Emerging technologies win big at the 2020 Glotel Awards

The spoils were shared evenly at this year’s Global Telecoms Awards, but emerging technologies such as OpenRAN caught the eyes of the judges.

You can see the full list of winners below and find that only one company one more than once – last year’s big winner SK Telecom – which grabbed the ‘best operator’ award for the second year running. SK is being rewarded for its pioneering work on 5G and other trailblazing companies such as Rakuten Mobile, Altiostar and Parallel stood out too.

Sadly we weren’t able to have our usual big night out to celebrate because of all the COVID-19 disruption, but you still get a video of Telecoms.com Editor Scott Bicheno reading out the results, which is better than nothing, right? So, congratulations to all this year’s worthy winners and thanks to everyone who got involved. In spite of everything, this has been another great year for telecoms and we’re delighted to be able to acknowledge all your work through the Glotel Awards.

Advancing Artificial Intelligence              

Winner: TechSee – TechSee Live

Automation Initiative of the Year            

Winner: Robin.io – Robin Automation Platform

Best 5G Operator Innovation    

Winner: Vodafone UK – Ford private 5G network

Best Digital Transformation Project       

Winner: MATRIXX Software – Three UK’s PayG

Best Operator  

Winner: SK Telecom

Best Vendor 5G Innovation

Winner: Altiostar Networks – Container-Based, Cloud-Native 5G RAN software

BSS/OSS Transformation Excellence      

Winner: STL – dTelco

Highly Commended: Netcracker Technology – Netcracker 2020

Connecting the Unconnected    

Winner: Orange – Orange Sanza

Highly Commended: Liquid Telecom – Fibre networks in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo

Consumer IoT Initiative of the Year        

Winner: ZTE – AI-powered Smart Home Care Solution

Highly Commended: Tata Communications – MOVE

Digital Transformation Innovation          

Winner: Netcracker Technology – Netcracker 2020 Digital Transformation Solution

Highly Commended: Huawei Technologies – Qingdao Haier 5G Smart Factory

Fixed Network Evolution             

Winner: Sky Italy and Amdocs – Sky Italy’s WiFi service and Ultra Network powered by Amdocs Open Cloud Networks OSS

Highly Commended: Calix – everyPON on the AXOS Platform

Ground-breaking Virtualization Initiative

Winner: Rakuten Mobile – Rakuten Mobile Network

Industrial IoT Initiative of the Year         

Winner: SK Telecom – 5G Dual-Band Dual-Mode Industrial IoT Device and Its Application

Highly Commended: Vodafone UK – CoVision

Managed Services Innovation of the Year           

Winner: Macquarie Telecom Group – Macquarie Cloud Services Azure Managed

Highly Commended: Comviva – Digital Services Content Management at Ooredoo Kuwait

Mobile Money Mastery

Winner: Comviva – mobiquity Money – COVID-19 Response

Most Innovative Cloud Service 

Winner: Aptilo Networks – IoT Connectivity Control Service

Most Innovative Cloud Technology

Winner: Parallel Wireless – OpenRAN Controller

Highly Commended: Red Hat – Open Hybrid Cloud Technologies

Project Delivery Perfection        

Winner: Huawei Technology and Sunrise Communications – 5G Network Optimization Project

Highly Commended: Comarch – Service assurance solution for the first 5G telecommunications networks in Asia

Security Solution of the Year     

Winner: Keysight Technologies – Threat Simulator

Telecoms Transformation           

Winner: Ericsson – 5G Maritime Mesh Network

Highly Commended: Altiostar Networks – Container-Based, Cloud-Native 5G Open RAN software