Innovation in Telecommunications

Telcos are going to run their networks on the public cloud. How do I know? Because one of the biggest telcos in the world is already doing it. Telefónica Germany just launched the world's first brownfield 5G core on the public cloud, proving that cloud networks actually work at scale. More than 1 million subscribers are already running on AWS infrastructure with millions more coming. I got all the details from Mallik Rao, Telefónica Germany's CTO. Here's what blew my mind: • Their first attempt with a different vendor? Total failure after 18 months. Mallik killed the entire program. • AWS had to completely redesign their hardware specifically for telco workloads because "telecom software tells the hardware how to behave" - not the other way around. • The real payoff isn't just cost savings - they're deploying 2x faster than on-premises infrastructure and doing network upgrades in hours instead of months. • They're combining this with Open RAN to disaggregate software from hardware lifecycles. Because why buy new hardware every time you need a software update? This isn't another pilot project. This is proof that brownfield operators can completely transform how they build and operate networks. The skeptics said it couldn't be done. Telefónica Germany just proved them wrong. Listen now - link in the first comment below. #Telecommunications #Cloud #5G #NetworkTransformation

What’s the hidden cost of “waiting until next quarter” to fix your telco’s data stack? For telcos, the delay is rarely just technical. It’s strategic. Every month spent wrestling with siloed systems, fragmented governance, and architectural debt compounds your risk — and drains opportunity. Learn more about it here – https://lnkd.in/d8PyHj-2 That’s the central theme of Witboost’s latest whitepaper on Digital Transformation in Telecommunications, which I had a chance to review this week. It unpacks the 7 persistent challenges that telecom operators face — and why the status quo isn’t just inefficient, it’s unsustainable: - Network downtime costing $1.2M/hour - Redundant data initiatives increasing OpEx - Misaligned IT, data, and business teams stalling execution - Inability to use even 10% of the data they generate But what makes this paper powerful isn’t just the diagnosis — it’s the playbook for action. Here are three ideas that stood out to me: 1️⃣ From Centralized Governance to Computational Governance Legacy governance assumes a central authority can review everything. But that doesn’t scale. Computational governance applies policies at runtime, creating real-time compliance and freeing up teams to move faster. 2️⃣ Decentralization with Accountability Telcos must move toward domain-based decentralization. That doesn’t mean chaos — it means data product teams owning quality, access, and policy. This creates natural boundaries with clear responsibility. 3️⃣ Transformation via Use Case Pathways The report argues that “big bang” transformations rarely succeed. Instead, telcos should start with high-impact use cases (like churn reduction, AI-driven NOC analytics, or API monetization) and build maturity over 18+ months. The best part? It provides a maturity model and a realistic 3-phase roadmap—from laying the foundation to scaling and optimizing. This is essential reading for: CDOs and Chief Transformation Officers Heads of Architecture, AI, or Data Engineering Anyone leading platform modernization or customer experience in telecom 📘 Link to download the report: https://lnkd.in/d8PyHj-2 I’d love to hear: What’s one roadblock your org keeps running into when it comes to scaling data use in telco?

𝗔𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮’𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗜𝗼𝗧 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸—and nobody noticed. 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝘀. No spectrum auctions. No cell towers. No billion-dollar rollouts. Here's the story... I was remodeling my apartment, upgrading my old Rokus and Cisco switches to a new Ubiquiti stack. 𝗠𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 the entire week—and I knew it. Suddenly, my Ring camera sends me an alert:  🔔 𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙤𝙧 Wait—𝗵𝗼𝘄? I had no internet connection. It was impossible. I tapped the notification: ❌ 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙧𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝘼𝙢𝙖𝙯𝙤𝙣 𝙎𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠, 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙤 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖𝙫𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚. That one alert sparked my curiosity. What the hell was Amazon Sidewalk? And how did my Ring talk to me—with zero Wi-Fi? Turns out, my doorbell was quietly piggybacking off my neighbors’ devices. ➡️ A stealth mesh network using millions of consumer devices. Genius. Similar to the way Apple helps you find an AirTag. Or how cable companies use your home modem to quietly broadcast public Wi-Fi for strangers. Except this time, it's Amazon. And they just scaled it nationwide. Today, Sidewalk covers over 90% of the U.S. population. 🔽 It costs Amazon almost nothing, yet unlocks massive potential: ✅ Smart cities without traditional telecom infrastructure ✅ Nationwide asset tracking—pets, packages, equipment ✅ Industrial monitoring in places telcos struggle to reach Telcos spent billions on 5G spectrum with the promise of IoT. Meanwhile, Amazon bypassed spectrum auctions entirely—leveraging free, unlicensed bands and customer hardware already sitting in millions of homes. If you're in telecom, this should both terrify and excite you. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗔𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗼𝗻? → Own the device—push intelligence to the edge → Think, develop and launch crowdsourced functionalities → Stop being afraid to slightly annoy the customer → Get creative with unlicensed spectrum → Become Agile to Innovate at the speed of Silicon Valley Amazon didn’t ask for permission. They didn’t beg for spectrum. They just shipped it—and scaled. Amazon didn't just disrupt retail—they're quietly disrupting telecom too. What if they now launch an MVNO and offloaded traffic through their Eero Wi-Fi devices and every Echo and Ring device around the world? 𝗜'𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁. For now, check on Symphonica OSS so you can start embracing real agility. #Telecom #Innovation #Disruption #IoT #Competition

𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 1: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝 In 2024, the spotlight is on smart connectivity, a critical evolution that promises to redefine IoT by enhancing the synergy between device intelligence at the Edge and cloud capabilities. This transformative approach is set to impact organizations across industries by enabling more efficient, secure, and intelligent operations. 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐎𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: 📌𝐄𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠: With the acceleration of Edge processing, organizations can leverage local data analysis for quicker, more autonomous decision-making. This reduces dependency on cloud processing, thereby minimizing latency and enhancing real-time responses. 📌𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲: Full-stack integration means that IoT devices will be more self-reliant, requiring less intervention and manual oversight. This leads to streamlined operations, lower operational costs, and reduced potential for human error. 📌𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞: The emphasis on secure, resilient connectivity ensures that data is protected from endpoint to cloud. This is crucial for organizations dealing with sensitive information, helping them meet regulatory compliance standards like GDPR and HIPAA more effectively. 📌𝐂𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Intelligent connectivity allows devices to select the most cost-effective and efficient network paths. This adaptability can lead to significant savings on data transmission costs and optimize network resource usage. 📢 𝐌𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 The prediction of smart connectivity as a cornerstone for IoT in 2024 resonates with a growing trend toward distributed intelligence and the need for more agile, secure, and efficient operations. From an organizational perspective, this shift is not merely technological but strategic, offering a pathway to transform how businesses interact with digital infrastructure, manage data, and deliver services. 📌𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞: Organizations that embrace smart connectivity will gain a competitive edge through enhanced operational agility, improved customer experiences, and a stronger posture on security and compliance. 📌𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬: This new paradigm opens doors for innovative applications and services that leverage Edge intelligence, from advanced predictive maintenance to dynamic supply chain management and beyond. 📌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: While the benefits are clear, organizations must also navigate the complexities of integrating this technology. This includes ensuring interoperability across diverse devices and platforms, managing the increased complexity of decentralized data processing, and addressing the security vulnerabilities that come with expanded IoT ecosystems.

Welcome to the "O" Town! The OpenRAN (O-RAN) Town project demonstrates the potential and challenges of deploying a multi-vendor Open RAN solution. Deutsche Telekom piloted a multi-vendor Open RAN solution in Germany, named "O-RAN Town" with the aim to assess technology readiness, integration complexity and operational challenges of Open RAN. While Open RAN has made good progress and continues to mature, the overall design also comes with its own complexities as experienced during this work. The main challenges faced during the O-RAN Town project were: 🛑 High Integration Effort: Integrating components from multiple vendors required significant effort to ensure compatibility and seamless operation. 🛑 Software Stability: Ensuring the stability of software across different vendors’ hardware was a major challenge, necessitating extensive testing and debugging. 🛑 Performance Issues: Achieving the desired performance levels was difficult, particularly in terms of latency and throughput. 🛑 Coordination Among Stakeholders: Tight coordination among operators, vendors, and system integrators was crucial but challenging to maintain. 🛑 Energy Efficiency: Optimizing energy efficiency to match traditional RAN systems was a key focus area that presented ongoing challenges. 🛑 Lifecycle Management: Adapting to rapid advances in standardized hardware components required continuous updates and management. The above highlights the importance of collaboration, integration, and continuous improvement to achieve a scalable, high-performance OpenRAN based network. #openran #5g #telecom #network #telcos #technology #VPspeak [^482]

