Unstructured Meets Structured: Embrace Customer Service Automation with FifthElement.ai

Unstructured Meets Structured: Embrace Customer Service Automation with FifthElement.ai

Unstructured Meets Structured: Embrace Customer Service Automation with FifthElement.ai

 

 

May 21, 2024

The Rise of Generative AI in Customer Service Automation 

In recent years, generative AI has revolutionized the chatbot industry, enabling more natural and human-like conversations between customers and AI-powered platforms. However, while many chatbots implementations now harness the power of generative AI, effective customer service automation still remains challenging, as organizations fail to seamlessly handle unstructured conversations and structured workflows within a single interaction.

Explore FifthElement.ai, a pioneering AI-powered platform with its groundbreaking “Combining Structured and Unstructured Workflow” approach. This innovative technology sets a new standard for customer service automation, enabling businesses to deliver exceptional support experiences while streamlining operations.

The Challenge of Unstructured Conversations in Customer Service

Customer service interactions often involve a complex mix of open-ended dialog and guided task completion. Customers may require assistance with a wide range of issues, from simple inquiries to intricate troubleshooting, and each interaction may follow a unique path. Most chatbots need help to handle this complexity, as they are often limited to either free-form conversation or rigid, predefined workflows.

FifthElement.ai’s “Combining Structured and Unstructured Workflow” approach addresses this challenge head-on. By seamlessly integrating unstructured conversations with structured workflows, the AI-powered platform can adapt to the unique needs of each customer interaction, providing a natural and intuitive user experience while ensuring consistency and compliance with business rules.

Seamless Transitions for End-to-End Automation

With FifthElement.ai, businesses can achieve true end-to-end automation of customer service tasks. The platform’s AI can engage in open-ended troubleshooting dialog, guiding customers through identifying and resolving issues. When necessary, the AI can seamlessly transition into a structured workflow to collect required information, such as for an add-on purchase or ticket creation.

According to a survey, 40%1 of organizations will increase their investment in AI overall because of advances in gen AI. This fusion of unstructured and structured interaction allows FifthElement.ai to handle complex tasks easily. For example, when a customer expresses interest in purchasing an add-on service, the AI can smoothly shift from a conversational mode to a structured sequence of steps, gathering necessary details, processing the payment, and generating a purchase confirmation, all within the same interaction.

Enhancing Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction Using Generative AI

As generative AI continues to transform the chatbot landscape, businesses must seek solutions that can effectively leverage this technology while addressing the unique challenges of customer service automation. FifthElement.ai’s “Combining Structured and Unstructured Workflow” approach positions it at the forefront of this new era.

Market research from various sources indicates that generative AI is expected to result in a 20-30%2 decrease in customer service and support agents. By automating customer service tasks with FifthElement.ai, businesses can significantly reduce response times, improve accuracy, and boost overall customer satisfaction. The AI-powered platform can handle a high volume of inquiries 24/7, ensuring that customers receive prompt and efficient support anytime, day or night, while maintaining a natural, human-like conversation throughout the interaction.

The Future of Customer Service Automation: FifthElement.ai Leads the Way

As businesses increasingly prioritize customer experience and operational efficiency, the demand for advanced AI-powered solutions like FifthElement.ai will continue to grow. With its unique “Combining Structured and Unstructured Workflow” approach, FifthElement.ai is well-positioned to lead the industry in customer service automation, setting a new standard for what is possible with generative AI.

In a survey, 80%3 of CDOs (Chief Development Officers) believe that by transforming their organizations through Gen AI, businesses can unlock new levels of efficiency, scalability, and customer satisfaction, ultimately changing how they interact with and support their customers. The future of customer service is here, and FifthElement.ai is at the vanguard of this exciting new era.

FifthElement.ai revolutionizes customer service automation using generative AI. By optimizing operations, businesses can cut costs and provide outstanding support experiences. Download the FifthElement.ai product brief or get in touch with us at FifthElementAI@alepo.com to gain further insights. Our committed team is ready to offer expert guidance and support at every stage of this transformative journey.

 Rajesh Mhapankar

Rajesh Mhapankar

Vice President, Product Management

A seasoned professional, technologist, innovator, and telecom expert. With over 20 years of experience in the software industry, Rajesh brings a strong track record of accelerating product innovations and development at Alepo. He supports the company’s mission-critical BSS/OSS projects in LTE, WiFi, and broadband networks, including core policy, charging, and control elements.

