BBWF 2018: Telcos are starting to find their voice through openness – TIM

For years the CSPs have been a fading voice in the telco ecosystem, but control is being wrestled back through the open communities.

The challenge over the last couple of years has been a lack of control. Standards organizations and technological developments are controlled by the vendors, which in turn results in control the industry’s landscape. The CSPs are no-longer masters of their own fate, which is primarily their own fault, but according to Mauro Tilocca of Telecom Italia the open source communities are giving the CSPs a voice.

“We need to blend the strengths of standards organizations and open source communities,” said Tilocca at Broadband World Forum in Berlin. “This is the only way to get to carrier grade solutions.”

It’s amazing to think that in years gone CSPs used to be technologically innovative organizations. But tough market conditions and stress on profitability has seen a trend of outsourcing responsibility. In other words, outsourcing the risk element of innovation.

Speaking to other attendees at this year’s event, there is a feeling the CSPs of yesteryear wanted to be financing organizations. This might explain why there are so many accountants in leadership positions, and such a distaste for risk. Allowing others to innovate and then leaning on the findings is certainly a safer way to conduct business, sitting on the top of the stack realising the advances of others; standing on the shoulders of giants is a common phrase which can be applied here.

But the downside is a loss of influence from a technological perspective and future developments in the industry. This might have allowed the accountants to manipulate spreadsheets to make the financials of an organization healthier, but the standards working groups and research projects are dominated by vendors. The CSPs are having their roadmaps dictated to them because they have lost their voice in the ecosystem.

With open source and white box groups becoming more prominent in the ecosystem, the CSPs are starting to find their feet. Open source and open standards are becoming more regular fixtures of the telco world, and these are the groups which are designed to be led by the CSPs. Of course, these groups alone cannot dictate the terms of the industry, there is still too much knowledge and talent hiding away in the vendor-influenced standards groups, but the balance of power might be shifting towards a healthier position.

The outsourcing trend which handed control of the ecosystem to the vendors was a massive over-reaction from the telcos. Fear took over and too much risk was outsourced. Openness is leading a CSP renaissance, but it is still a bit early to call CSPs innovative.