With the current impact of cell network outages across almost all carriers in the US, it's a good time to talk about the future; actually, it's not even about the future, it's the present. Several years ago I started talking about having mobile robotics (air, ground and maritime robotics, like drones, rovers and submergible devices) be part of a mobile adhoc network or MANET. One example is a private mesh network, like Silvus Technologies provides. These communications solutions for high bandwidth video, C2, health and telemetry data are absolutely needed in today's environment and allow for a very flexible set-up and coverage; from a local incident scene, to a much larger area coverage, to entire cities or counties being covered. Why the need? While we in the drone industry originally focused on getting drones connected to a cell network, we quickly realized the single point of failure; the cell network infrastructure. Natural disasters, as well as manmade disasters, can impact these networks dramatically. An earthquake, hurricane, a solar storm, or a cyberattack, can take down these public networks for hours to days. And that includes public safety dedicated solutions like FirstNet or Frontline, during times when coms and data push is absolutely needed. Over the past couple of years we have seen the rise of mobile robotics deployments within private networks. While the defense side has done this approach for years, the public safety sector is still new to this concept. Some solutions integrate with a variety of antennas, amplifiers and ground stations, offer low latency, high data rates (up to 100+Mpbs), 256-bit AES encryptions and allow for a very flexible and scalable mobile ad-hoc mesh network solution. And most importantly - independence from a public network system. And now imagine you have multiple devices operating; a helicopter, a drone, a ground robotic, together with individuals on the ground, all connected and all tied into a geospatial information platform, like ATAK/TAK. Each connected device can become a node and extend the range. This is what I am calling building the Tech/Tac Bubble. This is not just the future, this is already happening with a handful of agencies across the US It's time to start thinking about alternative communication solutions and mobile robotics are an important part of leading the way. #UAV #UAS #UGV #Drones #network #MANET #Meshnetwork #publicsafety

How Starlink’s Direct-to-Cell Service is Disrupting Telecommunications—and What’s Next for AI-Driven Innovation Imagine a world where your smartphone works anywhere—from the top of a mountain to the middle of the ocean. Starlink’s Direct-to-Cell service is making this a reality, eliminating dead zones by connecting unmodified phones directly to low-Earth orbit satellites. No cell towers. No extra hardware. Just seamless connectivity. Why This is Game-Changing: 1. Global Coverage: Say goodbye to connectivity gaps. Starlink ensures calls, texts, and eventually data—even in the most remote areas. 2. Empowering Emergency Response: Free global emergency connectivity ensures help is just a call away, regardless of location or affordability. 3. T-Mobile Partnership: The first step in a bold vision to make universal satellite coverage a standard, starting with U.S. beta testing in 2025. But this disruption goes beyond telecommunications. It’s a glimpse into how AI and satellite technology can revolutionize other industries: • Healthcare: Imagine real-time consultations with doctors in remote regions via satellite-enabled devices. • Education: AI-powered remote learning platforms that work anywhere, ensuring no child is left behind. • Agriculture: AI-driven insights sent directly to farmers in the field, optimizing yields and addressing climate challenges. The Future of Disruption Starlink’s approach shows how AI can combine with cutting-edge technology to break barriers and redefine industries. As we step into this new era, the question is: What’s next? 👉 What industries do you think are ripe for disruption by AI and innovative tech? Share your thoughts below. #Innovation #Starlink #AI #Disruption #FutureOfWork #Connectivity #DigitalTransformation #Leadership