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Top Telecommunications Industry Trends to watch In 2024

Top Telecommunications Industry Trends to watch In 2024

The Telecom Industry in 2024: Key Trends to Watch

 

 

December 20, 2023

Top Telecommunications Industry Trends In 2024

The telecommunications industry is undergoing rapid transformation as new technologies emerge and consumer demands evolve. This blog post delves into the top trends that will shape the telecom sector in 2024.

1. 5G Becomes Mainstream

5G networks are starting to roll out around the world, providing ultra-fast speeds, high bandwidth, and low latency connectivity. While the rollout has been gradual, by 2024, 5G is expected to become widely adopted globally. It will enable innovations like autonomous vehicles, virtual reality, smart cities, and more. Telecom providers will need to invest heavily in 5G infrastructure to remain competitive.

2. Rise of IoT and Smart Devices

The Internet of Things (IoT) will continue to drive massive growth in connected devices, from smart watches to home appliances to industrial sensors. There will be over 17.8 billion IoT devices worldwide by 20241, according to estimates from Statista. Telecom companies will focus on building IoT platforms and connectivity to support massive device growth. 5G will provide the fast, stable connections these devices need.

3. Increasing Adoption of Generative AI and Automation

Artificial intelligence and automation will transform many aspects of telecoms, from network management to customer support. Machine learning AI can automate network monitoring and optimization, enabling telecoms to take a proactive approach rather than reacting to network events. Generative AI technology will increasingly be adopted to improve customer experiences. Behind the scenes, AI will boost efficiency and productivity in workplaces and enable operators to adopt customer-centric service models for better interactions and engagement.

4. Growing Importance of Cybersecurity

As networks and devices become more interconnected, cyber threats will rise significantly. Telecommunications companies will need to bolster their cybersecurity to protect critical infrastructure and customer data. Expect to see telecoms partner with cybersecurity firms and leverage AI for better threat detection and response. Network security will become a priority.

5. Momentum Shift to Cloud-Based Services

Telecommunications companies will continue to shift infrastructure and services to the cloud, reducing reliance on proprietary hardware. Network Function Virtualization (NFV) allows network functions like routing to be delivered via software. By 20242, most telecom providers will adopt cloud-based 5G core networks and other cloud services. This allows for more flexibility and speed of innovation.

6. Edge Computing

Edge computing will continue to build momentum, processing data closer to the source, reducing latency, and enhancing response times. This is particularly important for applications like autonomous vehicles, remote healthcare, and augmented reality.

7. Sustainable Practices and Green Telecom

Sustainability is a key focus in 2024. Telecommunications companies will continue accelerating the adoption of green practices, such as using renewable energy sources and optimizing energy consumption in data centers. This shift not only reduces environmental impact but also resonates with eco-conscious consumers.

8. Expanding Beyond Connectivity

Telecommunications operators will continue to leverage their extensive network infrastructure and expand their service offerings by venturing into sectors such as telehealth, smart cities solutions, home automation, EduTech, FinTech, cloud services, media and entertainment, supply chain management, agricultural technology, environmental monitoring, virtual and augmented reality, and cybersecurity. This will also require increased capacity by way of data center buildouts and AI infrastructure. We will also likely see more M&A activity by telecommunications operators in these areas.

Conclusion

The telecom industry landscape in 2024 will be shaped by these key trends. Companies that can harness emerging technologies like 5G, Generative AI, and cloud-based services will gain a competitive advantage. However, they’ll need to balance innovation with building resilient networks, protecting customer data, and maintaining profitability. Exciting transformational shifts lie ahead. Reach out to our AI experts at FifthElementAI@alepo.com to learn how you can accelerate AI adoption for your organization!
Rajesh Mhapankar

Rajesh Mhapankar

Vice President, Product Management

A seasoned professional, technologist, innovator, and telecom expert. With over 20 years of experience in the software industry, Rajesh brings a strong track record of accelerating product innovations and development at Alepo. He supports the company’s mission-critical BSS/OSS projects in LTE, WiFi and broadband networks, including core policy, charging, and control elements.

