Mark Humphreys, Chief Marketing Officer at Trasna, took the time on the latest episode of IoT Unplugged to discuss the challenges, opportunities and trends happening in the telco market currently, sharing insights on the technology enablers – like AI and software as a service – that are helping mobile network operators (MNOs) to address these challenges.
Trasna’s position as a chip to Cloud connectivity provider gives it a unique perspective in the market. The company was founded in 2018 by Stéphane Fund who saw in the fragmented IoT market an opportunity to establish a business that would address these issues. More recently, it acquired u-blox’s cellular IoT business.
Humphreys characterised some of the challenges facing telcos as “very familiar challenges” with regards to revenue stagnation, increased capex requirements, and stiff competition, more notably from Cloud providers branching out into connectivity offerings and connectivity providers embracing eSIM, alongside expectations to roll out cutting-edge technologies like 5G Standalone (SA).
As a result, Humphreys mentioned software as a service (SaaS) as one technology enabler that can support MNOs, citing Trasna’s launch of their eSIM Cloud platform four years ago as one example, which is now used by 150 MNOs worldwide.
He discussed the comparisons between conventional SIMs and eSIMs, the latter of which has witnessed significant growth in the market as a technology recognised by end users (both consumers and enterprises) for providing roaming and connectivity abroad with more ease and convenience, enabling switching between profiles.
AI and Edge computing were also discussed, for the potentially huge role they can play in helping MNOs define their network strategies, predominantly by sifting through the wealth of data they have at their disposal.
“Telcos are in a great position to utilise AI and machine learning to make sense of the vast customer data they hold,” explained Humphreys. “They can create better customer experiences from it … on the operational side, it can help to drive internal efficiencies, optimise network performances, and so on.”
Finally, Humphreys gave his key takeaways on how MNOs can strike the right balance between investing in innovation and ensuring they continue to operate profitably, something he said there was “no one size fits all”, noting agility and scalability – in the form of Cloud-based plug and play systems – are key, and that innovation will only go so far if it is not backed up by modern structures and processes.
To listen to Humphreys’ expertise on the challenges and opportunities MNOs can harness, listen to the full podcast episode, which is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and at the link below.
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