Telecoms_com_Annual_Industry_Survey_2020_V6_FINAL_UPDATED

TELECOMS.
COM INTELLIGENCE
ANNUAL
INDUSTRY
SURVEY
2020
REPORT
Sponsored by
Contents
03 / Introduction
05 / Industry Landscape
08 / 5G
12 / Broadband
16 / Digital Transformation
20 / Intelligence at the Edge
24 / Security
28 / Appendix – Survey Results

With resolution and
defiance, telecoms are
standing firm in adversity
Dear Readers,
W elcome to the Telecoms.com 2020
Annual Industry Survey report.
However, while facing the most difficult
times in decades, the telecoms industry
has demonstrated strong resilience in what
Meanwhile, palpable optimism and confidence
can be felt from the survey responses when
the participants were looking ahead towards
“Unprecedented” has already become a we do. The worry at the beginning of the what is to come next. Over three-quarters of
cliché to describe 2020, but this does not pandemic, that telecoms networks might the respondents had a positive outlook for the
Wei Shi make it any less true. About a year ago, when
we published the 2019 report titled “looking
forward with confidence,” none of us could
not be able to pass the traffic spike test
caused by vastly increased remote work and
home entertainment demand, has proved
telecoms industry in 2021.
They have a strong belief in the role that

Content Manager
Telecoms.com Intelligence have predicted what would be lying in wait for unfounded. 5G, broadband, digital transformation,
us this year. edge computing, security and many other
Many innovations have been developed telecoms sectors will play in both driving the
COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on millions to help corporates run their business as recovery and propelling new growth.
of lives, inflicted serious damage to the smoothly and as securely as possible. Even
world economy, and negatively impacted a new technology rollout has not seen too So, once again, it is our privilege to share the
countless businesses, including many in the much delay. Over 100 operators in more than onward and upward journey with you and
communications industry. Over 40% of the 40 countries have switched on commercial we hope you find the 2020 Telecoms.com
telecoms professionals responding to this year’s 5G services by the end of Q3, up from 70 Annual Industry Survey enlightening in this
survey admitted that they have felt the pain. operators and 30 markets in July. testing time. n
London, 19 October 2020
Annual Industry Survey 2020

3
Survey Responses Snapshot
Survey Respondents COVID-19 Impact on business Telecoms industry
performance in 2020
NEGATIVE IMPACT
EXCELLENT
44% 13%
OPERATORS VENDORS SYSTEM INTEGRATORS HAS HELPED BUSINESS GOOD
32% 21% 20% 15% 54%

Outlook for 2021 Investment priority for the Investment priority for your own
industry in the next 3 years business in 2021
VERY POSITIVE
31% INITIAL 5G DEPLOYMENT 68%

5G
SOMEWHAT POSITIVE
FIBER (FTTX) DEPLOYMENT PROJECTS 51%
64%
46% 5G DENSIFICATION 40%
Digital Transformation Investment The driving demand for broadband to Impact edge computing currently has
change during 2020 continue growing on digital transformation
INCREASED INVESTMENT
22% TELECOM OPERATOR

NETWORK EDGE
NO CHANGE
VIDEO-BASED “WORK FROM
48%
54% APPLICATIONS HOME” TREND
36% 23% Annual Industry Survey 2020

4
INDUSTRY
LANDSCAPE KEY TAKEAWAYS
• More than four in ten see their business negatively
impacted by COVID-19
Despite the strong headwind of COVID-19, • Over three-quarters have positive outlook for telecoms
in 2021
participants in the survey are confident in • 5G tops both industry’s and individual businesses’
both their own capability to weather the storm investment priority lists
and the communications industry’s capability • Delay in new technology rollout and pressure on profit
are seen as biggest threats
to come out the other end in strong shape.

5
INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE
As usual, this year’s Telecoms.com annual industry survey started by gauging Figure 1-1:How has COVID-19 impacted your company?
the participants’ sentiment and attitude towards the overall industry
landscape. It gains special importance in this special year and sets the scene
for the subsequent sections of the survey which would dive deeper into We have been negatively
individual topical domains. impacted by COVID-19.................................... 44%
COVID-19 has no or negligible

impact on us..................................................... 36%
Once again, the survey attracted experience in telecoms, including living room is obviously COVID-19. We have done better during
COVID-19 than we would normally do......... 15%
high enthusiasm from the industry. 30% having spent over 25 years in Unfortunately, though not surprisingly,
Well over 500 telecoms professionals this industry. Meanwhile, 11% of all many businesses have felt the pain Other .....................................................................5%
responded during the three weeks respondents joined the industry not of the pandemic. The biggest group,
it was open, on par with the level of earlier than five years ago, the highest 44% of all survey participants, said
responses of last year. The biggest representation of this group in this their companies’ business had been
group of them, 32% of total, came survey’s history. In terms of location, negatively impacted by COVID-19.
from communications service three-quarters of all respondents Meanwhile, 15% of the respondents
Figure 1-2:How would you describe the telecom industry’s overall business
providers (including virtual operators), were based in Europe (37%), North said their business had done better performance so far in 2020?
followed in second place by those America (20%), and Asia-Pacific (17%), during the pandemic than they
working for vendors (21%) and in where the vast majority of the live normally would do. Many of them
third place consultants and system 5G networks are operating, while the worked at different types of service
integrators (20%). representation of Africa, the Middle providers, which had benefited from
Excellent............................................................. 13%
East, and South America reached the rising demand for their services.
When it comes to the job functions 26%, up from less than 24% a year More than a third of participants in Good.................................................................... 54%
of the survey respondents, the largest ago. the survey said the pandemic has had Average............................................................... 24%
group were mid-level management, little impact on them. Below average......................................................7%
at 21%, followed by C-level executives Therefore, we can say the respondent
Poor........................................................................2%
which accounted for 18% of the body was a fine mix of technical and Despite COVID-19’s negative impact
total. Technical functions, including non-technical professionals, of senior on the economy in general and on
engineers, developers, network executives and operational experts, many of the businesses represented in
operators, and IT management and IT of mature and emerging markets, the survey, the telecoms professionals
operation staff, accounted for 26% of and of experience and fresh ideas. gave a more positive rating to the
the total, while 17% of all participants Not only are the participants close to overall performance of the telecoms
in the survey were working in sales
and marketing.
the heartbeat of the industry, many
of them are the heartbeat of the
industry in 2020. Almost seven out of
ten respondents said the industry’s
“WHEN LOOKING AHEAD TOWARDS THE
industry. business performance had been either INDUSTRY’S PROSPECTS IN 2021, THE
Many of the respondents were
industry veterans, with nearly half When we look at this year’s industry
excellent (13%) or good (54%). Another
quarter of respondents said the
SURVEY PARTICIPANTS SHEWED AN EVEN
(49%) having more than 20 years’ landscape, the elephant in the performance had been average. STRONGER OPTIMISM.”

6
Along similar lines, the industry in the survey identified initial 5G vehicles (38%) but was just edged
professionals also looked back on Figure 1-3:How do you feel about the telecom industry’s business outlook for 2021? deployment as one of the telecoms out of the top spot by the number of
their own companies’ performance industry’s investment priorities in survey participants selecting AI and
this year with general approval. the next three years, ahead of all ML (41%).
The biggest group, 41% of the Very positive.........................................31% other investment targets. A further
total, thought their company had Somewhat positive.............................46% 40% also chose the densification When it comes to the threats
performed at a similar level as the Neutral...................................................15% of existing 5G networks, and 33% perceived by the communications
industry as a whole, while a third of for the deployment of standalone industry, two items stood out: 24%
Somewhat negative.............................. 6%
all respondents believed that their mode 5G. Other leading candidates of the respondents saw the biggest
Poor.......................................................... 1%
company had outperformed the selected by the industry professionals threat in the failure to roll out new
industry by a small margin, and a Very negative.......................................... 0% included fibre (FTTx) deployment technologies fast enough, while 22%
further 12% by a big margin. (51%), virtualisation (46%), and next- felt most threatened by the increased
generation access technologies pressure to lower prices and profit
The positive assessment of the (38%). margins. There is a strong consistency
business performance of the industry in this result over the last few years.
and of their own companies could 5G also topped the 2021 investment In comparison, competition from OTT
be read as a belief among the focus list of the survey respondents’ services and hyperscalers, which had
survey participants that the telecoms own companies, selected by 64%. It been seen as an almost existential
industry has been able to pull off the was followed by investment in cloud threat until recently, was relegated
best out of the worst. and digital transformation, at 42% to the same level as the lack of
Figure 1-4:Which of the following are likely to be the telecoms industry’s priority
investment areas in the next three years? (choose all that apply) each. Security, IoT, virtualisation, and demand from business customers
When looking ahead towards the artificial intelligence (AI, including and regulatory restraints, all selected
industry’s prospects in 2021, the survey 100 machine learning or ML), were all by 8% of all survey respondents.
participants shewed an even stronger 90 selected by more than one-third of
optimism. Over three-quarters of 80 all respondents. In summary, despite the strong
all believed the telecoms industry’s headwind of COVID-19 against
70
business outlook would be positive Probably inevitably, when a the overall economy and despite
60
Percentage
(46%) or very positive (31%). A cynic technology makes the headlines and its negative impact on many
could attribute the optimism to 50 makes high promises but has not yet businesses represented in the survey,
the belief that things could not go 40 delivered on all of them, especially participants in the survey have
any worse. On the other hand, the when the ROI is not yet compelling, demonstrated a strong confidence in
30
positive sentiment could also come it will be met with scepticism. 5G both their own capability to weather
20
out of the confidence that many new obviously falls in this category (see the storm and the communications
technology and business drivers, on 10 the next chapter for detailed analysis industry’s capability to come out
top of the expected macro recovery 0 of the responses to questions on the other end in strong shape.
Initial 5G
Virtualisation
deployment
Fiber (FTTx)
deployment
5G densification
Next generation
Standalone
access
technologies
mode 5G
deployment
Other
from the pandemic, could continue to 5G), so do some other industry 5G, broadband and many other
push the industry forward. buzzwords. When asked to select technologies will continue to catch
the most overhyped technologies, the industry’s imagination and to
One such key driver is apparently 39% of all respondents went for 5G. It attract significant investments in the
5G. A total of 68% of participants was narrowly ahead of autonomous coming years. n

7
5G
The industry has carried 5G’s strong
momentum to the migration towards the KEY TAKEAWAYS
advanced phase of 5G. However, to deliver • Deployment of virtualised 5G core is already underway
on the high promises of the technology, • 5G deployment on C band has broad appeal
especially those value propositions to • The industry has strong enthusiasm for adopting
Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF)
business customers, telecoms industry • While going cloud native, network functions are most
stakeholders need to navigate and overcome likely to remain on private cloud
a broad range of challenges.
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8
5G
A year ago, when Telecoms.com was conducting its 2019 annual industry When asked about their plans for
survey, we noted the biggest landscape change of the year was 5G going C-band 5G deployment, over half
live commercially. One year on, 5G’s momentum has kept getting stronger. of the survey respondents whose
business is related to 5G rollout had
According to the tracking by GSA, an industry organisation, by the end of Q3
either already started the deployment
this year, over 100 operators in more than 40 countries have launched 3GPP- (25%) or were planning to start within
compliant 5G services, including mobile and fixed mobile access services. a year (28%). A further 27% of the
respondents said their companies
would start the deployment within
With the completion of 3GPP’s Release deployed virtualised 5G core (30%) two years.
16 Stage 3 work at the beginning or were going to deploy it within Figure 2-1:When do you plan to deploy a virtualised 5G core?*
of July, the industry is now more one year (37%), indicating a strong There are different factors holding
confident in investing in what the enthusiasm and commitment from back the broad deployment of 5G on
standardisation body calls “Phase 2” of the industry professionals to the We have already deployed higher frequencies, the most obvious
virtualised 5G core..............................30%
5G, strongly characterised by industrial advanced phase of 5G. one being regulators not making
use cases including next phase V2X, We will deploy it in the next the frequencies available for cellular
6 months...............................................16%
Industrial IoT, URLLC enhancement. Despite the fast rollout of 5G networks technology. But other than that, there
We will deploy it in the next
These new features need to be in different parts of the world, are additional technology challenges
6-12 months.........................................21%
underpinned by new network many 5G promises have not been the industry is facing with such
We will deploy it in over
architecture, the deployment of 5G delivered on yet. For example, in live 12 months.............................................32% deployment. The biggest technology
radio networks on virtualised 5G core, commercial networks, we are nowhere challenge identified in the survey
or the so-called “standalone mode”. close to the gigabit speed that has * Percentage is calculated among survey respondents whose business was inter-band and inter-technology
is relevant to the questions
been marketed. One way to close the management, chosen by 41% of those
However, this does not mean the gap between the speed promised whose business is relevant to the
industry had been waiting in inactivity on paper and what is experienced in question. Followed in a distant second
for R16. Many trials as well as limited real life is to move up to higher radio place was interference management,
but focused commercial SA mode frequencies. With notable exceptions at 23%, while a close third place (21%)
5G services had been launched even in Japan and the United States, 5G went to timing and synchronisation
before R16 was frozen. It makes sense, networks in most other markets are management.
therefore, for the survey to understand deployed on the sub-6GHz bands,
the respondents’ plan to roll out the or what 3GPP calls Frequency Range Many of the key service propositions
advanced phase 5G networks, in 1 (FR1). Even without the mmWave in the advanced phase of 5G rely
particular the virtualised 5G core. bands being made available, on the virtualisation nature of the
many operators can already make technology, for example end-to-
Among the survey participants whose incremental progress by deploying 5G end network slicing. This requires 5G
business is relevant to the topic, more in the 4-8GHz, or what IEEE calls the operators to adopt new monitoring
than two-thirds have either already C-band. methods to ensure the service,

9
Figure 2-2:Do you have plans for Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF) for
5G core?
Yes, we are committed

to NWDAF.............................................15%
We are waiting for the standard

to be finalized before committing....47%
We don’t see any clear value

in NWDAF..............................................26%
Other .....................................................12%
different from what they have used already committed to NWDAF; the In the past few years, the telecoms
in monolithic networks. One answer rest were either waiting for finalised industry has seen a trend of telecom
to such demand is Network Data standardisation or did not see the operators going cloud native. At one
Analytics Function (NWDAF). The clear value of NWDAF. point, many tier 1 operators were
objective of NWDAF is to provide building their own datacentres. The
network level data analytics, for Another critical element to improve trend has taken a different turn
example slice load level information. 5G (and 4G) performance is to recently, with some of the pioneers
Figure 2-3:Do you plan to install Management & Orchestration (MANO) in the
Going forward, the application of optimise transport inside the radio divesting their datacentres and public cloud?
NWDAF will be expanded beyond part of the networks, in particular moving some functions to public
facilitating network slicing and will the topology of fronthaul, which clouds instead. More and more
become a central focus of data connects the Baseband Unit (BBU) telecom operators are adopting a
Yes..........................................................22%
analytics. and Remote Radio Head (RRH). There hybrid cloud strategy, that is retaining
are different solutions to implement the key network functions on their No, but we may have some elements
in the public cloud and the rest
Despite that NWDAF was already the optimisation, the most popular private clouds while moving the will stay private....................................41%
introduced at 3GPP’s 5G System of which, according to the survey non-network functions to the public
No, we will always have this in our
Architecture meeting in early participants whose business is clouds, as is done by Verizon and private network....................................38%
2017, and the specifications have relevant, were dark fibre and xWDM/ others.
been published in Release 15 and WDM-PON, chosen by 26% and 25%
16, many in the industry were not respectively, though the biggest This new cloud strategy seemed
yet convinced. Among the survey group, 33% of the total, were still to have resonated with the survey
participants, only 15% said they were evaluating the options. respondents.

10
When asked if they would install in have become mainstream yet, but them, said they would subcontract
Figure 2-4:How will you scale to meet the staffing demands of 5G acceleration?
the public cloud Management & more vendors are promoting it, and the infrastructure buildout. This
100 Orchestration (MANO) function, a key more operators are adopting it. This was followed by the options to hire
90 element to manage network function is also reflected in the responses to additional engineering staff (37%), to
virtualisation (NFV), nearly eight out of the question on DSS. The biggest subcontract testing (27%), and to hire
80
ten said no. Instead, they would either group, 36% of all the respondents additional field teams (25%).
70
have some elements in the public whose business is intimately related
60
Percentage
cloud while keeping the rest private to 5G development, said they would In summary, over one year into its
50 (41%) or they would always have this consider supporting DSS but did commercial life, 5G momentum has
40
in their private network (38%). not have a definite timeframe yet. kept strong and the industry has
Meanwhile 21% have already started started moving towards the advanced
30
Although 5G network rollout adopting DSS, and the rest were phase of 5G. However, to deliver on
20 globally has been fast since the first going to support it within the next the high promises of the technology,
10 commercial services went live, often one or two years. especially those value propositions to
0 the population coverage is limited. business customers, telecoms industry
To accelerate the rollout, it would On a different front, companies stakeholders need to navigate
Subcontract
buildout
Hire additional
infrastructure
engineering
staff
Subcontract
Hire additional
testing
field teams
Other
be ideal if more spectrum resources engaged in 5G all face the same and overcome a broad range of
could be made available to cellular challenge that engaging in any new challenges from spectrum shortage
use. However, this is not always technology may entail: the scarcity of to embracing new monitoring and
feasible. skilled staff. The survey participants’ analytics tools and many others in
views are rather well distributed between that are expected to remain
“THERE ARE DIFFERENT FACTORS HOLDING BACK THE One way to make more efficient use between an array of different in the near-term future. n
BROAD DEPLOYMENT OF 5G ON HIGHER FREQUENCIES, THE of the radio frequencies at operators’ solutions to address the challenge.
MOST OBVIOUS ONE BEING THE REGULATORS NOT MAKING disposal is to use dynamic spectrum In responding to this multiple-choice
THE FREQUENCIES AVAILABLE FOR CELLULAR TECHNOLOGY.” sharing (DSS) technology. It may not question, the largest number, 48% of
SPONSOR’S Critical to the successful delivery of 5G

is the programmability that will allow the
of cost of delivering the service must be
achieved. This means that the operator must
The concept of Network Function
Virtualization (NFV) refers to the process
dynamic environment which can respond
in real-time to shifts in services. Enabling
COMMENT FROM dynamic assignment of resources to the be able to deliver service at peak utilization of running network functions using cloud- the vast array of new 5G applications, for
VIAVI SOLUTIONS corresponding tasks at any point in time and
across the end-to-end network. However,
with the desired QoS but as usage scales
down to a much lower level, the correlating
native software that is decoupled from the
underlying hardware. The benefits of such
example, can only be realized when operators
evolve their networks to 5G SA (Stand Alone),
to properly deliver both the incremental resources assigned should be scaled back a scheme are well documented in terms of a cloud-native 5G Core (5GC) based on NFV
capabilities of 5G network programmability in order to align costs with the traffic levels. cost, flexibility, efficiency and time to deploy. built using IT network principles.
compared to legacy networks – and to This is practically, perhaps only, achieved This evolution means moving away from
enable relevant cost savings – a disconnect with the help of virtualizing the delivery proprietary hardware to a programmable
of the peak and average utilization in terms platform. software-defined network delivering a