Subscribe to the Alepo Newsletter

Role of a Dedicated PCRF in VoLTE and Its Significance in 5G VoNR

Role of a Dedicated PCRF in VoLTE and Its Significance in 5G VoNR

Role of a Dedicated PCRF in VoLTE and Its Significance in 5G VoNR

  June 6, 2023

Preparing voice services for 5G

As operators transition from 4G LTE services to 5G, they must ensure their voice services are prepared for the change. The emergence of new technologies and standards with 5G networks necessitates updating voice services to meet the next-generation communication requirements.

Voice services traditionally relied on circuit-switched (CS) networks or CS fallback. Although these methods have worked in the past, next-gen 5G networks don’t support them. This incompatibility arises due to the fundamental differences in architecture and underlying technologies between 4G and 5G. Therefore, operators must migrate their voice services to Voice over LTE (VoLTE) or Voice over New Radio (VoNR) before offering 5G services.

To support VoLTE or VoNR seamlessly, the adoption of dedicated Policy and Charging Rules Functions (PCRF) for data and voice services is essential. By leveraging a dedicated specifically-designed PCRF solution for VoLTE, operators can efficiently manage and control various aspects of voice services in a reliable network environment. With VoLTE PCRF, operators can enforce policy and charging rules for voice traffic, ensuring network resource prioritization and efficient utilization.

Benefits of VoLTE

VoLTE allows voice calls over a 4G LTE network while using the same IP-based network as data traffic. VoLTE offers numerous advantages over traditional circuit-switched voice services, including improved call quality, faster call setup times, and the ability to make simultaneous voice and data connections.

One of the major benefits of VoLTE includes its significant call quality. The narrowband voice channel limits traditional circuit-switched voice calls, reducing the audio quality. In contrast, VoLTE leverages the wider bandwidth available on 4G LTE networks, allowing for high-definition voice calls with crystal-clear audio.

Moreover, VoLTE enables the simultaneous use of voice and data services and eliminates call disruptions by utilizing the IP-based network, allowing the users to browse the internet, stream content, or use other data services while on a voice call.

Designed for 5G networks, Voice over New Radio (VoNR) is similar to VoLTE, which enables voice and data services. There is, however, a significant difference between VoNR and VoLTE. VoNR does not support the continuation of voice calls when switching between 5G and older 3G networks. To fully utilize 5G services, integration with an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is necessary.

Essential components of VoLTE and the role of a dedicated PCRF

To transition to VoLTE, operators must deploy an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network that provides the necessary VoLTE infrastructure. The IMS network consists of several components, including a Call Session Control Function (CSCF), an IMS Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Online Charging System (OCS), and a PCRF.

The CSCF is responsible for call control and routing within the IMS network. It handles the signaling required for establishing and maintaining voice calls, ensuring that voice traffic is appropriately managed and directed. The HSS, on the other hand, serves as a central database that stores subscriber information such as user profiles, authentication data, and service entitlements. This information is crucial for the proper functioning of VoLTE services.

The OCS is a critical component of the IMS network. It handles real-time credit control and charging for voice and data services, ensuring accurate user billing.

The PCRF is critical in enforcing quality of service (QoS) policies and network resource allocation. A dedicated PCRF for VoLTE ensures that the appropriate QoS parameters are applied to voice traffic, prioritizing voice calls and guaranteeing high-quality voice services.

Importance of a dedicated voice network

The rise of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and voice and data network convergence raises the demand for dedicated voice networks. Operators now often use packet-switched networks that carry both voice and data traffic but prioritizing and optimizing voice transmission separately to ensure quality and reliability becomes challenging. Additionally, as listed below, several other reasons reinforce why operators should maintain a dedicated VoLTE network:

  • It optimizes the quality of both VoLTE and data traffic and allows for granular control over these types of traffic, ensuring that network resources are utilized efficiently.
  • It simplifies troubleshooting or issue resolution, allowing easy identification of the problems when voice and data traffic are separated.
  • It increases flexibility and scalability to accommodate user demands and future growth, enabling network infrastructure to adapt to changing requirements without affecting voice services.
  • It ensures the reliability and availability of voice networks and prevents service disruptions during peak data usage periods, allowing users to continue to rely on uninterrupted voice communication.
  • It treats the voice network independently and allows efficient handling of service requests, upgrades, congestion, and outages, ensuring optimal performance and minimal impact on data services.
  • It optimizes overall network bandwidth, allowing for specific allocation and optimization techniques tailored to voice and data traffic and maximizing efficiency.
  • It reduces costs by leveraging specialized vendors for cost-effective voice services, allowing operators to utilize their expertise and achieve cost savings without compromising quality.
  • It enhances security by isolating voice traffic from data traffic and helps protect voice communication, minimizing the potential impact of data-related security breaches or vulnerabilities.

