Latency-as-a-service transforms telecom network operations to meet modern demands

Commercial context: rising expectations in a latency-driven world

Rising network complexity and increasing consumer demands are pushing CSPs to adopt transformative strategies - but they face persistent challenges from escalating costs, intense competition, and the constant threat of service disruptions. These challenges demand solutions that go beyond incremental improvements and provide fundamental efficiency enhancements.

As the need for wholesale change becomes more pressing, the industry will find valuable new avenues through the Accelerated service-centric autonomous network operations Catalyst. This initiative blends automation with a service-oriented operational model, aligning with TM Forum’s R.I.S.E. objectives (revenue, innovation, satisfaction, and experience). The project is designed to provide CSPs with a modernized approach to network management, focusing on agility, customer-centricity, and operational integration.

ASCANO helps CSPs provide ‘latency-as-a-service’

ASCANO’s framework incorporates advanced technologies, underpinned by TM Forum assets, to enable autonomous, AI-driven network operations. Its goal is to empower CSPs to accelerate digital transformation, ensuring networks are resilient, efficient, and customer-focused. Central to ASCANO’s design is its ability to tackle critical business objectives across revenue generation, technological innovation, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency. As a result, CSPs, will be providers of ‘latency-as-a-service’: latency-optimized network performance as a monetizable service. This product is designed to ensure network performance meets specific service level agreements (SLAs), turning high-quality connectivity into a premium, revenue-generating product tailored for enterprise clients.

The ASCANO solution uses AI and digital twins to predict and resolve network issues, streamlining traditional processes and reducing response times. TM Forum’s standards provide the foundation for ASCANO’s architecture, ensuring smoot integration with existing telecom infrastructure.

AI and Generative AI (GenAI) are used across a range of operations to identify, analyze, and resolve network anomalies in real time. The ‘Monitor and Handle Anomaly Event,’ underpinned by the IG1291 framework, automates the prioritization of trouble tickets based on their impact on customer experience, ensuring that service disruptions are addressed with minimal delay. Digital twin networks provide multi-layer visualizations of network performance, supporting rapid fault diagnosis, predictive maintenance, and simulation-based decision-making.

Modular microservices, designed using TM Forum’s Open Digital Architecture (ODA), enable flexible and scalable solutions for both operations support systems and business support systems. These systems collaborate with autonomous infrastructure, ensuring closed-loop automation that streamlines service restoration and incident correlation across network domains.

The unification of network operations and service operations centers is a critical component of ASCANO’s framework. This collaboration eliminates traditional siloes, enabling more efficient workflows and reducing manual intervention. By integrating processes, platforms, and people, ASCANO creates a single operational environment where service-centric metrics are monitored and optimized using TM Forum’s IG1293 Value Operation Framework.

The solution’s AI-native approach drives significant technological innovation. For instance, ASCANO uses expected demand not served (EDNS) analysis to predict and mitigate service impact, while its GenAI-powered co-pilot assists in complex troubleshooting and customer engagement. This combination enables CSPs to reduce operational costs, improve service availability, and provide proactive customer care.

Wider application and the value of latency-as-a-service

ASCANO has demonstrated measurable performance improvements in key areas. In Bahrain, it reduced mean time to repair for VIP services by 60% and improved VIP satisfaction scores by over 50%. In Turkey, it helped safeguard €336,000 annually by minimizing traffic loss and reducing customer churn. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, it drove a 73% improvement in service restoration times, underscoring its value in highly dynamic network environments.

Application in Turkey clearly demonstrated the viability of latency-as-a-service, allowing CSPs to monetize network performance guarantees. By providing premium services tailored to business clients, ASCANO opens avenues for CSPs to diversify their revenue streams and build stronger relationships with enterprise customers.

ASCANO’s triumph across markets demonstrates its ability to fundamentally modernize telecom operations. Given that scalability is so key to its design, the solution builds a vital bridge between operational precision and business growth, equipping CSPs to thrive in an era of hyper-connectivity.