11
BROADBAND
Demand for broadband access will continue
KEY TAKEAWAYS
to grow, driven both by the expansion of
• Video-based applications will continue to drive demand
digital lifestyle in general, and by the new for broadband
mode of remote working. To meet the • Legacy copper footprint is seen as the leading constraint
to the deployment of next-gen fixed access architecture
growing demand and to generate positive • Reducing total cost of ownership of fibre access
ROI, broadband operators need to overcome deserves the most executive attention
multiple technical and non-technical • Value of broadband and 5G convergence is yet to

convince the majority of survey participants
challenges.
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12
BROADBAND
The broadband access market has been growing steadily, driven by both
regulatory imperatives and operator expansion ambitions on the supply side
and the increasing use of bandwidth-hungry applications on the demand side.
Such demand probably has never services, or the pervasiveness of spot, with 23%, indicating that the
been stronger than this year. With digital lifestyles in general. A growing survey participants believed the new
COVID-19 forcing the majority of user base is demanding reliable, fast mode of working popularised during
staff in many companies to work Internet connectivity to support an COVID-19 would be here to stay even
remotely for months on end, there ever-broader range of applications, after the pandemic, and would have
is huge pressure on IT and network on an increasing number of devices. strong implications to the broadband
professionals to assure that all business. Related to this, in third place,
corporate business and collaboration When it comes to the drivers for the was cloud-based business applications,
applications run as they should to continued growth in demand for chosen by 10% of the respondents.
meet employee and customer needs broadband, the survey participants
and expectations. believed video-based applications Many of these applications, especially
would continue to be the leading the video-heavy ones, like HD video
This comes on top of the demand candidate, selected by 36% of those streaming, or multi-party video
for broadband connections often responding to the survey. The “work conferencing, are bandwidth hungry
associated with entertainment from home” trend took the second and would demand higher data
speed to run smoothly. “Gigabit
speed” has been marketed in more
Figure 3-1:What are the key drivers for continued growth in broadband?
than one context to attract customers
to different types of broadband
Video, OTT, streaming........................36% solutions. The majority of the industry
Work from home trend.......................23% professionals that responded to the
Business applications – survey seemed to believe that we
move to cloud......................................10%
would see gigabit speed broadly
In Home networks, enabled by
WiFi 6 - pushing higher available relatively soon. Over half
expectations on mobile devices......... 9% of all respondents, 66% of them,
5G transport........................................... 7% believed that gigabit speed would
IoT............................................................ 6% become the norm within three years,
Gaming.................................................... 5% including 12% of them thinking this
Applications we do not know of yet.. 3% could happen within one year. A
Other ....................................................... 1%
further quarter of the respondents
believed that gigabit speed would
become common within five years.

13
doorsteps. In the real world however, Providing “universal” broadband When asked to assess the prospect of
Figure 3-2:What is the biggest challenge to deploying a next-generation fixed
access network architecture? (Choose all that apply) there are plenty of complications, access to bridge the digital divide is public funding to address the digital
from access to incumbent telecom as much political as it is economic divide in the next five years, a quarter
100 operators’ ducts and poles to the and technological, therefore plenty of of the survey respondents said we
90 opening of “dark fibres” to virtual public financing has been pledged, would need more government
broadband operators and many through either direct investment or funding. However, the biggest
80
other issues in between. One topic subsidies. One of the best-known group, 29% of all, believed what the
70
that no fixed access operator can examples of such tools is the Universal industry needed the most was more
60
Percentage
avoid is legacy networks. Innovations Service Fund managed by the FCC, innovation efforts to lower cost. In
50 have been made to ride on the which has been used to support other words, we should spend the
40
legacy copper PSTN networks laid connectivity in rural and other money more efficiently.
over the past century, including the under-connected areas in the US.
30
various iterations of DSL technology In the UK, the government believes This sentiment was also on display
20 and, more recently, G.fast. Other it needs £3 billion (US$3.75 billion) when the respondents were asked
10 technologies have sought to deliver “from whatever sources,” to help take to name the business priority related
0 fast Internet connection via cable broadband connectivity to the final to FTTx in their market that should
networks, including generations 10% of the population that is currently get the most executive attention.
Constraints due
Lack of funding
to legacy copper
network footprint
Lack of customer
demand / ROI
Regulations
Lack of fiber in the

core network
Lack of access to
skilled resources
Other
of hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) out of reach. European Union and its More than one-third (36%) of all
technologies, especially in North member states have also invested respondents selected the total
America. and pledged investment of different cost of ownership and the speed of
sizes to cover the populations with deployment of fibre access networks.
None of these technologies, however, broadband connections. This was followed in distant second
compete well with optic fibre when it
For the fixed access network to However, there are many different comes to broadband performance,
Figure 3-3:Regarding the FTTx networks in your market, which of the following
reach the desired state to deliver challenges for broadband operators reliability, and quality of service. deserves the most executive attention?
on the big promises, including – but to deploying new architectures. Three Therefore, what will become of
more than – high speed, the industry leading challenges were identified by the legacy networks is a topic for Total cost of ownership and
speed of deployment of fiber
needs to embrace next-generation the survey respondents, with legacy debate. Eight out of ten survey access networks.................................36%
architecture. Plenty of discussion has copper network footprint as the participants thought these networks Meeting customer bandwidth
been focused on what marketers leading constraint, chosen by 36% of would be decommissioned within demand.................................................21%
call “smart Wi-Fi solutions.” But to all the respondents, closely followed the next decade, including 17% of Optimize broadband and
video delivery.......................................15%
improve coverage, speed, and cost by the lack of customer demand them thinking the decommissioning
How to effectively deploy
efficiency, architectural optimisation and weak ROI (35%) and the lack of would take place within three years. crosshaul for my 5G network...........11%
needs to take place before the funding (34%). However, not everyone is convinced. Delivering a great wifi experience
broadband connections reach the One-fifth of the respondents believed in the home...........................................10%
Availability of skilled labor................... 5%
home environment. The most obvious In an ideal world, broadband the copper and hybrid fibre-coaxial
Other........................................................ 2%
example is choosing the best-fit split operators would connect all premises access networks would be here to
topology for the market being serviced. with full fibre laid all the way to the stay for over 10 years.

14
and third places by the need to
meet customer bandwidth demand
transport, the so-called “x-haul” (the
integrated fronthaul and backhaul).
“PROVIDING Figure 3-4:Where do you see the convergence between broadband and 5G
(21%) and the need to optimise video In a distant second place was “UNIVERSAL” playing the most prominent role?
delivery (15%). bundled offers to customers, chosen BROADBAND

There are multiple options to cope
by 22% of the respondents, followed
by 18% who saw the convergence as
ACCESS TO BRIDGE Merge access networks into one to
support wireline and 5G x-haul.........42%
with the expected increasing a driver for further telecoms industry THE DIGITAL Only at level of bundled
customer offerings.............................22%
demand for fibre access. When M&A. DIVIDE IS AS MUCH Driving further M&A in telecom........18%
comparing the available technology
solutions, the most popular one, In summary, the survey responses
POLITICAL AS IT IS Usage of PON for wireless
transport x-haul...................................10%
chosen by 32% of all survey confirmed the belief that demand ECONOMIC AND Usage of DOCSIS for wireless
backhaul.................................................. 4%
respondents, was simply to increase for broadband access is expected to TECHNOLOGICAL.” Other ....................................................... 4%
fibre placement. In addition, continue to grow in the foreseeable
addressing the growing demand future, driven both by the expansion
with wavelength division multiplexing of digital lifestyle in general, and by
(WDM) systems, both active (21%) the new mode of remote working.
and passive (15%), were also viewed To meet such growing demand,
as desirable solutions. broadband operators need to
overcome multiple challenges,
SPONSOR’S Nobody underestimated the role digital
technologies played before COVID-19 –
the industry needs the most innovative
methods to reduce costs and over a third
Broadband is more than optic including technological ones, COMMENT FROM but that role has intensified to enable the (36%) said total cost of ownership and
fibre. In addition to the solutions like choosing the best network COMMSCOPE continuity of our normal lives, connecting
people wherever they are. Fast and reliable
speed of deployment of fiber access
networks requires the most attention.
developed on top of the copper architecture, and non-technological connectivity has never been more critical
and cable networks, other modes ones, like public funding, and in the face of the seismic shift to remote The good news is that technology is
working, constant online streaming, and improving, making it possible to improve
of communications have also been those combined, like how to more frequent virtual events. the speed and total cost of fiber network
explored. For example, satellite reduce the total cost of ownership. deployments. By arming network planners
connections have also played a role, This is critical to not only deliver To cope with the significant increase in and field engineers with smart tools for
traffic, network operators and governments network design, the industry can speed
albeit a more limited one. More broadband benefits to customers, around the world have been working to up previously time-consuming decisions.
recently, 5G-based fixed wireless but also generate positive ROI for the make connectivity services reliable and In addition, technologies like hardened
access has been touted as a strong operators to make it a sustainable stable - by investing to expand the capacity connectivity with pre-connectorised plug-
of existing network infrastructures and and-play approaches, where the main work
supplement to fibre to deliver and viable business. n support new fiber rollouts. has already been completed in the factory,
broadband access. However, when lead to a much more rapid rollout in the field
the industry professionals were asked However, higher bandwidth demands and a more reliable fiber network with a
smarter planning and deployment. As is much longer lifespan.
to evaluate the role of convergence the case for the entire global economy, the
between broadband and 5G, the COVID-19 crisis has put additional pressure When designing today’s networks, we have
largest group, 42% of the total, on service providers, forcing them to reduce to ensure that they are scalable, reliable,
operational costs and maximise their return and will be able to meet future application
believed that the converged access on investment. This may be the reason why and service requirements for decades to
would be most viable as a driver three in 10 (29%) respondents claimed that come.
for the convergence of network