Importance of dedicated PCRFs for voice and data

While the trend is towards convergence and integration of voice and data services in more unified networks, having a dedicated PCRF for voice and data offers operators greater control, flexibility, and the ability to tailor services to meet specific requirements and optimize the customer experience. A dedicated PCRF for voice and data enables operators to effectively manage, control, and monetize their network resources while delivering high-quality services and meeting customer expectations. Here are some key reasons why operators should deploy a dedicated PCRF for voice and data services:

  • To ensure uninterrupted service continuity for voice and data, regardless of congestion, through fault isolation and redundancy.
  • To facilitate voice network upgrades without disruptions to other service networks like data, minimizing customer impact.
  • To allocate network resources efficiently and prevent congestion’s impact on voice and data services, preserving voice service quality during peak data usage.
  • To independently scale voice and data services based on demand, optimizing resource allocation and network expansion cost-effectively.
  • To streamline management and troubleshooting processes, empowering operators by targeted traffic monitoring, problem identification, and resolution capabilities offered by separate PCRFs.
  • To implement service-specific QoS parameters such as low latency and minimal jitter for seamless voice calling and low latency with sufficient bandwidth for optimal data usage experience.

Enhance Voice Services with Alepo PCF + PCRF

Technology partners play a significant role in accelerating VoLTE deployment and 5G migration. Telecom product companies like Alepo, offering PCRF and PCF (Policy Control Function) solutions, assist operators in rapidly rolling out VoLTE and 5G voice services. These solutions offer a range of features to optimize voice service delivery and provide a seamless user experience.

With Alepo PCF + PCRF, operators can:

Implement QoS management

With Alepo PCRF for 5G standalone deployments and Alepo PCRF for VoLTE services, operators may specify and enforce particular QoS criteria like low latency and minimal packet loss. These technologies ensure that voice calls maintain the desired level of performance and reliability.

Customize policies for voice services

Alepo’s PCRF and PCF solutions allow operators to define and customize policies, including QoS prioritization, bandwidth allocation, and ‘push to X’ features (talk, video, chat). These solutions also allow the prioritization of multimedia services for uninterrupted emergency communications. Operators can fine-tune voice service behavior to effectively meet both network requirements and subscriber preferences.

In short, by utilizing Alepo PCF + PCRF, operators can optimize voice service performance, effectively manage network resources, and deliver a superior voice calling experience to their subscribers in LTE and 5G networks.

Conclusion

The transition of voice services to VoLTE is critical for operators planning to upgrade to 5G networks. By adopting a dedicated PCRF for voice and data services, operators can enforce QoS policies, optimize network resources, and ensure a seamless voice-calling experience. VoLTE offers significant advantages over traditional circuit-switched voice services, including improved call quality and simultaneous voice and data connections. Deploying the necessary infrastructure and partnering with technology providers like Alepo enables operators to future-proof their networks for the 5G era and deliver cutting-edge communication services. Embracing VoLTE and a dedicated PCRF empowers operators to thrive in the evolving telecommunications landscape, unlock the potential of 5G, and provide superior service experiences to subscribers.

Would you like to explore further details about VoLTE PCRF and witness its impact on accelerating network performance, service monetization, and network reliability? Email market.development@alepo.com and our team of experts will contact you to address all your queries and show you a quick demo. 

Prathamesh Malushte

Prathamesh Malushte

Principal Solution Architect

Prathamesh is a PDM and solution integration specialist with expertise in 5G core network functions and protocols. He specializes in creating user stories, call flows, and designs for 5GC as well as legacy networks, as well as in handling OSS/BSS intricacies. After hours, he loves sports, enjoys trekking, and is passionate about playing different musical instruments.

