Amid 5G Maturity Concerns, MWC Sees Cloud, Telco Partnerships Grow

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS — As the world’s largest hyperscaler providers expand partnerships with telco and mobility providers, analysts say 5G is underdelivering on its hype.

The GMSA’s annual event has drawn announcements from the world’s most influential providers of 5G networks, equipment and services. However, a large portion of the news coming out of the event focuses on the efforts public cloud providers are making to “entice telecom companies,” as Forbes put it. Google Cloud, AWS and Microsoft Azure all unveiled solutions designed to help communication service providers (CSPs) automate and optimize workloads on hyperscaler infrastructure.

Microsoft previewed its Azure Operator Nexus, which it reportedly designed for carrier-grade workloads.

In the meantime, Google Cloud announced three telecom-focused products: a cloud-native automation solution based on Kubernetes, a data fabric solution, and an AI-powered Subscriber Insights tool.

AWS and Nokia together unveiled a Cloud Radio Access Network (RAN). The solution will use Nokia’s software and Smart NIC accelerator on AWS infrastructure. In addition, AWS last week unveiled a Telco Network Builder. The solution, AWS execs said, expands its partnerships with carriers to let them automate network services on AWS.

AWS’ Jeff Barr

“Today, CSPs often deploy their code to virtual machines. However, as they look to the future they are looking for additional flexibility and are increasingly making use of containers,” AWS chief evangelist Jeff Barr wrote. “AWS TNB is intended to be a part of this transition, and makes use of Kubernetes and Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) for packaging and deployment.”

Cloud-Telco Partnerships

The partnerships between hyperscalers and telco providers are nothing new. For example, AT&T in 2021 sold its 5G core network to Microsoft. That put the core of AT&T’s 5G network and the management thereof in Azure’s hands.

Scott Bicheno of Telecoms.com wrote that  “Telecom’s dysfunctional relationship with Big Tech will cloud (pun intended) conversations” at MWC. (Telecoms.com is a sister website to Channel Futures.)

“On one hand, European operators insist that, as the source of much of the traffic they carry on their networks, U.S. Big Tech should contribute to the cost of building and maintaining them. On the other, they are increasingly reliant on the likes of AWS to realise the potential of 5G. Those hyperscalers must be conscious of this paradox and it will be interesting to see how high of a profile they choose to have this year.”

Bicheno wrote that 5G is still seeking an identity.

“3G was about the introduction of mobile data, which matured in the form of 4G, but what is 5G all about?” Bicheno wrote. “…Yes, 5G offers even faster and more capacious mobile broadband, but there is still a shortage of use-cases that require more bandwidth than 4G has to offer. IoT became conflated with 5G but has existed as a concept for decades and, as Qualcomm’s latest roll of the dice indicates, is still finding its feet as a commercial proposition.”

Telecoms.com’s Scott Bicheno

Patience for 5G?

Bicheno was specifically writing about Ericsson, whose pre-brief emphasized that 5G will eventually pay dividends. To that end, Bicheno suggest that the underlying theme of MWC 2023 might be “the need for patience.”

“New generations of mobile technology are always overhyped by desperate marketers, inevitably resulting in an anticlimax. It feels like we have been wading through the Trough of Disillusionment ever since 5G was first released into the wild and the hope of everyone assembled in Barcelona will be that the ascent up the Slope of Enlightenment is now well underway,” he wrote.

Bicheno did, however, point to the growth of fixed wireless access solutions. Earnings reports from Verizon and T-Mobile show that fixed wireless has …