15
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Determination and enthusiasm to pursue
KEY TAKEAWAYS
digital transformation has not diminished
• Three-quarters of participants see their investment in
despite the negative impact of COVID-19. digital transformation either maintain or increase despite
COVID-19
New service offerings with QoS guarantee,
• Half of respondents believe data is already commoditised
powered by new network capabilities • An operator would not need more than 50 partners of all
including those of advanced 5G, are believed kinds combined
to be able to generate new business • Many are not convinced of the benefit of automating
customer care
opportunities.
Openet, an Amdocs company, is a leading software and services provider to communications companies. Our deep domain expertise &
understanding of complex systems, underpinned by the tenacity and determination of our people, enable us to radically transform how our
customers do business, providing best in class digital and 5G business support systems.
In an industry where the only constant is change, our open and innovative technology is built for change. For the last 20 years we have
helped the world’s most innovative communications companies manage and monetise their business and evolve from communications
companies to digital service providers. This gives our customers the power to enter new markets, open new revenue streams and increase
profitability.
To find out more, visit www.openet.com

16
Not too long ago, almost every telecoms company was talking about digital
transformation, vowing to grow from a connectivity provider to a digital service
platform. If the mixed degree of success has raised one or two questions,
2020 seems to have put the CEOs’ resolve to press ahead with their digital
transformation journey to a sterner test. Push for such transformation has
gained a stronger impetus in a time when digital life and digital work has never
been more desired and more permeating.
Meanwhile investment in digital showing that their enthusiasm and Naturally the rollout of 5G in different
Figure 4-1:Has COVID-19 impacted your company’s investment in
transformation must vie for priority determination to transform did Digital Transformation? parts of the world has fuelled the
on the CEOs’ agendas with other not badly diminish in the time of enthusiasm to offer more value-
demands, especially in companies pandemic. adding digital services using the
whose businesses have been latest mobile technology, especially
negatively affected by COVID-19. with 5G’s better quality of service
(QoS) guarantee. This will enable 5G
We have reduced investment...........24%
Therefore, it was encouraging to read Successful digitalisation relies on operators to offer new experience
No change.............................................54%
that over half (54%) of the survey data of good quality, quantity, and with QoS promise to both consumers
We have made more investment.....22%
participants said COVID-19 had not availability. However, whether data and business customers, though the
impacted their companies’ investment in its own right will remain valuable propositions will be different from one
in Digital Transformation, while 22% is debatable. Therefore, before we group to another.
said their investment had actually explored how digital services could
increased. That leaves a quarter create new values, it made sense to For consumers, the offerings will
(24%) of the respondents admitting first ask the survey respondents to largely concentrate in the home
that their companies’ investment had think about the value of data itself. and entertainment domains. More
been reduced. This feedback stood The dominant view seems to be that than 80% of the respondents were
in favourable comparison with the data itself will be commoditised, if it confident that, in the next one to
responses to the earlier question in has not been commoditised already. two years, consumers would start
the Industry Landscape section on Half of the respondents (51%) believed embracing 5G-based, QoS-promised
COVID-19’s impact on their business that data has already become a services and would help grow
in general, when 44% said they had commodity, and over a third (37%) revenues. Among the types of services,
been negatively impacted. It is clear thought it eventually would be home working package was ranked
that many companies did not cut commoditised. However, 13% of those the highest, chosen by 51% of the
back on their digital transformation who answered the survey continued respondents, probably inadvertently
budget straightaway when the to believe that data on its own would indicating that participants in the
overall business underperformed, still carry premium in the long run. survey believed working from home,

17
as has become common this year, Most survey respondents, 56% of the gaming or video streaming services,
Figure 4-2: Do you think that data on its own will become a commodity? If so,
how long before this happens? would have a long-lasting bearing total, believed that customers would to use 5G as a go-to-market channel
on future mode of working. This pay a premium for this type of special for their services: 61% said yes, 11% said
was followed by gaming (46%), service with a guaranteed QoS. Only no.
fixed wireless access-based home 17% was sceptical.
It’s already here....................................51% broadband (38%), and smart home Needless to say, 5G operators need
1 year....................................................... 7% (31%). Comparable level of confidence partners across the ecosystem for
2 years...................................................11% was also on display when survey the drive to empower digital services
3 years...................................................10% Despite the high degree of confidence participants were asked if they to succeed. In other words, the
4 + years.................................................. 8%
in consumers’ willingness to embrace thought wholesale service level business growth through driving and
No, data on its own will not
become a commodity........................13%
QoS-promised new services, their agreement (SLA) for QoS would drive enabling new digital services would
contribution in monetary terms was more service companies, for example come at additional operational costs
going to be modest, according to
the survey participants: Only 11% of
Figure 4-3: Do you think in the next 12-24 months you will see an uplift in
all respondents, the smallest group, revenue by offering QoS to consumers for any of the following services
believed that more than 10% revenue delivered by 5G? (Choose all that apply)
incremental could be achieved by
100
offering QoS to consumers, while 58%
thought the uplift would be less than 90
5%. 80
70
On the other hand, 5G-powered
60
Percentage
QoS promises to business customers
will come in different shapes. For 50
example, with the advanced phase of 40

5G being rolled out, in the so-called 30
standalone mode, 5G operators
20
will be able to deliver end-to-end
10
network slicing with QoS guaranteed
parameters, such as speed, latency 0
broadband
Home working
package
Gaming
FWA – home
Smart homes
AR / VR
TV
No, I don’t see an uplift in

revenue by offering QoS to
consumers in the next 2 years
level, capacity, and availability. In
turn, such slices can be offered to
enterprises to provide QoS-level home
office connection that guarantees
business and security applications can
run as they should, for instance.

18
operation processes, which should including those of advanced 5G,
Figure 4-4: Do you think being able
to offer wholesale service level also include the customer touchpoints. would be able to generate new SPONSOR’S COMMENT
agreement for QoS will drive more Automating customer service, for business opportunities. Meanwhile FROM OPENET
service companies (e.g., gaming example by encouraging customers they also demonstrated a realistic
companies like Nintendo) to use It seems to be official. Data is a commodity. news is that service providers can monetise
to use self-care on operators’ view on both the level of expected
5G as channel to market for their Over half the respondents to this survey this experience: 56% of the survey felt that
services? applications, would increase contribution to business and the
said that data is already a commodity. mobile customers would pay a premium
operational efficiency. Not all in the complexity of managing extensive With 3G and 4G the network was a means for a guaranteed 5G quality of service for
industry are convinced it is the right partnership networks. n of connectivity. Some OTT companies a range of services such as home working
did very well selling digital services over bundles, entertainment packages, smart
route, or the time is right yet, however.
the service providers’ networks and drove home services and gaming.
This could be down to the inadequate a lot of mobile traffic and growth. But at
accuracy of the AI tools behind the the same time the move towards data However, service providers will need to
commoditisation was getting closer with look at their BSS and OSS stacks. In 5G
app, or the concern that the lack of
more GB for less money becoming the there’s the need for 5G policy and charging
human touch could result in higher service providers’ main selling point. functions to be tightly integrated to service
churn, or some other reservations. Service providers were getting squeezed. catalogs in BSS and also to the 5G network.
This enables the creation of a Value Plane
5G offers an opportunity for service that bridges IT & business in a service
All these factors combined might have providers to turn the corner and start provider and the 5G network. This is
been behind the 30% respondents’ growing their businesses. With 5G the needed because the characteristics of the
network is doing more than just providing 5G network are a central part of network-
(the biggest group) choice to not
connectivity. The experience that the 5G enabled 5G services and offers and they
Yes..........................................................61% actively drive customers to self-care network provides is an intrinsic part of 5G need to be easily managed, controlled and
No...........................................................11% on their app, when the survey asked offer – such as gaming with no buffering, monetised. This will provide a platform for
or home working with no dropped zoom business growth.
Not sure.................................................28% the industry professionals to assess
calls, or advanced enterprise use cases
the impact of such efforts. The second such as robotic manufacturing. The good Martin Morgan, VP Marketing
biggest group, at 27%, said that
from managing partners. How high driving customers to self-care had
the costs could go depends on the helped improve their operational
individual operator’s capacity and efficiency.
the tools at their disposal. Instead of
“the more the merrier,” the general In summary, telecoms businesses’
consensus of the survey respondents, enthusiasm and determination to “NATURALLY THE ROLLOUT OF 5G IN DIFFERENT
according to the views of 68% of pursue digital transformation has
PARTS OF THE WORLD HAS FUELLED THE
them, was that an operator would not diminished despite the negative
not need more than 50 partners of all impact of COVID-19 on the business ENTHUSIASM TO OFFER MORE VALUE-ADDING
kinds combined, while 29% thought of some of them. The industry DIGITAL SERVICES USING THE LATEST
this number should not go beyond 10. professionals participating in the
MOBILE TECHNOLOGY, ESPECIALLY WITH
survey were confident that new
Successful digital transformation service offerings with QoS guarantee, 5G’S BETTER QUALITY OF SERVICE
covers all network and business powered by new network capabilities (QOS) GUARANTEE.”