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Four pillars of a successful digital transformation in telecom

Four pillars of a successful digital transformation in telecom

Four pillars of a successful digital transformation in telecom

  March 09, 2023

What are the important aspects of digital transformation

With fast-paced technological advancements and changing customer preferences, telecom service providers worldwide have acknowledged the importance of digital transformation on their roadmaps. To be successful and stay competitive in the market, operators need to embrace digital excellence in four critical aspects, i.e. customer experience (CX), business, operations, and processes.

By embracing digital excellence and next-generation techniques like automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML), operators can revolutionize how businesses run and achieve their ultimate business goals of efficiency, customer value, innovation, and revenue.

When implemented correctly, digital transformation benefits both operators and their customers. These are some examples:

  • Streamlined operations using process automation
  • Swift service innovation to meet evolving customer demands and differentiate from competitors
  • Lower operational costs and overheads
  • Reduced time to market for new services
  • Digital-first customer experience (CX)
  • New revenue streams and full monetization of digital services
  • Increased sales conversions and simplified onboarding
  • Readiness for the next-gen networks

How can operators ensure a successful digital transformation?

A successful digital transformation means operators need to ensure reinvention across the full gamut of network functionalities. These can be broadly classified into four categories: CX excellence, operational excellence, process excellence, and business excellence.

I. CX excellence

Launch and monetize digital services

Operators need to remember that CX is everything. Customers today have increasingly digital lifestyles. Shopping, staying in touch with friends and family, working with remote teams, studying, managing finances: people do pretty much everything online. They expect their service providers to keep up and make this easy for them. Plus, 5G opens endless possibilities of CX-focused use cases, all of which require modern and robust network infrastructure. A modern and advanced digital BSS lets operators fully monetize unique and differentiated innovative next-gen services such as smart homes, buildings, cities; autonomous vehicles; entertainment and media experiences such as AR/VR; and much more.

Improve customer relationship management

Digitizing CX involved a lot more than just delivering, managing, and monetizing services. Operators must find ways to increase customer engagement, create more upselling and cross-selling opportunities, and ensure that their support offers can swiftly resolve customer issues. They can streamline all these activities by implementing a digital customer relationship management (CRM) platform.

With a digital CRM along with a host of other customer relation-enhancing applications such as mPOS, and enterprise self-service (ESS), operators can add value at all stages of the customer lifecycle, including sales and support, for retail subscribers and enterprise customers. They can automate workflows and introduce AI/ML techniques to eliminate manual processes.

Deliver omnichannel experience

Customers today expect a consistent sales and support experience across channels, from the more conventional SMS and IVR to WhatsApp, Facebook, Alexa, and everything in between. Introducing omnichannel support lets operators provide seamless and personalized CX across various web, mobile, and social media platforms. Implementing NLP chatbots on these platforms helps ensure an always-on self-care experience. By enabling round-the-clock 24x7x365 availability for their customers with web and mobile self-care, they can empower customers to be self-reliant, helping them resolve most issues without having to dial into a call center or visit a physical store. The result is lesser churn and lower operational expenses.

Digitize the customer journey

Digital transformation works best when extended across the entire customer journey: digital onboarding, eKYC verification, and dispatching SIMs to the customer’s address help digitize customer acquisition. Next, Operators can offer personalized and contextual plans and offers based on the customer’s location, usage needs, and so on. They can also leverage data to gain insights into customer preferences to create innovative and personalized rewards programs, building customer loyalty and differentiating their brand in a crowded marketplace. Digital Transformation enables operators to launch fully automated zero-touch networks, requiring no physical touchpoints.

II. Operational excellence

Virtualize to scale instantly

An agile and virtualized network environment lets operators easily adapt to changing market dynamics and scale as needed, with no additional OPEX and CAPEX required. Virtualized network functions replace traditional hardware, taking a software-based approach to keep the network running smoothly.

Motivated by the success that enterprises have had with it, many operators today are implementing a virtualized core network, and those who haven’t should definitely have it on their roadmaps. Most modern BSS solutions are NFV-compliant, making it easy for operators to make the shift.

Deploy services rapidly

With digital enablement and virtualization, operators can introduce new and innovative services on the fly and reduce response time. This enables them to swiftly differentiate themselves from their competitors. Virtualization also reduces OPEX and eliminates the need for frequent hardware upgrades that tend to rack up the bills.

