Narrow AI Heals Telco Pains for Now but a Widespread Harmonized Approach Needed Soon
October 23, 2018 | ABI ResearchEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
Artificial intelligence (AI) for intelligent user interfaces, sales and marketing remains the highest priority among mobile service providers, found ABI Research, a market-foresight firm providing strategic guidance on the most compelling transformative technologies. AI is being positioned as a key pillar in telco digitization, in parallel with customer-centric network modernization projects, virtualization, and cloud-native infrastructure.
ABI Research’s recent study of how AI is being implemented in the telecoms industry has concluded that the ownership and technology architecture of AI solutions is largely fragmented between different service provider departments. Customer services, network management, service assurance, and cybersecurity are popular areas for AI in telecoms, but most of these come with their own solutions partner, framework, and roadmaps. “At present, AI in telecoms has a narrow application in numerous use cases, particularly customer management and network acceleration. A holistic and general-purpose approach to AI may be required to enable Mobile Service Providers (MSPs) to become AI influencers rather than followers. This is fundamentally different from the siloed AI operations that predominate today,” said Don Alusha, Senior Analyst at ABI Research.
Several MSPs are aggressively adopting AI in many business areas. For example, AT&T and Telefónica are taking an all-encompassing approach to developing AI across many platforms, with the Acumos and LUCA projects, respectively. To become a powerhouse in AI, these two operators notwithstanding, telcos will have to overcome their divisions, start to digitalize their specialized and hardwired assets, and become strategic with new ethical frameworks and top-down global governance systems and strategies. This transition needs to start from the very top of the MSP organization for board or executive management buy-in.
The industry must coalesce around a unified vision for an AI ecosystem with clear commercial relationships and developer frameworks that span cloud (public or private) providers, vendors’ own hosting environments, and telco data centers and platforms. Specifically, numerous open source AI frameworks and platforms are already being used by telcos such as NTT DOCOMO and others, to build up their AI expertise internally. Open source AI frameworks and generic platforms may well become the norm in service providers’ operations, in turn calling for vendors to align their business models to account for this. The sheer multiplicity of open source platforms, however, may impede far-reaching AI standardization if no caution is not exercised.
“Work remains to be done on two fronts: one, standardize the data format to achieve data harmonization; and two, institute AI standards with particular focus in the network domain, where little attention has been paid thus far,” concluded Alusha. “Pushing for an AI global strategy beyond what is currently in place today is likely to have a stronger impact over time, particularly in the context of developing AI platforms with an eye to enabling massive scalability and agility of features.”
About ABI Research
ABI Research provides strategic guidance for visionaries needing market foresight on the most compelling transformative technologies, which reshape workforces, identify holes in a market, create new business models and drive new revenue streams. ABI’s own research visionaries take stances early on those technologies, publishing groundbreaking studies often years ahead of other technology advisory firms. ABI analysts deliver their conclusions and recommendations in easily and quickly absorbed formats to ensure proper context. Our analysts strategically guide visionaries to take action now and inspire their business to realize a bigger picture.
Suggested Items
Industrial PC Market Size to Record $1.75 Billion Growth from 2023-2027
05/03/2024 | PRNewswireThe global industrial pc market size is estimated to grow by USD 1.75 billion from 2023 to 2027, according to Technavio. This growth is expected to occur at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of almost 6.29% during the forecast period.
Real Time with… IPC APEX EXPO 2024: Direct Imaging Equipment and Quad-wave DLP Light Engine Technology
05/03/2024 | Real Time with...IPC APEX EXPOGuest Editor Kelly Dack and MivaTek's Brendan Hogan delve into the company's innovative technologies, including direct imaging equipment and quad-wave DLP light engine technology. They highlight the benefits of direct imaging, compensation, and DART technology.
LQDX Divests Aluminum Soldering Business - Mina™ - to Taiyo America Inc.
05/02/2024 | PRNewswireLQDX, formerly known as Averatek Corp., developer of high-performance materials for advanced semiconductor manufacturing, today announced that it has divested its aluminum soldering business – known as MinaTM – to Taiyo America Inc., a global market leader in advanced electronic materials.
IDTechEx Report on Quantum Technology: Nano-scale Physics for Massive Market Impact
04/30/2024 | PRNewswireThe quantum technology market leverages nano-scale physics to create revolutionary new devices for computing, sensing, and communications. Across the industry, quantum technology offers a paradigm shift in performance compared with incumbent solutions.
Guerrilla RF Completes Strategic Acquisition of GaN Device Portfolio from Gallium Semiconductor
04/29/2024 | BUSINESS WIREGuerrilla RF, Inc. has finalized the acquisition of Gallium Semiconductor's entire portfolio of GaN power amplifiers and front-end modules. Effective April 26th, 2024, GUER acquired all previously released components as well as new cores under development at Gallium Semiconductor.