How does the cloud allow the telco industry to grow?

The advantages of cloud-native infrastructure are no secret to the telco industry. In fact, telcos are estimated to invest an average of $200 million each per year on cloud infrastructure. For telcos, the question isn’t whether or not to move to the cloud… It’s how to get the most from the transformation to optimize their growth. 

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‍The need for cloud transformation in telco

As customers demand 5G connectivity, personalized services and a seamless digital experience, legacy hardware simply can’t keep up. Relying solely on dedicated or proprietary hardware is costly, slow, difficult to scale, and no longer efficient.

Transitioning to the cloud presents telcos with the opportunity to not only develop and deploy services faster, but also to scale their network services up or down at speed. This way, telcos can maintain a competitive edge in the market and keep up with ever-evolving customer needs, while keeping operating and infrastructure costs down.

The industry-wide cloud transformation is well underway. It’s reported that 46% of telco network capacity will be entirely cloud-native in the next three to five years. Due to this significant investment from telco organizations, the global telecom cloud market size is projected to grow from $23.46 billion in 2024 to $133.74 billion by 2032.

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What is telco cloud?

To go back to basics for a moment, let’s discuss what telco cloud is. Telco cloud is the modernization and virtualization of telecom networks through the use of cloud-native technologies. It moves network functions, such as routing and switching, from purpose-built hardware to flexible cloud infrastructure. 

By removing reliance on physical hardware and managing network services virtually, telco cloud enables cutting-edge connectivity. Giving telcos the ability to deliver low-latency network services such as 5G, network slicing, and edge services at a higher speed, with much improved performance, efficiency and flexibility. Learn more about what telco cloud is in our blog.

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How is the cloud helping telcos to grow?

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Create new routes for monetization

As well as providing better connectivity for end users, the cloud enables telcos to provide highly connected and customized 5G and edge services to enterprise customers. This opens the door to delivering new offerings across manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics, where security, speed, and reliability are crucial to business operations. 

Become more adaptable to market conditions

Customers are demanding more and better telecom services every day. The cloud gives telcos the flexibility to adapt quickly to emerging needs, technologies and competitor advancements. Instead of being tethered to rigid infrastructure and their lengthy and costly processes, telcos can evolve their services more dynamically. 

Shorter time to deploy new services

Cloud-native infrastructure allows telcos to deploy services in a matter of days or weeks, not months, as with proprietary hardware. The cloud is built to automate provisioning, scaling, and updates so telcos can spend less time on manual processes, and more time on developing innovative, in-demand and high-performance services.

Faster time to market with lower costs

By replacing legacy hardware with flexible cloud environments, telcos can reduce both upfront and ongoing costs. With a leaner approach to infrastructure, telco engineers can build, test, and deploy services at a fraction of the traditional cost. The cloud also helps to reduce the risk of over- or under-provisioning resources by automating resources where they’re needed most, therefore, preventing waste and enabling faster, more profitable experimentation.

Maintain service quality at scale

‍Reliable, high-performance services are essential in our digitally connected world. And with 5G, IoT, and data volume growing fast, telcos are handling more traffic than ever. Cloud-based automation helps telcos manage network usage by adjusting resources in real-time. This technology helps to prevent downtime, increase security, and crucially, maintain customer trust.

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How are telcos moving to the cloud?

Cloud transformation isn’t just a technological transformation, but a cultural one.  It demands planning, testing, and coordination to ensure smooth integration and connection between on-premises and cloud infrastructure, as well as to ensure teams have the skills and knowledge to make the transformation a success.

LabLabee can support your growth with telco cloud

At LabLabee, we’re making learning and practicing future networks like telco cloud more accessible and interactive. Our hands-on training labs give teams the knowledge they need in telco and cloud-native technologies, then apply this knowledge in practical, real-world environments.

The result is an immersive learning experience that lets you expand and test your skillset in a safe and secure cloud environment. Labs like Telco Cloud Discovery for Managers and learning paths like Telco Cloud Infrastructure: Core Concepts and Deployment, provide extensive hands-on experience in an enjoyable and scalable way that whole teams can benefit from.

Explore our complete catalog of labs, learning paths, and skills tests to support your growth journey to telco cloud.