1、Transforming telecoms internal ecosystems How to rethink business support systems and operational support systems in the age of 5G 2 PwC Transforming telecoms internal ecosystems2 PwC Transforming telecoms internal ecosystems 03 Executive summary: Why agility will be key in a 5G world 04 Operator bu

2、siness models for 5G: The rise of B2B2X 05 Four B2B2X models 06 What this means for BSS/OSS: A simpler, more flexible architecture 07 Updating BSS and OSS for a 5G world 09 A three-stage evolutionary transformation 13 The imperative: Tackle BSS/OSS now to get ahead of the 5G game 14 Contacts Content

3、s 3 PwC Transforming telecoms internal ecosystems Executive summary Why agility will be key in a 5G world Telecom operators worldwide are beginning to roll out 5G networks. This new standard is around 100 times faster than 4G and has 1,000 times more bandwidth, offering an exponential improvement in

4、 functionality: far higher capacity and reliability, dramatically lower latency, reduced energy usage and mass connectivity for devices. Though the technological advantages of 5G are evident, the ways in which operators will generate an adequate return on their huge investments in the new networks a

5、re less clear. We believe that the winning solution lies in 5Gs ability to support entirely new service offerings, use cases, business models and revenue opportunities. Instead of relying mainly on end users paying for connectivity, operators in a 5G world will likely generate most of their revenues

6、 by charging the companies that are providing 5G-based services to customers. Its a model widely termed business-to-business-to-X (B2B2X) in which X can be a consumer, a business or a public agency. Monetising 5G will require operators to develop collaborative, multi-partner business models, support

7、ed by agile experimentation, to find sweet spots. The result will be a new landscape of business and monetisation models. However, for communications operators, it isnt just the external industry landscape that will change. To support and enable the forthcoming wave of innovative 5G-based services,

8、telecoms own business support systems (BSS) and operational support systems (OSS) will also need to undergo radical reinvention in order to become more flexible, agile and connected. Accompanied by a move away from usage- based billing to simpler charging models, this evolution will position operato

9、rs 5G networks to act as the foundation for an effectively infinite array of third-party services, many yet undreamt of. There are numerous drivers for this shift. The coronavirus crisis, for example, has triggered an increase in remote medicine, an area in which higher usage is likely to continue a

10、fter the crisisopening up the prospect of real-time connectivity between doctors and patients being included in the BSS provisioning process for 5G networks. Thats just one instance among many described in a recent joint publication from PwC and the World Economic Forum, The Impact of Mobile Technol

11、ogy on the Response to COVID-19. Post-pandemic, its clear that the whole work environment will change to leverage the experiences, technologies and processes that have been implemented during the crisis, with broader business and consumer opportunities for expansion. The common requirements for thes

12、e services will be high bandwidth, flexibility and simplicity in the underlying network, enabled by a redesigned BSS/OSS platform. We argue that the way to achieve all this is by combining software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualisation (NFV) to bring technology and business fu

13、nctions together in an integrated manner. In a 5G world, we think thats the future of BSS/OSSand therefore the future of the telecom operator. 3 PwC Transforming telecoms internal ecosystems 4 PwC Transforming telecoms internal ecosystems Operator business models for 5G: The rise of B2B2X In our rec

14、ent publication, Making 5G pay: Monetizing the impending revolution in communications infrastructure, we investigated the potential monetisation models for telecom operators 5G networks through a series of interviews with leading participants in the global 5G ecosystem. We conducted this research am

15、id a rising tide of investment in 5G by telecom companies around the world. In March 2020, GSMA Intelligence projected that mobile network operators will invest more than US$1.1tn in their networks over the next five years, with about 80% of that total going into 5G technology.1 Moving beyond sellin

16、g broadband to consumers The scale of the investment in 5G underlines telecom operators confidence that the networks will ultimately generate significant revenues and adequate commercial returns. But how will 5G do this? Traditionally, telecom revenues have come mainly from end users. But the consum

