Leading telcos co-found TM Forum Innovation Hub with Google Cloud and Accenture

Accenture, Deutsche Telekom, Google Cloud, Orange, Reliance Jio, Telenor and Vodafone have co-founded TM Forum’s first pilot Innovation hub, where they will pool resources and expertise to address the industry’s top challenges, such as how telcos can make use of GenAI.

Reliance Jio will provide the facilities for the Innovation Hub pilot, but the plan is to create a global network of Innovation Hubs, according to Nik Willetts, CEO, TM Forum.

“Our goal is to pool world-class, dedicated resources that are beyond the reach of most individual telecoms companies and free from the normal constraints of large corporate environments,” noted Willetts. “The hubs will enable teams to work on agreed, collective, mission-critical problems that hinder our industry’s growth. They will overcome the existing limitations of member collaboration in ‘volunteer’ resources or short-life innovation projects, enabling us to drive outputs faster.”

The hubs will build on the Forum’s Catalyst program by providing dedicated resources to deliver working code and concepts proven in operational or shadow-operational environments. Participating companies will contribute expertise and resources to the hubs, including seconded experts, physical space, technology capabilities and professional services.

The pilot phase is now underway. Due to conclude in March 2024 it is focusing on:

• The potential of generative AI and Large Language Models for telcos.
• Open Digital Architecture (ODA) adoption by establishing a set of migration patterns and a library of adapters, APIs and other assets to simplify and de-risk migrations.
• ODA Accelerator – showcase ODA Components being deployed and running on multiple hyperscaler instances of the ODA Canvas.

Founding participants are encouraged by the possibilities of the TM Forum Innovation Hubs.

Mr Akash Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Jio Infocomm: "The TM Forum Innovation Hub is not merely a collaborative space; it's a catalyst designed to address the telecom industry's critical challenges. By bringing together the best minds from telcos and the technology ecosystem, this initiative is strategically positioned to accelerate innovation across the digital ecosystem. Reliance Jio is committed to this transformative journey, and we're honored to offer our Mumbai campus as the first physical home for this ground-breaking initiative. Together, we are confident of creating real-world solutions that will significantly impact our industry."

Kathleen O’Reilly, Accenture’s Communications, Media and Technology Industry Practices Chair: “The exponential change stemming from converging technology trends like generative AI, cloud and data transparency gives communications companies an opportunity for meaningful growth beyond connectivity. Our goal with this Innovation Hub collaboration is to help the communications industry explore the technology, data and talent needed to continuously drive innovation and solve problems with new solutions at pace.”

Peter Leukert, CIO, Deutsche Telekom: "Trust-based collaboration, cutting-edge technologies, life-boosting products, and the best people are the anchors of our self-definition, describing how we do what we do at Deutsche Telekom IT. Therefore, we are not only aligned with but deeply committed to the mission of the Innovation Hub program. With the help of our world-class experts in conjunction with leading talents from the industry, we anticipate great achievements, especially in the fields of Generative AI and Large Language Models. This will drive transformative change within our industry, creating value for all in telecommunications and beyond."

Ankur Jain, Vice President, Google Distributed Cloud and Telecom, Google Cloud: “We share TM Forum’s commitment to fostering a collaborative ecosystem to accelerate innovation within the telecommunications industry. We developed a Google Cloud instance of the ODA canvas and are exploring the exciting industry-wide potential for generative AI. We look forward to working with our partners and customers in the Innovation Hub to unlock new growth and transformation opportunities, leveraging Google Cloud’s leadership in data, AI and cloud-native networks and technology.”

Koen Vermeulen, Group CIO, Orange: “We welcome the TM Forum's initiative to launch a pilot Innovation Hub program aimed strategically at the global telecoms industry. Orange is proud to be one of the industry's Leaders and to contribute to this pilot, based on the TM Forum's Catalyst program, to which we have already been contributing for several years. ODA is a critical foundation for Orange to bring faster innovative products to the market and more efficiently.”

Amol Phadke, EVP and Group CTO, Telenor: “The TM Forum is providing an incredible platform for our industry to collaborate and innovate. With the Innovation Hub, we’ll be able to address key industry questions and develop standards to help answer big questions – like the use of AI and cloud for improving customer experience and business operations. In addition, the hub will enable us to explore new services in B2C, B2B and B2B2X, unlocking real value for our customers.”

Scott Petty, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone Group: “Vodafone is an active contributor to the TM Forum’s collaboration programmes. Over time, these have continuously improved, from establishing high-level frameworks to co-creating tangible assets like open API and cloud-native architecture specifications. The Innovation Hub takes this collaboration to the next level. It brings together key stakeholders to develop new technologies that will ensure a sustainable future for both our industry and the billions of people we connect worldwide.”