automation journeys
- Fierce also asked the cloud providers if AI is more of a cost saver or a revenue generator for telcos
DTW IGNITE, COPENHAGEN — The big American public cloud providers attended the TM Forum’s traditional standards show this week, and Fierce Network asked representatives from Google Cloud and AWS why they come to DTW Ignite.
Angelo Libertucci, Google Cloud’s global head of Telecom Industry, said the company has been a member of TM Forum for about five years. “As telcos around the world use cloud more and more as part of their daily operation, we’re becoming a strategic part of their network automation,” said Libertucci. “It’s important for us to stay current on things like standards.”
He added that a lot of Google Cloud’s customers appreciate its point of view of network topics such as OSS and BSS.
Ishwar Parulkar, CTO for Telecom and Edge Cloud with AWS, noted that the company has a whole division dedicated to the telecom vertical. AWS has been a member of TM Forum since 2023.
“The cloud is fundamentally a horizontal platform, but there are verticals that require special attention,” said Parulkar. “Running network functions as a cloud workload required us to invest engineering effort to understand.” He also said that DTW Ignite has a focus on IT, “which is a big part of our work with telcos.”
Parulkar noted that some service providers run Nokia’s 5G core in AWS’ cloud: including Dish, Telefonica Germany and Comcast’s wireless service.
Similarly, this week Ericsson announced it has teamed up with Google Cloud to deliver carrier-grade 5G core as-a-service built with AI at the foundation.
And AI was a big part of every discussion at this week’s show, specifically how telcos are approaching the technology.
Fierce asked both Parulkar and Libertucci if AI-use within telcos is currently more of a cost savings or a revenue-generating function.
Parulkar said, “Clearly cost savings is the big driver and will be the primary driver for some time to come.” He said other industries such as healthcare are already using AI to create new revenue streams, but “telcos are not there yet.”
Libertucci was more circumspect. He said, “Most people believe it’s about opex savings,” especially for customer service contact centers. “Ultimately, if you do it right it increases customer experience and you get better NPS scores. That’s an opportunity to reduce costs and improve customer experience.” But he noted that happy customers don’t churn, and the longer you keep a customer the more opportunity you have to upsell them.
Autonomous networks
The TM Forum has established definitions for five layers of autonomy: starting with Level 0 where there is no autonomy to Level 5 where the network is fully autonomous, managing and optimizing itself without human involvement.
Libertucci said, “We are coming to telcos with our autonomous framework. He said since Google operates the world’s largest network for business units such as YouTube, Search and Maps “there’s a lot of high performance we have to live up to with a fraction of the people at telcos.”
Google Cloud worked with the TM Forum to help define its five levels of network autonomy.
Asked if it was frustrating to work with the telco vertical and all its legacy systems and equipment, Libertucci said it is at times frustrating. The IT side of the telco is easier than the network side.
In terms of the current level of network autonomy at telcos, he said, “Most would agree we’re operating at Level 2 maybe Level 3.”
Catch all of our coverage from this year's DTW Ignite show here.