17、er pull that spurred the rollout of 4G mobile services is likely to be much weaker with 5G. There may be some segments, such as gaming, in which consumers will be willing to pay more for 5Gbut overall, it seems that consumer demand and the willingness to pay for 5G connectivity are still nascent. Th

18、e operators we interviewed said they were generally pursuing three main ways to obtain a return on their 5G investments: unlocking new revenue streams, reducing costs and improving the customer experience. On the revenue side, opinions were divided on precisely which monetisation models would domina

19、te in a 5G world. Yet there was a consensus that to achieve returns sufficient to justify their 5G investments, operators will need to look beyond selling broadband connectivity and target new types of use cases that are specifically enabled by 5Gs unprecedented capabilities. to selling a connectivi

20、ty platform to businesses This concept leads to a monetisation approach focused on selling 5G services to other businesseswhich then sell those services as part of their own customer offerings. For operators, this involves expanding away from the traditional business-to-business (B2B) and business-t

21、o-consumer (B2C) models by adding B2B2Xbusiness-to-business-to-third- party. Under B2B2X, which encompasses both B2B2B and B2B2C, operators collaborate and share the rewards with their B2B partners. B2B2X represents a significant break. Under the model commonly used for 4G services, the operator sel

22、ls voice and data connectivity directly to end users, who simultaneously contract separately with their chosen third partiessuch as over-the-top (OTT) network and content providersto access services over that connection. However, a new pattern is already evolving: some operators have started to part

23、ner with OTT service providers to bundle their service with connectivity. In the 5G world, operators will have far more opportunities to develop these types of collaborations with a variety of partners. 1 GSMA, The Mobile Economy, accessed in October 2020: https:/ Hill, Kelly, “GSMA: Network investm

24、ent will hit $1.1 trillion over the next five years, focused mostly on 5G,” RCR Wireless News, 16 March 2020: https:/ trillion-over-the-next-five-years-focused-mostly-on-5g. 5 PwC Transforming telecoms internal ecosystems Four B2B2X models We see four main B2B2X models operators can use to monetise

25、5Gs greater functionality. Connectivity provider: Operator-led B2B or B2C The telecom company extends the typical 4G pricing and bundling model by offering additional elements and innovation. This may involve adopting an airline-type approach, delivering a multi-tiered connectivity service to both B

26、2C and B2B customers based on the package of services selected by the customer. An operator implementing such a model might offer different speeds, service levels and pricing levels to match each customers needs and budget. Solution enabler: Third partyled B2B2X A third party such as a cloud provide

27、r or video streaming service incorporates 5G connectivity sourced from the operator as part of its own offering. The third party markets the bundled offering to its customers, paying the telecom company for the network usage and variable functionality via either a network charge or a share of revenu

28、e. The third party effectively buys a slice of the operators 5G network capacity for its own use, with the interface between them managed and enabled through application programming interfaces (APIs). Solution creator: Operator-led B2B2X An operator creates new digital propositions by bundling third

29、-party products and services with its core connectivity and markets the bundled solution directly to its own customers. Telecom companies might use this approach to create vertically integrated solutions that bundle access to their 5G networks with third-party offerings such as augmented reality (AR

30、) or virtual reality (VR) services and equipment. Under this model, a telecom company could offer its customers a data plan that comes complete with VR gaming, including content subscription and a headset, at no additional upfront cost. Ecosystem enabler: Collaborative B2B2X The fourth model is simi

31、lar to the solution enabler and solution creator models, but the operator creates an ecosystem of innovators to target changing customer needs and wants. Under this model, the operator works with third parties to identify and tailor experiential products and services that can be delivered to the mar

32、ketplace quickly. A customer-focused ecosystem model allows directed collaboration, not just with the operator but between third parties as well, and positions the operator as a key player in driving 5G innovation. For example, one ecosystem member may identify a high-potential use case, find a hard

33、ware maker to build a prototype and test it on the operators network. This model encourages the operator to participate more directly in the value creation process and the commercial innovation that goes with it. 6 PwC Transforming telecoms internal ecosystems The availability of widely varying busi

