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Article | 5G, Cloud native

The big debate: Intelligent operations for a 5G world

How do you build intelligent operations for a 5G World? What’s the priority, which industries are going to benefit first, and what’s the timeframe? These are important questions across all industries – now more than ever – as 5G deployment begins in earnest.

Arti Mehta
14 May 2019
The big debate: Intelligent operations for a 5G world

The big debate: Intelligent operations for a 5G world

How do you build intelligent operations for a 5G World? What’s the priority, which industries are going to benefit first, and what’s the timeframe? These are important questions across all industries – now more than ever – as 5G deployment begins in earnest.

The big debate



At Digital Transformation World in Nice, France, this week, the keynote sessions included a lively debate between technology leaders from communication service providers (CSPs) that, together, serve more than a billion customers worldwide, and five industry vertical technology leaders who have a lot to gain from new 5G capabilities. Participants were:

  • Elisabetta Romano - CTIO, TIM

  • Peter Leukert - Global CIO, Deutsche Telekom

  • Nik Willetts - Chief Executive Officer, TM Forum

  • Edward Tian - Chairman, China Broadband Capital Partners LP

  • Ruza Sabanovic – Exectuive VP and Head of Technologies & Services, Telenor

  • Nikos Katinakis - Head of Networks & IT, Telstra

  • Mark Newman - Chief Analyst, TM Forum

  • Jamie Hindhaugh - COO, BT Sport

  • Martin Brynskov - Chairman, Open & Agile Smart Cities

  • Paul Spence - Chief Technologist, McLaren Applied Technologies

  • Vesa Jutila - Co-founder & CCO, Hatch


In this, the first part of a two-part series, we’ll look at what the technology leaders want from telcos.

Game on


Jutila, Co-founder & CCO of streaming company Hatch, was up first, representing the gaming industry – the biggest and fastest-growing sector of the entertainment industry, worth billions and with the potential of amplifying even further using 5G.

“When you stream music or movies, you can always buffer them before you start, but gaming is the sole interactive, real-time experience. That’s why having a reliable, high-quality, low-latency connectivity is essential for delivering a good gaming experience for streaming technology.”

Hatch’s strategy is to work with mobile operators and OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), but what does it expect from them?

  • Hatch doesn’t own any servers or operate and data centers; it uses/needs cloud service providers to host its streaming service

  • It needs network operators to optimize network connectivity to ensure continuous good quality connections the company’s servers and end users.

  • Mobile operators should take a much more active role in optimizing network traffic, and also in giving companies like Hatch access to network health indicators so they can optimize and adapt services to sudden changes in the network environment

  • “Mobile edge computing is something we still feel is finding its form, but it can be a massive improvement in terms of what operators can offer for a great gaming streaming experience.”

  • A new mindset, and faster decision making: “The time to act is now; we’re already delivering this service around the world.”


The revolution will need to be televised, please


BT Sport’s Hindhaugh spoke for televised sports, another live entertainment area that needs 5G for better broadcasting. He highlighted two key elements BT Sport needs:

Creative opportunity – to cover a football game you need 24 to 27 cameras all plugged into a truck into “a big dirty truck parked in the car park, and they’re all tethered.” When these cameras are untethered through 5G, a broadcaster can take any of the cameras anywhere – travel on the team bus, go into the dressing rooms – and then the same camera can cover the actual game itself. Also, signal problems make it hard to talk to people at the event. Being able to talk to and poll people in the stadium and use the results as part of the broadcast offers endless possibilities in terms of personalization and engagement.

Network slicing – Instead of satellite networks, companies such as BT Sport can use mobile networks for outside broadcasts, no longer needing any great on-site technical presence for its live coverage. For processing and transmitting the live signal, instead of using outside broadcasting facilities and satellite trucks, the signal can be sent straight to the main broadcast hub from the cameras. They would no longer need full production teams on site; core staff can be based at the main production center, and one team could in theory, manage several events in a day.

Speeding ahead


5G will be crucial to the future of autonomous vehicles, which will need effective communications to maximize safety. McLaren Applied Technologies manufactures parts for every Formula 1 auto-racing team and for other sports. Spence, the company’s Chief Technologist, explained:

“If you’re relying on B2X technology to know whether you can drive safely round the corner, human nature is such that you will rely on the warnings [you get from technology]. If they fail 10,000 times [as with 4G], that’s not good. It’s going to help our safety if we get it right, and it’s really difficult to get it right in the real world as opposed to just a simulation.”

This kind of vehicle technology needs to work reliably, with high speed, high bandwidth and a hyper-dense network.

Acting smart


Brynskov is Chairman of Open & Agile Smart Cities (OASC), which encompasses more than 100 cities in 24 countries. He says:

“Who owns the data? There are already hard principles that are turning into directives. Cities are now saying ‘we own the data, we the people’. Forget about handsets; think about how you will even operate in this space. That’s going to be your biggest challenge. You want data for cars to operate but one company owns it.

“If you want to move towards a market, we need to have common ground… We heard about the Open Digital Framework, which is why we’re working with TM Forum, because we like the idea of an agreement, something simple that works everywhere on the planet, across all sector. Then we can virtualize, and we can compete on top of that.”

In part two of the series, we’ll look at the healthy debate the enterprise executives and the CSPs had during the session. Stay tuned!

Watch the session highlights below: