Our good friends at Nokia recently published the results of an operator survey on how ready operators’ systems are for 5G. They surveyed 100 CSPs across the globe to get a view on how 5G services for consumer and enterprise, new 5G business models, and revenue drivers will impact BSS.
The results would indicate that many operators have a bit of work to do to bring their BSS up to speed. A massive 98% of CSPs surveyed said that they plan to alter their BSS to support 5G. This is similar to a TM Forum operator survey from 2021 that said that only 8% of operators’ BSS can support all their 5G services.
Altering BSS could involve extending their current system, moving to the public cloud, deploying a new BSS stack to support 5G and IoT, or swapping out their existing stack for a new, modern BSS. The problem and opportunity with 5G is that there are so many possibilities for new business opportunities.
The Nokia report says that 60% of new revenues will come through B2B2X models. Does anyone have a clear and consistent definition of what a B2B2X model will look like? Probably not, as different operators will have different strategies, and these will impact what their B2B2X models look like. Some operators want to offer the best connectivity possible. Some will want to evolve to offer a wide range of services that can be delivered over their networks. Some operators will want to offer CaaS (Connectivity as a Service) platforms while others will open up new divisions to serve vertical markets. At the same time, many will be asking questions about what a Metaverse is and how it’s going to affect telecoms operators.
There’s a lot of uncertainty around 5G and that’s why it was no great surprise to see ‘flexibility and scalability' coming out on top as the most urgent BSS requirements in the TM Forum operator survey. Operators will make mistakes with 5G and this is ok. They need to be able to experiment with new offers, processes, and business models. They need to be able to try stuff out without the huge cost and fear of failure. That’s why BSS flexibility is important. Delivering BSS flexibility using a no-code approach where an operator can make changes itself using a visual tool, is the most efficient way to make system and processes changes. This lets operators quickly react to new 5G opportunities and have the system agility in place that lets them prepare for the unexpected.
Sakari Lapinsuo
Senior Product Marketing Manager