34、ness and monetisation models will enable operators to benefit from greater choice and differentiation in terms of their services and pricing, and allow them to spread value more evenly into different areas of the 5G ecosystem. Across all four B2B2X models, operators and their partners will tailor th

35、eir service offerings to capitalise on emerging technology trends such as the internet of things, artificial intelligence, drones, robotics, smart cities and Industry 4.0. Given the diversity of options for telecom companies, its clear that finding and establishing the right profitable B2B2X partner

36、ships and models will require experimentation, speed and a well-developed ability to collaborate in different ways with different partners. To meet these requirements, the traditional, workflow-drivenas opposed to event-driven BSS and OSS architectures still in place at most telecoms will need to un

37、dergo radical change. These legacy systems are complex, costly and siloed, requiring frequent manual handovers. As a result, making changes to the network to enable B2B2X services will entail cumbersome workflows across multiple systems and take an unnecessarily long timeseveral days to adapt existi

38、ng services, and months to bring new products to market. In that way, current BSS and OSS setups are fundamentally incapable of meeting the needs of both telecoms and their diverse collaborative partners in the 5G world. Put simply, the existing approach to these systems is running out of road. As w

39、e enter the 5G era, telecom companies need to create BSS and OSS architectures that are more flexible, agile and connected. This means putting in place a platform that will enable them to carry out a wider range of dynamic, real-time changes. The platform will equip telecoms to implement new billing

40、 and pricing models at a fast pace, allowing 5G-enabled B2B2X products to be brought to market in days rather than months. What this means for BSS/OSS: A simpler, more flexible architecture 7 PwC Transforming telecoms internal ecosystems How to gain this blend of speed and flexibility? In our view,

41、the solution lies in moving away from traditional BSS and OSS architectures and adopting an approach based on combining software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualisation (NFV). (See “New networking tools for the new era of 5G.”) New networking tools for the new era of 5G Software

42、-defined networking (SDN) combines the roles of gatekeeper, controller and traffic cop. It manages reports and information coming in from the network and BSS/OSS by decoupling the system that makes decisions about where traffic is sent (the control plane) from the underlying systems that forward tra

43、ffic to the selected destination (the data plane). This simplifies the management of the network and makes it more efficient and faster to configure. Network function virtualisation (NFV) is the component that actually executes programmed network functions. Its a network architecture that virtualise

44、s entire classes of network node functions into building blocks that may be connected or chainedto create communication services. An evolution from traditional server virtualisation, it introduces virtualised network functions that consist of one or more virtual machines running different software a

45、nd processes, instead of using custom hardware appliances for each network function. Updating BSS and OSS for a 5G world 8 PwC Transforming telecoms internal ecosystems In recent years, leading operators have made great strides in implementing virtualisation in their communications networks; transfo

46、rmation enabled by SDN and NFV has become a critical component of strategic technology agendas. But the benefits achieved to dateimproved automation, reduced costs, faster service request responses, and better security and reliability are only the start. As operators roll out their 5G networks, they

47、 have a great opportunity to combine SDN with NFV and expand these tools across the enterprise, from the IT and data centre network to the wider business, and throughout the entire service delivery/service assurance (SD/SA) stack. The impact of this change is profound and pervasive. The traditional

48、service delivery stack is linear, starting with sales and ending with the network providing the service. Collapsing network capabilities into the SDN/NFV controller layer means that key BSS/OSS ordering and provisioning functions no longer need to pass data up and down a linear stack. The SDN/NFV ba

49、ckbone replaces the old workflow with an event-driven architecture based on network-as-a-service capabilities and immediate activation of changes in the 5G network. It also supports a move away from traditional usage billing to simplified all-you-can-eat models. Agility at scale By taking this route

50、, a telecom firm can create a technology architecture that supports an agile, adaptable operating model at scaleone ideally suited to supporting the fast-paced and collaborative nature of a 5G-enabled B2B2X ecosystem. By bringing technology and business functions together in a shared, event-driven e