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photograph: boscolelli
The outlook for the telecommunications industry looks “bleak” without major changes, according to key international industry leaders.
Tony Calcina, global industry association ambassador for the TM Forum, said two recent global forums have highlighted the need to change from a forum that provides telecommunications services as a utility to a forum that delivers technology solutions through collaboration. He said it was confirmed.
“The telecom industry is actually in a bit of a tough spot. It's actually quite stagnant. In fact, if you look at the messages at these conferences, it's been a pretty bleak message,” Karsina said.
“One of the keynote speakers at Mobile World Congress felt that maybe in 10 years we won't be in business and we'll go the way of Blockbuster, BlackBerry, and Kodak.”
He said the future of the telecommunications industry was in question and called on the industry to take action now to prepare for the future.
Karsina said the industry needs to address six key issues, and success primarily requires collaboration and openness.
He said the industry needs to use the language of software, become more digital and become a continuous innovator.
While that seemed like a tall order, Carcina said world leaders were already embracing concepts such as co-creation by collaborating with other industries, such as healthcare, to make the necessary changes.
“Software is the new language of business,” he said, adding that staying relevant requires talent and partnerships.
In addition to collaboration, the Global Forum highlighted the need for telcos to embrace autonomous networks to drive global revenue.
Metaverse as a collaboration tool was seen as another opportunity to drive revenue.
Mr Karsina said that environmental, social and governance policies (ESG) are also considered to be of great importance, pointing out that the energy consumption of the technology industry is comparable to that of the transport sector.
He added that cybersecurity is also an important area for the industry to address, as the costs associated with this type of crime are rapidly increasing and are estimated to cost the global economy around $10.5 trillion annually within five years. He said that this is an important issue.
“A lot of people would say it's out of control. Look at the money that's been lost,” Karsina said.
“This represents the largest transfer of economic wealth in human history, where people take money from good people and give it to bad people, an amount that exceeds the damage caused by all natural disasters in one year. There is.
“This is a huge problem in Australia, with losses estimated at $100 billion. So the question is, what are we doing about it?”
Karsina said there needs to be more focus and accountability to minimize cybercrime.
Artificial intelligence was another area of particular concern for telcos as part of their transformation.
“This is the most exciting part of the technology impacting the wheels of our century, and how we have leveraged Chad GBT to create this journey of change and transformation,” Karsina said. .
“You know, it’s like fire and if you don’t handle it properly, you can get seriously burned.
“We have to handle it carefully. It's a double-edged sword.”