19
INTELLIGENCE AT THE EDGE
Though telecom operators are believed to
be the best suited host of edge computing, KEY TAKEAWAYS
they are facing stiff competition from • Half of all respondents believe edge computing should
take place at telecom operator network edge
hyperscalers. Industries and enterprises • Concern for financial cost is the biggest barrier to stop
aiming to benefit from the edge should wide-scale enterprise adoption of edge computing
• 8 out of 10 are likely to rearchitect their business
recognise that tangible business returns processes to leverage edge intelligence
will justify the cost invested to embrace • Participants show strong interest in digital twins
edge technology and the changes needed to
leverage edge intelligence.
VoltDB empowers global organizations to leverage emerging 5G latency standards to power new revenue opportunities, transform their
business and operational support systems, or develop strategic integrations for their enterprise customers. The platform instantly derives
value from anomalous events captured across multiple streams of fast data, directly influencing in-the-moment monetization, preventing
digital fraud, and supporting digital transformation initiatives. VoltDB is purpose-built to address application-specific scale and latency
challenges and augment previous big data and messaging investments to enable businesses to evolve from big data analytics to fast data
decisions. For more information, please visit voltdb.com

20
Edge computing, be it on mobile or fixed networks, is a topic that telecoms
professionals have enthused over for many years, and expectations for its
being embraced by different industries have been high. However, in different
contexts, what may constitute as “edge” can be quite different.
For example, on a cellular network, of participants (22%) viewed edge as

Figure 5-1: What, in your opinion, defines edge the closest?
the edge could be the base stations, referring to the extreme edge and
which are closest to the customers therefore selected chips within devices 100
to deliver low latency. But if looked as their preferred definition. 90
at from the perspective of the overall
80
mobile communications system, the When it comes to selecting where
70
edge would be the mobile devices edge computing should take place
60
Percentage
where lots of computing takes place, to achieve the highest impact on
whereas in the enterprise context, the digital transformation, telecom 50
edge could refer to the IoT device, or operator network edge was the clear 40
a gateway located at the customer winner with 48% of the responses.
30
premises. This probably owes as much to
the fact that telecom operators 20
Therefore, to set the scene, before own most of the communication 10

we delved into the opportunities and networks as to the telecoms industry 0
challenges edge computing faces and respondents’ professional loyalty Data processing Industrial Routers/ Chips within
the values that can be created with (or bias). Other than the telecom commodity servers Gateways receiving devices
collecting data from data from multiple
intelligence at the edge, we asked the operators, competition between the gateways devices
survey participants to choose what in other options was close. Public edge
their views defines edge. The results cloud came in a distant second place
were rather evenly distributed between at 18%, followed by on-premises (12%),
those who chose data processing private cloud (11%), and public cloud
commodity servers collecting data providers (10%).
from gateways (40%) and those
that went for industrial routers or This is a true reflection of the debate
“EDGE COMPUTING’S POTENTIAL TO BENEFIT MANY SECTORS
gateways receiving data from multiple on who should own the edge in the IS CLEARLY THERE, BUT AFTER YEARS OF PUSHING FROM
devices (38%). A significant minority real world.
VENDORS AND OPERATORS, LARGE-SCALE IMPLEMENTATION
BY ENTERPRISES HAS PROVED ELUSIVE.”

21
Figure 5-2: Where should edge computing be for highest impact in a digital
transformation?
Telecom operators are increasingly telecoms came out as a clear operators as systems integrators to get
facing competition from the winner, according to 58% of all the their private networks up and running.
hyperscale public cloud providers respondents. This is presumably down For those enterprises that cannot
who are aggressively bringing to the benefit that telecoms, as many afford their own spectrum, network
Telecom operator network edge......48%
webscale functions to the edge, other industries, could gain directly edge with the cloud prowess could
On-premises.........................................12%
leading examples including AWS from edge computing, such as higher Private cloud........................................11% prove to be useful.
Wavelength, Azure Edge Zones, and data accuracy and lower latency level Public cloud providers........................10%
Google Anthos. On the other hand, among other benefits. Meanwhile Public edge cloud (think AWS In distant second to fourth positions
such competition has enterprises telecoms should be able to uncover Wavelength or Azure Edge Zones)..... 19% on the top barrier list were the concern
standing to benefit from best of the additional value by providing edge over security at the edge (44%),
both worlds, as partnerships have computing service to other industries, corporate inertia resisting change
been set up between operators and as telecoms operators own most (43%), and the lack of clear business
the cloud vendors such as Verizon and of the communications networks. benefit (40%). These results are telling
AWS Wavelength, AT&T and Azure Other leading benefactors of edge edge computing advocates that,
Edge Zones, and in India, AWS has computing were perceived to include going forward, the communication
Figure 5-3: What are the top barriers to entry preventing a wide-scale enterprise
partnered with Bharti Airtel to deliver manufacturing and gaming, both at adoption of edge computing? (Choose all that apply) messages, in addition to talking about
cloud and edge computing solutions 40%, and cybersecurity, at 38%. the technological advancement, should
to the telecoms operator’s enterprise 100 also focus on tangible ROIs, and on
customers. Also, a recent trend has Edge computing’s potential to 90 positioning edge computing adoption
seen hyperscalers buying stake in benefit many sectors is clearly there, 80 as an integral part of enterprises’ overall
telecom operators, for example but after years of pushing from digital transformation process.
70
Facebook and Google have made vendors and operators, large-scale
60
Percentage
huge investments in Reliance Jio. implementation by enterprises has In addition to the technological
proved elusive. There may be multiple 50 parameter improvement, such as
Telecom operators have also seen factors behind the slow, hesitant take- 40 low-latency level and more efficient
competition coming from private up, and it is apparent in the responses deployment of compute power, edge
30
networks, with telecom operators to the question on the top barriers computing can also generate more
20
bypassed in many cases, hence the to entry preventing broad enterprise accurate, timely, and comprehensive
demand for edge computing to take adoption of edge computing. 10 intelligence than otherwise developed
place on premises. These private 0 from the centre, thanks to the data
Financial cost for
enterprises to adopt edge
computing solutions
benefit in adopting
Security concerns
over edge computing
Resistance to change
what works now
No clear business
edge computing
Edge computing
Development of edge
computing is not a
high enough priority
needs 5G to really
take off
Other
networks could be operated by utility Coming up on top, chosen by over processed on the network edge.
operators, public sector organisations, half of all respondents (57%) was the Such data and intelligence will not
or enterprises. worry about financial cost. This is only benefit the edge but the whole
understandable and expected. Not all system. However, like the multiple
This leads us to examine which companies have the scale or financial understandings of edge computing
industries could reap the most benefit capacity like Daimler and Lufthansa, itself, intelligence at the edge can
from adopting edge computing. which have invested in getting their also mean different things to different
In this multiple-choice question, own spectrum and using network parties.