One company’s R&D arm generated 9 Nobel Prizes and pioneered inventions that changed the world: the transistor, the laser, the solar cell, the communications satellite, and even UNIX. That company was Bell Labs and I’ve been reading The Idea Factory by Jon Gertner which chronicles its extraordinary run as the R&D engine of AT&T. What makes the story so compelling isn’t just the tech it birthed, but *how* they came to be. Here are some lessons that feel particularly relevant today: 1) Innovation thrives at the intersection of disciplines. Bell Labs was designed for collaboration. The architects of the Murray Hill building, for example, built a super long hallway that increased the probability scientists would meet each other on the way to and from the dining hall. 2) Culture beats genius. Yes, Bell Labs had immense talent, but what set it apart was how that talent was cultivated through mentorship, mission clarity, and a bias for action. Junior researchers were paired with seasoned scientists and they were also expected to participate in regular seminars where they presented their findings to senior colleagues. 3) Great ideas often come from unexpected places. Innovations like the laser and the solar cell came from side experiences and “non-core” inquiries, proving the value of exploratory work. The laser, for example, grew out of microwave spectroscopy — a field that had nothing to do with Bell Labs’ immediate commercial needs at the time. Management let scientists pursue it anyway and the result was a technology that transformed industries. Of course, Bell Labs didn’t last forever. It thrived under a very specific set of conditions (namely, AT&T’s monopoly) and struggled once that ecosystem changed. But its influence is everywhere in modern tech, from the phones in our hands to the networks that connect them. As we navigate the next wave of technological breakthroughs, these lessons from Bell Labs feel more relevant than ever. (Image of the Telstar 1, the first TV communications satellite that was launched in 1962)

The Future of Telecom is Being Built on Blockchain 🔗 The telecommunications industry is undergoing a quiet revolution, and blockchain technology is at the center of it. Here's why this matters: Identity & Security: Blockchain-based digital identity solutions are enabling more secure, decentralized authentication for mobile networks. No more relying on centralized databases that become single points of failure. 5G Infrastructure: Smart contracts are streamlining network sharing agreements between telecom operators, making 5G deployment faster and more cost-effective. Imagine automated roaming agreements that execute themselves based on real-time network conditions. IoT Device Management: With billions of connected devices coming online, blockchain provides an immutable ledger for device authentication and micropayments. Your smart car could automatically pay for network usage without human intervention. Network Monetization: Decentralized bandwidth sharing is creating new revenue streams. Users can sell excess data or network capacity directly to others, turning every smartphone into a potential network node. The challenge? Legacy infrastructure and regulatory frameworks weren't designed for decentralized systems. But early adopters are already seeing reduced operational costs and improved security. #Telecommunications #Blockchain #5G #Innovation #TechTrends #Web3 #DigitalTransformation #AI #Web3Dev #FullstackDev #SoftwareDevelopment

The next time you make a video call, remember: a Black woman in the ‘80s made it possible. In 1982, Marian Croak joined Bell Labs with a PhD in quantitative analysis and social psychology from USC. She started in Human Factors Research. Her job: figure out how tech could make life better for real people. At the time, the modern internet didn’t exist. But she saw what was coming. Most telecom companies were betting on ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) to transmit voice, video, and text. Marian said no. She pushed AT&T to adopt TCP/IP—the protocol that still powers the internet today. Then she went further… What if your voice could travel as digital data? What if a phone call didn’t need a phone line? That’s how she helped invent the foundations of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). She worked on quality control, latency, and how to make voice over the internet sound human. Then came her second breakthrough: text-to-donate. In 2003, Marian saw AT&T build a text voting system for American Idol. Fans could vote via SMS. She had a thought: if people can vote by text, why can’t they donate too? In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, she and co-inventor Hossein Eslambolchi built it. It raised $130,000 for relief organizations. Five years later, after the Haiti earthquake, the same system raised $43M via mobile donations. She received a U.S. patent for it: “Method and Apparatus for Dynamically Debiting a Donation.” In 2013, she was awarded the Thomas Edison Patent Award for it. In total, she holds over 200 patents, with nearly half related to VoIP. By the time she left AT&T in 2014, she was Senior Vice President of Applications and Services Infrastructure, overseeing 2,000 engineers and more than 500 projects in enterprise mobility and consumer wireline tech. Then she joined Google. There, she became VP of Engineering. She helped bring broadband to underserved communities across Africa and Asia. She launched Google’s Center for Responsible AI and Human-Centered Technology, building ethical frameworks for the future of artificial intelligence. Her team is applying AI to problems such as: – Maternal health monitoring in developing nations – Early disease detection – Climate impact mitigation In her words: “AI can amplify the worst stereotypes and spread misinformation. It has to serve the deepest needs of humanity.” In 2022, she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 💡Follow Justine Juillard to read 365 stories of women innovators in 365 days. Tap the 🔔 on my profile so you don’t miss a single story.