DTW Ignite: Telefónica shares Level 4 AN progress

Telefónica Chief Technology and Information Officer Andrea Folgueiras shared recent milestones in Level 4 network automation and outlined a vision for intent-based networking, speaking during the opening keynotes at DTW25 – Ignite today.

The operator is among the first to participate in TM Forum’s Autonomous Network Level Evaluations Tool (ANLET) and support the new Autonomous Network Level Assessment Validation (ANLAV) service launched this week. To date it has two Autonomous Network Level 4 use cases in Brazil and Germany as part of its Autonomous Network Journey program.

In Brazil, Telefónica Vivo’s Fractal use case for 5G transport network creation and planning has achieved efficiency gains of up to 90% in route convergence and a 60% reduction in budget approval time.

Folgueiras said Fractal enables the operator to be more efficient, reduce errors and use resources better. But the most important benefit is that it “allows us to grow faster,” she said.

“If we implement our 5G coverage and capacity in a faster way, we are going to grow much faster. And this is all about monetization in the end,” she said.

In Germany, Telefónica O2’s NetOptimizer digital twin has also achieved Level 4. It simulates 5G transport network configurations, improves network availability and can predict capacity issues.

“There are efficiencies, but again, the most important thing is that we are closer to improving the individual customer experience,” she said.

However, she observed that there is much work for the industry to do to expand AN Level 4 beyond a few use cases. “Going from have some use case in Level 4 to being Level 4 is a big step change,” she said.

Here, she said the TM Forum’s work on Autonomous Network evaluation tools and providing opportunities for collaboration are helpful, as operators can learn from each other.

Looking further ahead, Folgueiras echoed and expanded on a comment made in an earlier DTW25 keynote by Ulf Ewaldsson, President of Technology at T-Mobile, about intent-based networking. That is, by 2030, networks won’t be waiting for a prompt, they will be taking action.

“We have to make sure that what we do from now to 2030 is leverage AI, which takes us to networks that take action. But they take action according to the rules that we define with security and personalization,” she said.

Big steps for Network APIs, but monetization not there yet

Telefónica has been an early backer of GSMA’s Open Gateway network API initiative and  will be the first telco to certify Operate APIs through a new verification program launched in partnership by TM Forum and GSMA, which is aimed at simplifying network API deployments.

Folgueiras said that while a lot of work has been done to develop network APIs, the industry is in an early stage and “the monetization is not there”.

However, she remained optimistic about the opportunity and acknowledged it was a “big step” to enable the exposure of network capabilities to third parties in a standardized way. “That is going to allow us to develop new services and bring growth at some point,” she said.

The new certification process will ensure that both TM Forum Operate APIs and CAMARA Service APIs conform with GSMA Open Gateway standards.

“Having this certification in place and [being certified] means that our APIs meet the interoperability standard… if you interoperate, you can create new business models,” she said.