22
Figure 5-4: Which definition is closest in describing your perception of
intelligence at the edge? Digital twins are a new application “IF LOOKED AT FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF
of intelligence at the edge, but the
interest in them is on the rise. Though
THE OVERALL MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS
only a minority of respondents SYSTEM, THE EDGE WOULD BE THE MOBILE
said they have already used DEVICES WHERE LOTS OF COMPUTING
Intelligent tiering of data digital twins for different purposes,
between local use and cloud............40%
including predicting and prescribing
TAKES PLACE.”
Data aggregation on devices............25% preventative actions (11%), creating
real-time sense and control loops
Process automation by
low-latency decisions.........................36% (8%), or preserving the asset state
history (7%), a large number of survey
participants (43%) expressed interest
in learning more. Meanwhile, a
significant number of participants in
the survey (35%) agreed that creating
When asked to choose the definition highly likely (25%) or somewhat likely digital twins of physical assets is a
closest in describing their own (57%) for them to rearchitect their critical step to truly benefit from edge
perception of intelligence at the business processes to leverage edge intelligence, though, admittedly, more
edge, 40% of all survey respondents intelligence. than half (53%) were still unsure. SPONSOR’S COMMENT
selected intelligent tiering of data FROM VOLTDB
between local use and cloud, closely One recent product of edge In summary, the advantages of edge
followed by those going for process intelligence is the development computing and the benefits of edge 5G is heralding an impetus in enterprises is going to be and how disruptive this
automation by low-latency decisions of “digital twins.” These are digital intelligence were well recognised evaluating their own business processes to transformation will be to the status quo
understand if and how they can benefit from business.
(36%). A minority of respondents representations of the physical by the survey participants, despite 5G. This digital transformation is bringing
believed intelligence at the edge world, developed with data of high a few barriers still holding back to the forefront how one can enrich the Do they just use the edge to determine
should refer to data aggregation precision captured on the network enterprises from broadly adopting digital representation of assets, be it people what data is stored locally and how the
or process or a physical asset. It is now data is aggregated to minimize the data
on devices (22%). It probably should edge fused with data from other edge computing. It is worth noting time to go beyond simple storage of asset transferred to their central data center/
not come as a surprise that there is sources. Network operators will also that telecom operators, who are information for analytics to operationalizing cloud data center? Or, will the data power
high degree of overlap between this be able to generate interconnected believed to be the best suited host intelligent decision making thus turning business processes that incorporate
the digital twins to become the brains both process automation and security
minority group and the respondents and collaborative digital twins, of edge computing, are facing behind the physical twins. But this means intrinsically into every step? Or will the cost
who chose “chips within devices” as and digital representation of larger stiff competition from hyperscale bringing the intelligence, decisions and of implementation prohibit even the most
the closest definition of edge. (See objects and their environment. For companies including Microsoft, actions closest to the sources, i.e., what mature organizations from embarking on
is purported as edge. What constitutes an this journey and push them into a utopian
above.) example, a digital twin of a particular Amazon, and Google. It is critical edge for an enterprise depends on: world of wishful thinking?
location could be used by network that industries and enterprises that
It is encouraging to see that many planners to model accurate signal could benefit from the edge should • the business that the said enterprise is in VoltDB has built a unified data platform
• how the data is being used that brings together capabilities that can
companies, recognising the benefits propagation prediction without be convinced that tangible business • how quickly decisions need to be made enable an enterprise to handle the entire
of intelligence at the edge, are having to dispatch testing and returns could justify the cost invested • how quickly actions need to be taken spectrum of activities required to make this
willing to change so as to reap these measuring teams to the field multiple to embrace edge technology and the transformation reality, from ingestion of
Quite often, the maturity of the enterprise data to measurement of KPI to decisions
benefits. Among all the respondents, times, to improve both operational changes needed to leverage edge also dictates how deep their transformation leading to corrective/monetization actions.
more than eight out of ten said it was efficiency and staff safety. intelligence. n

23
SECURITY
KEY TAKEAWAYS
When telecoms businesses are becoming • DNS services enduring most attacks over the last 12
more like IT companies, their security months
• Cloud applications and infrastructure “most difficult to
strategies should broaden from defending defend”
the network infrastructure to the whole • Cloud migration: 27% using security services offered by
the public cloud provider
system, covering both on-premises assets
• Network layer security is a top priority
and those in the cloud.
F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV) is a multi-cloud application security and delivery company that enables our
customers – which include the world’s largest enterprises, financial institutions, service providers and
governments – to bring extraordinary digital experiences to life. For more information, go to f5.com. You
can also follow @f5networks on Twitter or visit us on LinkedIn and Facebook for more information about
F5, its partners and technologies.

24
SECURITY
While communications networks evolve, so do security concerns. With software taking a more
central role in running telecoms networks, and more and more operation processes and
applications moving to a cloud environment, private or public, telecoms operators are becoming
more like IT companies. This means they should also expect security challenges to come in more
diverse shapes and on different targets than just attacks on the network infrastructure.
This section of the survey therefore set defend their DNS security. Responding
out to understand from the industry to this multiple-choice question, 47% Figure 6-1: Which areas of your
network are the most difficult to
professionals the security challenges of the survey participants said they
protect against attacks?
the telecoms industry players were securing against volumetric DNS
are facing, how they have been DDoS attacks. DDoS attacks may
defending their assets, and what the have been an old trick, but that does
future holds for them. not make them less popular.
Looking at the immediate past, when Recent network data released by

the survey respondents were asked to Nokia showed that DDoS traffic went
identify which parts of their network up by up to 50% during COVID-19,
have been attacked the most over increasing faster than almost any
the last 12 months, the largest group, other network application. They
16% of all, have seen their DNS could come from unusual corners. For
services enduring most attacks. This is example, one key contributor to the
closely followed by attacks on network spike in recent attacks was malicious
infrastructure elements (15%), such online gamers paying for short spurts Cloud-based applications/
infrastructure.......................................24%
as network bandwidth and network of DDoS attacks to take down their
Network Infrastructure elements
protocols, and attacks on on-premises opponents. (Clearly some people do (e.g. network bandwidth, network
applications and infrastructure (11%). “THE REASONS THAT THE TELECOMS INDUSTRY HAS FOUND go the extra mile to get their way.) protocols, etc.).....................................21%
On-premises applications/
CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE AND CLOUD APPLICATIONS infrastructure.......................................18%
As a matter of fact, attacks on DNS The second most broadly engaged
PARTICULARLY HARD TO DEFEND MIGHT COME DOWN TO DNS Services........................................12%
services are so common that the defensive measure among the survey
BOTH THE FACT THAT CLOUDIFICATION IS NEW FOR MOST Signaling & Protocol
survey asked a separate question on participants was securing against (e.g. Diameter, HTTP/S, SS7, SIP)....... 11%
what initiative the survey respondents’ TELECOMS COMPANIES, AND THE AGGRESSIVE APPROACH Advanced DNS attacks, such as DNS Other (please specify)........................10%
companies are currently working on to TO CLOUD MIGRATION ADOPTED BY SOME COMPANIES.” random subdomain attacks. This was OSS/BSS systems................................. 4%

25
selected by 39% of the respondents, Figure 6-2: When migrating applications to public cloud, what is your security
followed by securing against DNS strategy?
Protocol attack, such as malformed
DNS packets, at 38%, and against Lifting and shifting of your
DNS protocol abuse, such as DNS on-premises security solution
tunnelling, at 34%. to the Public Cloud..............................18%
Using security services offered

Despite DNS services having been the by the public cloud provider..............27%
most attacked network component, Using cloud-based security services
they are not the parts that are the from another third party (managed
security services provider)................25%
most difficult to defend, according to
the survey participants. That “honour” None of the above as I have no
went to cloud-based applications and plans to migrate applications
to the public cloud...............................29%
cloud infrastructure, selected by 24% of
all survey participants. It was followed
by network infrastructure elements
(21%) and on-premises applications companies could just replicate every that 29% of the respondents said
and infrastructure (18%). DNS services system and application from on- their businesses were not planning to
came at a distant fourth place, chosen premise to the cloud, then it would be migrate any applications to the public
by 12% of the respondents, indicating a concern well worth expressing. cloud environment.
that either the defensive measures
for DNS services were relatively So is the case with cloud security. On the other hand, many of the
mature or perhaps respondents had Defensive measures used for on- companies represented by the survey
underestimated the challenge. premise systems should be re- respondents also offer their security
architected, and in some cases solutions to their own enterprise
The reasons that the telecoms revamped completely, to protect customers. The popular services
industry has found cloud infrastructure cloud applications, especially when included anti-malware solutions and
and cloud applications particularly it comes to migration to public Layer 2-4 DDoS attack protection,
hard to defend might come down clouds. The largest number of survey selected by 39% of the respondents
to both the fact that cloudification respondents, 27% of them, said each. Almost as popular on offer were
is new for most telecoms companies, their companies were using security IP and domain allow/block-listing,
and the aggressive approach services offered by the public cloud
to cloud migration adopted by provider when they migrated. A
some companies. If the industry quarter of them were using third- “WHAT ARE MOST ATTACKED AND WHAT ARE
professionals’ concern could serve the party cloud-based security services; HARDEST TO DEFEND ARE NOT ALWAYS THE
purpose to reinforce the message that in other words, they used managed
migration to cloud does not mean security services. It is also worth noting
SAME. THIS MEANS SMARTER DECISIONS
WOULD BE NEEDED ON HOW TO SPEND
THEIR SECURITY BUDGET. ”