Implement 5G using 4G core

Another important benefit that virtualization enables is support for advanced 5G use cases. It helps support a much higher network by keeping pace with dynamically changing requirements of speed, latency, efficiency, reliability, and throughput.

III. Business excellence

Intelligent data insights

A key benefit of digitizing the network is being able to analyze customer data to gain detailed real-time insights into their behavior and usage needs. As these needs evolve, operators can personalize their services. Leveraging data helps to define both short- and long-term business objectives.

Modern digital BSS stacks like Alepo’s provide fully customizable reports that let operators segment customers based on the parameters they value most. Insights from these reports help create granular and personalized plans and offerings.

These insights also help target promotions and advertising to the relevant audience, which can be an important new revenue stream by way of third-party sponsorships.

Partnerships

Customers today engage far more on social media and chat platforms than they do with their service providers who tend to have traditional means for engagement. Operators looking to gain the most from their digitization activities can build a cross-industry partner ecosystem that offers more direct engagement platforms by integrating their services into the core offering. In effect, the operator can enrich CX without having to invest in building and managing a new service. A digital BSS integrated with an advanced partner management solution enables them to support these partnerships.

Accelerated monetization of use cases

A 5G-ready digital BSS stack lets telecom operators rapidly monetize the data network with innovative and personalized offerings, enhancing the digital experience for subscribers and improving customer loyalty. The elastic and convergent platform provides a network environment for CRM, convergent charging and billing, with REST APIs that offer the flexibility to quickly introduce a host of digital services with new billing models.

IV. Process excellence

Automated workflows

Digital transformation means being able to integrate automation across all processes at every level. Automating workflows, backend processes, and business operations help reduce dependence on staff, eliminates errors caused by manual intervention, and consequently keeps operational costs low.

Streamline sales processes

Operators can reduce their workload, save time, and lower operational costs by setting up automation for sales processes to streamline the full sales life cycle. This includes automating emails, alerts, notifications, and more to centralize day-to-day operations, capture leads, manage databases, set reminders for follow-ups, and other tasks to manage the sales pipeline. In addition, data insights help enrich the sales process, helping predict business outcomes, identify leads more accurately, and improve conversions.

Centralized catalog management

A significant challenge that service providers face today is being able to launch and manage services – especially with the growing list of use cases owing to the introduction of 5G, IoT, AR/VR, and more. Implementing a digital BSS with a centralized product catalog helps address this concern.

With a common product repository, service providers can swiftly introduce new services to keep up with evolving customer demand. They can define granular metrics (volume, time, value, quality of service, and so on), enable support for multi-play offerings, and more. Partners and distributors, too, can easily collaborate to efficiently manage offers.

Efficient revenue management

Network transformation with a modern and advanced digital BSS helps operators ensure they can prevent revenue leaks and maximize their monetization potential. CSPs need real-time billing and policy control capabilities to seize and monetize opportunities that all-IP networks bring. With convergent charging, they can automate rates and charging for their customers. They can ensure accurate billing for their interconnect and roaming partners to accurately charge other operators for using their voice, SMS, data, and other network infrastructure. They can also support next-gen charging use cases such as surge charging when demand is high.

Conclusion

Digital transformation is crucial to improve CX and achieve business, operational, and process excellence. Advanced digital business support systems comprising digital CRM, omnichannel self-care, customer value management, innovative billing and charging, and more help operators differentiate themselves and their network offerings, while maintaining sophisticated customer experiences and higher revenue margins.

Do you want to take an essential first step by implementing a modern, 5G-ready, NFV-compliant digital BSS like Alepo’s? To get expert advice, contact market.development@alepo.com.

Rajesh Mhapankar

Rajesh Mhapankar

Vice President, Product Management

A seasoned professional, technologist, innovator, and telecom expert. With over 20 years of experience in the software industry, Rajesh brings a strong track record of accelerating product innovations and development at Alepo. He supports the company’s mission-critical BSS/OSS projects in LTE, WiFi and broadband networks, including core policy, charging, and control elements.

