4 Exciting Tech Trends that Will Shape the Telecom Industry in 2022

Since 2020, every industry has faced insurmountable challenges with worldwide lockdowns and multiple pandemic waves. The telecom industry is no different! With the new normal taking precedence in the post-pandemic world, more people work remotely, putting network operators under scrutiny.

Network operators, though an essential service that played a vital role in connecting people during the pandemic, now face new challenges due to increased customer expectations, growing market saturation, competition from OTT platforms, and more.

However, it is not all bad news. Despite the disruption, MNOs have a lot to look forward to in the coming years. In 2021 alone, over 58 countries deployed 5G networks. Further, 5G is expected to gain more than 1 billion subscribers by 2024. Moreover, with advancements in game-changing techs like the Internet of Things (IoT), AI, and rich communication services (RCS), network operators have a gamut of opportunities to revolutionise their network offerings and add new revenue streams.

In 2022, MNOs can evolve their network infrastructure and services by capitalising on and adopting next-gen technologies. Read to know why 2022 is an exciting year for MNOs.

Rapid 5G technology deployment and adoption

With work cultures across the globe gravitating towards remote working, wireless connectivity is one of the most demanded and necessary services for subscribers.

Coincidentally, establishing wireless connectivity infrastructure is one of the primary catalysts for the growth of MNOs, which is easily enabled by the rapid deployment and scaling of 5G fixed wireless access (FWA). With FWA, operators can provide subscribers with data speeds that exceed current bandwidths, ensuring increased wireless connectivity and enabling high-speed video connectivity, instant cloud uploads and file downloads, and minimal latency. This, in turn, will improve MNO—customer relationships, resulting in lower churn rates and increased customer satisfaction.

Further, 5G allows operators to offer a scalable and feature-laden platform for digital and content-creating enterprises. Millions are being spent on digitisation by enterprises across the globe trying to provide an all-inclusive and enriching customer experience. With 5G, MNOs can offer an all-in-one platform to such enterprises, assuring access to their large subscriber base. This will further enrich the subscriber experience, creating a lucrative and profitable revenue stream.

The abundance of opportunity with 5G speaks for itself. So, now is the time for network operators to jump in, invest and drive its growth and adoption. 5G can help MNOs transform themselves from just tech distributors to service providers in the true sense.

Accelerated cloud deployment

In the remote-working age, enterprises have to make major logistic adjustments and enhance technological support for their at-home working staff. To provide a fluid work process, unhindered by lack of accessibility to company resources and IT support, companies across the globe are migrating to cloud-native platforms. In fact, as per Gartner, cloud-native platforms will form the foundation for at least 95% of digital initiatives by 2025.

By adopting cloud deployment, operators can scale down their implementation and operational costs with the pay-as-you-grow business model. Moreover, it helps them host new services and scale up and down as per traffic needs, assisting operators in focusing on marketing and nurturing customer relationships. This will allow operators to stay relevant and competitive in an already saturated market, providing the best services and raking in revenue.

Furthermore, since operators will have to pay only for the services they use, it will help minimise cost, ensuring competitive pricing for their subscribers. Moreover, resorting to the highly automated and accessible nature of cloud infrastructure, MNOs can robustly optimise their network resources.

Operators can offer shared home-cloud services, data analytics and AI to their subscribers and enterprises, cashing in on a profitable revenue opportunity with cloud deployment.

AI-driven digitisation of business models

AI and big data are some of the many technological advancements driving the rapid digitization of every industry. And the telecom industry is not the one to be left behind! By deploying AI, operators can build self-optimising and -repairing network infrastructure that not only detects and solves anomalies but also helps them predict burgeoning problems before they disrupt network services. Furthermore, analytics technology and AI can help MNOs find a more optimised and competent way of projecting and reaching their strategic goals in the best way possible.

Operators can roll out zero-touch customer support, replacing all physical contact points with digital and automated ones, ensuring a safe, comfortable and hassle-free customer journey experience. However, for the complete digitization of their services, MNOs will have to employ a host of different technologies like digital apps, RCS for business, automated workflow, and more.

A2P portfolio expansion driven by RCS

The increased penetration of smartphones has resulted in the rise and flourishing of OTT messaging platforms. With subscribers migrating to these platforms, brands have followed suit, stagnating A2P SMS revenue streams. Offering a multitude of features from high-def videos to file sharing and chat, OTT messaging platforms are here to stay. If not thwarted, MNOs will soon turn to mere data service providers, significantly shrinking their revenues.

However, with 5G FWA and GSMA’s RCS Universal Profile, operators can expand their A2P messaging services and compete with OTT messaging platforms. RCS guarantees to deliver a uniform and rich experience across devices and carriers, ensuring onboarded brands can reach out to any consumers anywhere in the world as long as they have a registered mobile number. RCS is predicted to turn in a revenue of approximately $4.6 billion by 2026. So, there is no doubt that MNOs must invest in and deploy this technology now to avoid losing on its many benefits.

While you can set up such platforms in-house, it is a long and tedious engagement that demands time, money, and resources. Instead, it is better to let experts like Dotgo help you with the process, assuring you of hassle-free deployment and guaranteed results. Dotgo offers a host of Messaging-as-a-platform (MaaP) and Communication-Platform-as-a-Service (CPaaS) solutions that help you accelerate RCS monetization, providing a seamless customer experience without making changes to your network infrastructure.

Contact us to know how we can help you offer the best omnichannel cloud solutions to your customer and drive your RCS revenues.