26
next-generation firewall, and secure ranking (21%) and in top-three places
Figure 6-4: What is your company’s Figure 6-3: Please rank your company’s security focus for 2021, with No. 1 being
remote access, all at 37%, and DNS (69%) was security to protect user spending plan for security in 2021? the highest.
protection, including protocol and control and access, closely followed
allow/block-listing (36%). by application security, with 18% No.
1 positions and 68% of top-three Network layer
Some applications are both critical rankings.
and vulnerable and would need
special, application-level protection. When it comes to budget plans for
User control & access
Over half (51%) of all the respondents security in 2021, it was encouraging to
identified subscriber portals as the hear that three-quarters of the survey
first priority that needs such a special participants said their company would
security measure. This has become either maintain their spending level or Application
increasingly important in recent years increase their budget, including 23%
for service providers and any business saying their budget would increase
that hosts subscriber data, not only significantly while 28% said their
Spending will increase significantly Cloud & NFV Infrastructure
because it is critical for their business, spending would go up more modestly. (10% or more).......................................23%
but also because they have come Spending will increase modestly
under closer regulatory scrutiny over In summary, as digital transformation (less than 10%)....................................28%
user data protection, failures of which deepens, telecoms businesses, in Spending will remain the same........25% API security
could mean heavy penalties as well particular telecoms operators, are Spending will decrease slightly
(less than 10%)...................................... 2%
as mounting customer churn. becoming more like IT companies,
Spending will decrease significantly
therefore their security strategies (over 10%)............................................... 3% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Following subscriber portals, OSS/BSS should broaden from defending the I’m not sure...........................................19%
No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 No. 4 No. 5
systems were identified by more than network infrastructure to the whole
a quarter of respondents (26%) as system, covering both on-premises
requiring application-level protection. assets and those in the cloud.
Meanwhile many respondents
commented that security of fintech What are most attacked and what are
apps, such as online banking, online hardest to defend are not always the “MANY SPONSOR’S COMMENT
payment or money transfer apps, same. This means smarter decisions RESPONDENTS FROM F5
should also be strengthened. would be needed on how to spend
their security budget. There could also
COMMENTED THAT
Many companies are (over)relying on public especially in multi-cloud environments.
Looking ahead, the survey asked be an opportunity for professional SECURITY OF FINTECH cloud service providers for their security, This is particularly important for telcos,
participants to rank their companies’ security solution providers to either APPS, SUCH AS from DNS to cloud-based applications.
Despite being easy to implement, those
which are already under the spotlight during
the pandemic and managing an increased
top security focus areas in 2021. Getting help automate or provided outsource
the most “first priority” ranking (33%) solutions for those tasks that are
ONLINE BANKING, services are typically not sophisticated and volume of threats.
lack features that can help with security
was security for the network layer. It frequent but easy to manage. This ONLINE PAYMENT OR management and compliance. There is also an opportunity for telcos
to offer more robust managed security
was also the area that gathered the would enable telecoms businesses to MONEY TRANSFER We encourage all companies to consider services to their customers and use it as a
most top-three mentions, with 71% of free up time and resources to focus on
respondents putting it in their top- the most important tasks of their core
APPS, SHOULD ALSO more robust security solutions for their
critical applications and infrastructure,
tool to differentiate themselves.
three list. In second place, both in No. 1 business. n BE STRENGTHENED.”

27
Appendix – Survey Results
INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE
Q1: How would you describe the telecom industry’s overall business performance so far in 2020? Q6: Which of the following are likely to be priority investment areas for your company in 2021? (choose
Excellent 13% all that apply)
Good 54% 5G 64%
Average 24% Cloud 42%
Below average 7% Digital Transformation 42%
Poor 2% Security 36%
IoT 35%
Virtualisation 34%
Artificial Intelligence including Machine Learning 34%
Q2: How would you rate your company’s business performance in 2020 compared with the telecom Broadband 27%
industry as a whole? 4G/LTE 26%
We are outperforming the industry by a significant margin 12% Edge Computing 21%
We are outperforming the industry by a small margin 32% BSS/OSS 17%
We are performing at the same level as the rest of the industry 41% Content (e.g. video, gaming) 14%
We are underperforming the industry by a small margin 11% MVNOs 9%
We are underperforming the industry by a significant margin 4% 6G 7%
Other 6%
Q7: Which of the following is the greatest potential threat to your company’s long-term business success?
Q3: How has COVID-19 impacted your company?
Failure to roll out new technologies fast enough 24%
We have been negatively impacted by COVID-19 44%
Increased pressure to lower prices and profit margins 22%
COVID-19 has no or negligible impact on us 36%
Competition from Webscale companies (e.g. Google, Amazon, Microsoft) 8%
We have done better during COVID-19 than we would normally do 15%
Lack of demand from business customers 8%
Other 5%
Regulatory restraints 8%
Inability to adopt agile service model 7%
Failure to address network complexity issues 6%
Q4: How do you feel about the telecom industry’s business outlook for 2021? Inability to lower operating expenses 6%
Very positive 31% Lack of contingency plans for disruptions (e.g. a pandemic) 4%
Somewhat positive 46% Lack of demand from consumers 4%
Neutral 15% Other 4%
Somewhat negative 6%
Poor 1% Q8: What are the most overhyped emerging technologies today? (Choose all that apply)
Very negative 0% Artificial intelligence including Machine learning 41%
5G 39%
Autonomous vehicles 38%
Quantum computing 28%
Q5: Which of the following are likely to be the telecoms industry’s priority investment areas in the next
3 years? (choose all that apply) Mixed reality / Virtual reality / Augmented reality 27%
Initial 5G deployment 68% Consumer IoT 26%
Fiber (FTTx) deployment projects 51% Big data / analytics 20%
Virtualization 46% RAN innovations including Open RAN 19%
5G densification 40% Edge computing 16%
Next generation access technologies 38% Industrial IoT / Industry 4.0 16%
Standalone mode 5G deployment 33% Virtualisation (NFV and SDN) 15%
Other 7% Full-fibre / Passive Optical Networking 15%
Cloud native and cloud computing 13%
Automation 13%
Other 2%

28
5G
Q9: When do you plan to deploy a Virtualized 5G Core? Q13: What kind of fiber fronthaul topology are you considering ?
We have already deployed virtualized 5G core 15% Time Sensitive Networks 6%
We will deploy it in the next 6 months 8% Dark Fiber 14%
We will deploy it in the next 6-12 months 10% xWDM/WDM-PON 13%
We will deploy it in over 12 months 16% OTN 3%
We do not have a plan yet / It's not in the scope of our current business 52% We're still evaluating the options 18%
I don't know / It's not in the scope of our current business 45%
Q10: Do you plan to roll out or to support dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) for 5G acceleration?
Yes, we have already started DSS 10% Q14: Do you plan to install Management & Orchestration (MANO) in the Public Cloud?
Yes, in 6-12 months 12% Yes 22%
Yes, in 12-24 months 9% No, but we may have some elements in the public cloud and the rest will stay private 41%
Yes, but we haven’t fixed a timeframe yet 18% No, we will always have this in our private network 38%
We don't have the plan to roll out or to support DSS 51%
Q15: Do you have plans for Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF) for 5G Core?
Q11: When will you start to scale up 5G deployments in the C-band (4GHz-8GHz)? Yes, we are committed to NWDAF 15%
It is already ongoing 11% We are waiting for the standard to be finalized before committing 47%
Within 12 months 12% We don’t see any clear value in NWDAF 26%
Within 1 to 2 years 11% Other 12%
Within 2 to 4 years 9%
I don’t know / We don't such a plan / It's not in the scope of our current business 57%
Q16: How will you scale to meet the staffing demands of 5G acceleration? (Choose all that apply)
Subcontract infrastructure buildout 48%

Q12: What are the key challenges in deploying 5G in C-band (4GHz-8GHz)
Hire additional engineering staff 37%
Interference management 12%
Subcontract testing 27%
Inter-band and inter-technology management 22% Hire additional field teams 25%
Timing and Synchronization management 11% Other 14%
I'm not sure 47%
Other 8%

29
BROADBAND
Q17: What are the key drivers for continued growth in Broadband? Q22: Regarding the FTTx networks in your market, which of the following deserves the most executive
Video, OTT, streaming 36% attention?
Work from home trend 23% Total cost of ownership and speed of deployment of fiber access networks 36%
Business applications – move to cloud 10% Meeting customer bandwidth demand 21%
In Home networks, enabled by Wi-Fi 6 - pushing higher expectations on mobile devices 9% Optimize broadband and video delivery 15%
5G transport 7% How to effectively deploy crosshaul for my 5G network 11%
IoT 6% Delivering a great Wi-Fi experience in the home 10%
Gaming 5% Availability of skilled labor 5%
Applications we do not know of yet 3% Other 2%
Other 1%
Q23: What is the biggest challenge to deploy a next generation fixed access network architecture?
(Choose all that apply)
Q18: When do you expect gigabit speed packages to become the norm?
Constraints due to legacy copper network footprint 36%
Less than 1 year 12%
Lack of customer demand / ROI 35%
1-3 years 54%
Lack of funding 34%
3-5 years 26%
Regulations 29%
Never. I don’t think consumers will need >1G broadband speeds in the next 5 years. 8%
Lack of fiber in the core network 29%
Lack of access to skilled resources 22%
Q19: How do you anticipate addressing fiber needs in your access network Other 2%
Placement of more fiber 32%
I don’t feel it’s a major problem 23%
Q24: How do you see the future of the existing copper and hybrid fibre-coaxial access networks?
Address with active wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) 21%
They will be decommissioned in 1-3 years 17%
Address with passive wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) 15%
Other 9%
They will be here to stay for over 10 years 20%
Q20: Where do you see the convergence between broadband and 5G playing the most prominent role?
Merge access networks into one to support wireline and 5G x-haul 42%
Only at level of bundled customer offerings 22%
Driving further M&A in telecom 18%
Usage of PON for wireless transport x-haul 10%
Usage of DOCSIS for wireless backhaul 4%
Other 4%
Q21: How do you assess the level of public funding to address the digital divide in your market in the
next 5 years?
No, we need further industry innovation efforts to lower cost 29%
No, we need further government funding 25%
Not a focus at this time 23%
Yes, plenty of funding available 12%
No, we need more skilled labour to achieve 9%
Other 2%

