Industry needs collaboration and bold moves, say telco CEOs

Collaboration and partnerships are vital for telecom operators to thrive at a time when the industry is facing a “telco moment” that calls for big changes and bold moves. That was the message from the leaders of three innovative operators, Axiata, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and Jio Platforms, at TM Forum’s DTW24 – Ignite event.

The chief executives shared how their companies are embracing new business models and artificial intelligence (AI) to carve out a bigger role for themselves in the digital services market that goes beyond providing connectivity. At the same time, they also have room to grow by continuing to shrink the connectivity gap and enabling more people and businesses to use digital services in the countries where they operate, which include India, Indonesia, Malaysia and other southeast Asian countries.

Marketplace future requires broad partnerships

Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Group Executive Director and CEO of Telecommunications Business at Axiata, said there is another $1 trillion “up for grabs” for telcos in adjacent services. But capturing this opportunity will require telcos to “reimagine” and “rewire businesses radically, not incrementally.”

Referencing the “Kodak moment”, which was once the U.S. camera maker’s advertising tagline but came to signify how it was undone by digital disruption, Wijayasuriya said the telecom industry is facing a “telco moment.”

But unlike Kodak, he said “the telco moment, unfortunately, is not incisive, so we keep postponing this reimagination and change.”

His vision for future telco services is a marketplace model for providing “connectivity-embedded” end-to-end solutions across the “consumer internet” and the “industrial internet”, which is enabled by exposing application programming interfaces (APIs).

Axiata has moved towards this marketplace vision by opening APIs and engaging with internal and external developers. Today, the operator has 50,000 external developers working on its platforms and more than 1,000 internal developers engaged with the API platform, said Wijayasuriya. So far it has exposed 3,000 APIs internally and approximately 100 fully compliant APIs externally.

Beyond open APIs, Axiata’s strategy also requires partnerships with hyperscalers, application providers and other telcos, even competitors in the same market, which he acknowledged was not easy for many to accept.

“If the telco industry continues down the path of not recognising that peer telcos are allies in this ecosystem game and not the primary competition we need to address, then we may as well stay at the API level and forget about the $1 trillion [opportunity],” he said.

Ultimately, he envisions telcos creating not just local but global marketplaces through a federation of TM Forum APIs, CAMARA APIs as well as at the layers of solutions and microservices. But this will require collaboration among telcos rather than just competing on price for the same connectivity services.

“We need to put aside competition. The impact that we can create, both in terms of empowering communities and economies and also driving our own growth and getting a new future for telco, is regarding your competition as key stakeholders in your growth and not as those that you need to drive to the ground in a race-to-zero kind of approach,” he said.

Grow competence along with partnerships

Kiran Thomas, CEO of Jio Platforms, said it was important for telcos to develop their own expertise as well as create partner ecosystems, which can enable them to own more of the service value chains than just the connectivity element.

“The traditional models of partnering with strong partners in this era is important, but I think even more so, we have to build that core of competence in software, data and AI within our own backyards,” he said.

With its platform approach, Jio has augmented its traditional connectivity services with providing end-to-end solutions. As an example, Thomas pointed to the work it has done with Indian Premier League (IPL), which is a popular two-month cricket tournament every year.

Over the last two years, Jio Platforms has digitized the traditionally broadcast sports event and created a new set of experiences, he said. Jio provided connectivity to the stadiums, carried the video content to its broadcast centers and added value to it “in various ways”, such as adding commentary in different languages.

Jio’s mantra was “glass-to-glass”, which meant enabling a solution from the glass of the camera to the glass of the screen that’s in the hands of the user.

Jio’s mantra was “glass-to-glass”, which meant enabling a solution from the glass of the camera to the glass of the screen that’s in the hands of the user. The project involved putting content delivery networks in place, doing dynamic ad insertion and designing a new user app “with all kinds of bells and whistles and features.”

“We used technology from a number of partners. But the configuration of putting it together in such a way that the solution works, that's what we saw as our role. Of course, connectivity was something that we were doing ourselves as well,” said Thomas.

He said the solution had “rapid impact” after one year, pointing to more viewership and higher ad monetization compared to traditional broadcast methods.

“It all started with the mindset of saying, let’s take ownership of that glass-to-glass solution, and then work with anybody else to make that happen,” he said.

AI needs an open mindset and purpose

Vikram Sinha, President Director and CEO of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, outlined the operator’s strategy for embracing AI across its organization and explained how it is linked to its “larger purpose that is very close to our heart”.

“We believe that it will help us empower Indonesia. It will help Indonesia grow on GDP. It will help Indonesia [reach sooner] the Golden Vision of 2045 [to be] a developed nation,” he said.

Indosat’s AI strategy comprises three pillars: embedding the technology into its core business, setting up new lines of AI business and developing capabilities for the country, such as through its National Center of Excellence and developing talent.

Becoming an “AI-native telco” requires an open mind and confidence to move into new territory, he said.

When he first discussed with shareholders about partnering with NVIDIA, he recounted that he had “very little understanding of what I’m doing”. Sometimes you have to make “bold moves” and when you do, “the most important thing is an open and learning mindset,” he said.

However, he stressed that “there's a thin line between being bold and crazy. You don't have to be crazy, but it is important to be bold.”

Sinha agreed with his fellow panelists on the importance of collaboration and partnership in this industry, so long as the relationships and models are beneficial for everyone.

“When we talk about collaboration, it has to be good for the country, it has to be fair for the local partners on ground. Nobody can eat the full cake. That change of [mindset] has to happen both ways. And the time has come that we link our actions to the larger purpose, we sit together and work on the design principle, and then the journey will be much more fun,” he said.