Subscribe to the Alepo Newsletter

Challenges of 5G cloud deployment and how to overcome those

Challenges of 5G cloud deployment and how to overcome those

Challenges of 5G cloud deployment and how to overcome those

 

February 13, 2023

Introduction

As 5G technology advances and is adopted globally, network operators must decide whether to move their 5G core to the public cloud. While popular cloud providers have been pushing for this move, most operators have chosen to stick with traditional private cloud deployments due to the complexity and high investment costs associated with 5G Service-Based Architecture (SBA) networks.

Functional 5G SBA core

5G SBA networks have around 36 network functions that are much more complex compared to previous generations. They also use container-based cloud-native network functions (CNFs), which eliminate the dependency of tight coupling between the software and hardware resources. Before 5G, networks were built by end-to-end core vendors that supplied network functions built on tightly integrated x86-based hardware. As service providers make this paradigm shift from tightly integrated software and hardware to cloud-native CNFs, there are numerous challenges to consider.

Challenges of moving 5G core to the public cloud and solutions to overcome those

Complexity and time-to-market

Implementing a 5G SA network on a telco cloud is already a complex task. Moving to the public cloud would increase that complexity even further due to the need for high-level network security. Time-to-market for CSPs that have already deployed 5G core on the public cloud varies between four to five years.

How to overcome this challenge

CSPs should thoroughly understand the requirements for moving the network to the 5G core. Conducting lab simulations and beta trials before commercial deployment can ensure optimal network performance and availability.

Reliability and performance

Telco-grade network reliability is expected to be 99.9990% for mobile broadband and 99.9999% for private wireless applications. Public cloud service providers (SPs) typically have reliability numbers between 99.50% to 99.99%. Public cloud SPs must meet these high-reliability standards and have geo-redundancy in place to prevent single points of failure that affect the entire network. In case of network downtime, telecom operators should commit to restoring the network in the minimum possible time and ensure that the network outage is confined to one country when including multi-national CSPs.

How to overcome this challenge

CSPs must confirm whether their network reliability meets the expected standards from various public cloud SPs. CSPs should verify the network uptime SLA from the public cloud SP. They must also consider geo-redundancy and failover mechanisms using various data center zones from their cloud provider.

Data sovereignty and security

Security is a major concern for CSPs when moving to the public cloud. Public cloud service providers must meet all data sovereignty and regulatory requirements and keep users’ personal and lawful intercept data within the country’s territory.

How to overcome this challenge

CSPs need to confirm that the data center of the public cloud SP is within the country’s territory. Regular audits need to be performed by CSPs to keep track of where and how the data is stored.

Agility

To fully utilize the potential of 5G, CSPs need to build an agile network that can introduce new features quickly. Public cloud service providers must provide granular network control and make it easy for CSPs to install software upgrades.

How to overcome this challenge

When considering a move to a public cloud, CSPs should consider the following factors:

  • The level of network control that will retain in the public cloud.
  • Any loss of control that may occur compared to a telco cloud.
  • The process for installing 5G core software upgrades and introducing new features.

Total cost of ownership

When switching from a telco to a public cloud, CSPs must consider various factors such as performance differences, user plane function (UPF) throughput differences, potential lost revenues during network downtime, costs of changing vendors, and upgrading plans.

How to overcome this challenge

CSPs should evaluate the flexibility and cost of different public cloud plans regarding network capacity and bandwidth to determine the most cost-effective option. It is important for CSPs to carefully review the plan’s network capacity limitations, any additional charges for exceeding capacity, and potential penalties for scenarios such as signaling storms. By negotiating these terms in advance, CSPs can minimize unexpected costs.

Conclusion

Moving 5G cores to the public cloud is a complex decision with several challenges. CSPs must weigh the pros and cons and consider their options before deciding. Alepo’s 5G Core network solution is cloud-native with service-based architecture, which can help CSPs run a 5G core in the cloud environment. In addition, it can be deployed on multiple cloud platforms, such as AWS, Google, and Azure. To start your 5G journey, send an email to market.development@alepo.com. We’ll help you get started.

Rajesh Mhapankar

Rajesh Mhapankar

Vice President, Product Management

A seasoned professional, technologist, innovator, and telecom expert. With over 20 years of experience in the software industry, Rajesh brings a strong track record of accelerating product innovations and development at Alepo. He supports the company’s mission-critical BSS/OSS projects in LTE, WiFi and broadband networks, including core policy, charging, and control elements.

Subscribe to the Alepo Newsletter

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