30
Q25: Has covid-19 impacted your company's investment in Digital Transformation? Q30: Do you think being able to offer wholesale service level agreement for QoS will drive more service
companies (e.g. gaming companies like Ninetendo) to use 5G as channel to market for their services?
We have reduced investment 24%
Yes 61%
No change 54%
No 11%
We have made more investment 22%
Not sure 28%
Q26: Do you think that data on its own will become a commodity? If so, how long before this happens?
It’s already here 51% Q31: How many partner companies will service providers need to develop offers with?
1 year 7% Less than 10 29%
2 years 11% 10-50 39%
3 years 10% 50-100 18%
4 + years 8% 100-200 4%
No, data on its own will not become a commodity 13% 200-500 3%
500+ 7%
Q27: With 5G rollout and the ability to provide quality of service (QoS) management on different
network slices, do you think customers would pay a premium for specific services with a guaranteed Q32: How do you see the impact of driving your customers to self-care on your app?
quality of service (e.g. home working offer)?
Driving customers to self-care has increased attach rate to our app 18%
Yes 56%
Driving customers to self-care has freed our resources to invest in more productive
No 17% 15%
functions
Not sure 27% Driving customers to self-care has helped improve our operational efficiency 27%
Driving customers to self-care has resulted in increased customer complaints 5%
Q28: Do you think in the next 12-24 months you will see an uplift in revenue by offering QoS to We're not actively driving customers to self-care on our app 30%
consumers for any of the following services delivered by 5G? (Choose all that apply)
Other 4%
Home working package 51%
Gaming 46%
FWA – home broadband 38%
Smart homes 31%
AR / VR 24%
TV 21%
No, I don't see an uplift in revenue by offering QoS to consumers in the next 2 years 19%
Q29: What percentage in revenue uplift do you think could be achieved by offering QoS to consumers?
0-1% 16%
1-5% 42%
5-10% 31%
>10% 11%

31
Q33: What, in your opinion, defines edge the closest? Q38: What are the top barriers to entry preventing a wide-scale enterprise adoption of edge
computing? (Choose all that apply)
Data processing commodity servers collecting data from gateways 40%
Financial cost for enterprises to adopt edge computing solutions 57%
Industrial Routers/Gateways receiving data from multiple devices 38%
Security concerns over edge computing 44%
Chips within devices 22%
Resistance to change what works now 43%
No clear business benefit in adopting edge computing 40%
Q34: Of the three definitions listed below, which one is closest in describing your perception of
intelligence at edge? Edge computing needs 5G to really take off 32%
Intelligent tiering of data between local use and cloud 40% Development of edge computing is not a high enough priority 29%
Data aggregation on devices 25% Other 1%
Process automation by low-latency decisions 36%
Q39: Do you see creation of digital twins of physical assets as a critical step to truly benefit from edge
intelligence?
Q35: Where should edge computing be for highest impact in a digital transformation?
Yes 35%
Telecom operator network edge 48%
No 12%
On-premises 12%
Unsure 53%
Private cloud 11%
Public cloud providers 10%
Q40: Where is your organization in the maturity of implementing digital twins?
Public edge cloud (think AWS Wavelength or Azure Edge Zones) 19%
We use our digital twins for preserve the asset state history 7%
We use our digital twins to predict and prescribe preventative actions 11%
Q36: How likely are you to rearchitect your business processes to leverage edge intelligence?
We use our digital twins to create a real-time sense/control loop 8%
Highly likely 25%
We don’t digital twins but interested in learning more 43%
Somewhat likely 57%
Digital twins are not applicable to our line of business 31%
Unlikely 18%
Q37: Which industry do you think will uncover most value by adopting edge computing? (Choose up to 3)
Manufacturing 40%
Gaming 40%
Fleet management 19%
Cybersecurity 38%
Agriculture 12%
Utilities 27%
Telecommunications 57%
Brick & Mortar Retail 5%
Asset Tracking 16%
Other 3%

32
SECURITY
Q41: What is your company’s spending plan for Security in 2021? Q45: When migrating applications to public cloud, what is your security strategy?
Spending will increase significantly (10% or more) 23% Lifting and shifting of your on-premises security
18%
solution to the Public Cloud
Spending will increase modestly (less than 10%) 28%
Using security services offered by the public cloud
Spending will remain the same 25% 27%
provider
Spending will decrease slightly (less than 10%) 2%
Using cloud-based security services from another
Spending will decrease significantly (over 10%) 3% 25%
third party (managed security services provider)
I’m not sure 19% None of the above as we have no plans to
29%
migrate applications to the public cloud
Q42: Regarding security initiatives please rank your company's focus for 2021, with No. 1 being the
highest. Q46: Which DNS security initiative(s) are you currently working on? (Choose all that apply)
No. 1 No.2 No. 3 No. 4 No. 5 Securing against volumetric DNS DDoS Attacks
47%
Network layer 33% 24% 14% 14% 15% (e.g UDP flooding)
User control & access 21% 22% 25% 18% 13% Securing against Advanced DNS attacks (e.g. DNS
39%
Application 18% 24% 27% 16% 16% random subdomain attacks)
Cloud & NFV Infrastructure 16% 17% 21% 27% 18% Securing against DNS Protocol attack (e.g.
38%
malformed DNS packets)
API security 12% 14% 13% 24% 37%
Securing against DNS protocol abuse (e.g. DNS
34%
tunneling)
Q43: Which parts of your network have been attacked the most in the last year? Offering DoH/DoT services (DNS over HTTP/S; DNS
26%
Network Infrastructure elements (e.g. network over TLS)
15%
bandwidth, network protocols, etc.) Other 17%
DNS Services 16%
Signaling systems (e.g. Diameter, HTTP/S, SS7, SIP) 5%
Q47: Which of the following security services do you currently offer as a managed service to your
OSS/BSS systems 3% enterprise customers? (Choose all that apply)
Cloud-based applications/infrastructure 6% Anti-malware 39%
On-premises applications/infrastructure 11% DDoS protection (Layer 2-4) 39%
I’m not sure / Other 43% IP/Domain allow/block-listing 37%
Next-gen firewall 37%
Q44: Which areas of your network are the most difficult to protect against attacks? Secure remote access 37%
Cloud-based applications/infrastructure 24%
Network Infrastructure elements (e.g. network Q48: Which of your applications are most vulnerable and need application-level security?
21%
bandwidth, network protocols, etc.)
Subscriber portals 51%
On-premises applications/infrastructure 18%
IPTV services 11%
DNS Services 12%
OSS/BSS systems 26%
Signaling & Protocol (e.g. Diameter, HTTP/S, SS7,
11% Other (please specify) 13%
SIP)
Other 10%
OSS/BSS systems 4%

33

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TELECOMS.

20 / Intelligence at the Edge

28 / Appendix – Survey Results

They have a strong belief in the role that

London, 19 October 2020

Annual Industry Survey 2020

32% 21% 20% 15% 54%

31% INITIAL 5G DEPLOYMENT 68%

22% TELECOM OPERATOR

36% 23% Annual Industry Survey 2020

Annual Industry Survey 2020

COVID-19 has no or negligible

Annual Industry Survey 2020

Annual Industry Survey 2020

a broad range of challenges.

Annual Industry Survey 2020

Annual Industry Survey 2020

Yes, we are committed

We are waiting for the standard

We don’t see any clear value

Annual Industry Survey 2020

SPONSOR’S Critical to the successful delivery of 5G

Annual Industry Survey 2020

multiple technical and non-technical • Value of broadband and 5G convergence is yet to

CommScope (NASDAQ: COMM) is pushing the boundaries of technology to create

Annual Industry Survey 2020

Annual Industry Survey 2020

Lack of fiber in the

Annual Industry Survey 2020

delivery (15%). bundled offers to customers, chosen BROADBAND

Annual Industry Survey 2020

To find out more, visit www.openet.com

Annual Industry Survey 2020

Annual Industry Survey 2020

example, with the advanced phase of 40

No, I don’t see an uplift in

Annual Industry Survey 2020

Annual Industry Survey 2020

Annual Industry Survey 2020

For example, on a cellular network, of participants (22%) viewed edge as

Therefore, to set the scene, before own most of the communication 10

Annual Industry Survey 2020

Annual Industry Survey 2020

Annual Industry Survey 2020

Annual Industry Survey 2020

Looking at the immediate past, when Recent network data released by

Annual Industry Survey 2020

Using security services offered

Annual Industry Survey 2020

three list. In second place, both in No. 1 business. n BE STRENGTHENED.”

Annual Industry Survey 2020

Annual Industry Survey 2020

Subcontract infrastructure buildout 48%

Annual Industry Survey 2020

Annual Industry Survey 2020

1 year 7% Less than 10 29%

2 years 11% 10-50 39%

3 years 10% 50-100 18%

Annual Industry Survey 2020

Annual Industry Survey 2020