Emerging technologies, the differentiator, and the catalyst

Emerging technologies are not only becoming an important competitive differentiator they are becoming catalysts for transforming use cases across sectors. Next generation technologies including 5G are continually challenging even the most innovative companies.

Industry research states that India would become the fastest-growing telecom advertising market with an annual growth rate of 11 percent from 2020 to 2023. The Union Budget 2022-23 had some positive announcements for the telecom industry with regards to the 5G spectrum auction, digital rupee, inclusion of 5G in PLI (production-linked incentive scheme), and last but not the least a 100-percent fiberization with PPP model, which we believe will help in creating a positive outlook for the industry as well as investors.

Here are some of the top technological trends that could define the telecom industry in 2022:

• Internet of Things and Industry 4.0. Interconnectivity between devices, sensors, infrastructure, and computing elements can further facilitate new ways of management. In 2020, there were 20 billion active IoT devices and every second 127 devices hooked up to the internet. The projected growth is about 75 billion connected devices by 2025. Today, Industry 4.0 is revolutionizing the way companies are manufacturing and distributing their products by efficiently integrating new technologies into their production facilities;
• Blockchain. Blockchain started as a peer-to-peer (P2P) version of electronic cash, a public ledger that records online transactions, and works without involving third party. Some identified use-cases for telecom are roaming and settlement, identity management, mobile number portability, and prevention of phone theft. If industry research is to be believed, the global blockchain technology market size was valued at USD 5.92 billion in 2021, and is now expected to grow at a CAGR of 85.9 percent from 2022 to 2030;
• Cloud computing. Telecom operators rely heavily on large computing infrastructure to deliver a distinct set of applications, analytics, and billing; hence, cloud computing is an area that will drive innovative value propositions for enterprises;
• Big data and data engineering. Telecom companies collect large amounts of data, which includes phone usage, records, server logs, billing, etc. Big data can help telcos in doing predictive analysis, fraud detection, customer churn prevention, customer lifetime value and segmentation, network management, optimization, etc. One of India’s leading telecom providers has utilized synergies of big data and acquired approximately 130 million users within one year;
• Intelligent automation. Intelligent automation inte­grates robotic process automation (RPA) with artificial intelligence (AI) such as NLP, OCR, etc., to automate complete workflow cycle. The intelligent automation market was valued at USD 6.25 billion in 2017, and is projected to grow to about USD 13.75 billion by 2023. Telcos today can utilize intelligent automation for higher productivity, customer satisfaction, and reduced cost;
• Web 3.0. It is built on blockchain technology, which is more about decentralizing the ownership or control over content, leading to a secure internet. It is a third generation of internet services, connecting distributed content and data to AI-driven search and analysis;
• Metaverse. Combination of two words (meta and verse), which means beyond the universe and is linked with the artificial world. Research has projected Metaverse as a USD 800 billion market. It is a collaboration of various technologies like virtual reality, characterized by persistent virtual worlds; augmented reality, combining digital and physical world; 5G; blockchains; and non-fungible tokens (NFT); and
• 5G deployment. 5G will bridge the gap between humans, digital, and physical space. We have more than 3 billion internet users around the globe that are looking forward to high-capacity and low-latency networks.

To sum up, these trends are the creators of new lines of business, like a connected enterprise where your front, middle, and back offices are aligned giving you a 360-degree view of the entire business function – eventually bringing profitability, improved customer satisfaction, and experience – and are highly recommended to shape a new reality for telecommunication companies.

Co-Author – Anilavo Datta, Associate Director, KPMG in India