File image. Photo: boscorelli
The outlook for the telecommunications industry appears "bleak" without considerable change, according to leading international industry leaders.
Global industry association ambassador for TM Forum Tony Kalcina said two recent global forums identified the need for change from one that offered telecommunications services as a utility to one that offered technology solutions through collaboration.
"The telecommunication industry has actually hit a little bit of a rough patch. It's actually quite stagnant. In fact, if you look at the messaging that was at these conferences, it was a rather bleak message," Kalcina said.
"One of the keynote speakers at the Mobile World Congress felt that maybe in 10 years' time we won't be in business and maybe we'll follow the path of Blockbuster, Blackberry and Kodak."
He said a question mark hung over the future of the telecommunications industry, with a call to action urging the industry to take action now in order to be relevant in the future.
Kalcina said the industry needed to address six key issues, which primarily required collaboration and openness to succeed.
Industry needed to use the language of software and become far more digital and a continuous innovator, he said.
While that seemed like a tall order, Kalcina said the global leaders were already making the necessary changes - embracing such concepts as co-creation through collaboration with other industries, such as healthcare.
"Software is the new language of business," he said, adding that it would require talent and partnerships to remain relevant.
In addition to collaboration, the global forums highlighted the need for telcos to adopt autonomous networks to drive global income.
The metaverse, as a collaboration tool, was seen as another opportunity to drive revenue.
Kalcina said environment, social and governance policies (ESG) were also seen as critically important, noting that the technology industry's energy consumption was equivalent to the transportation sector's.
He said cyber security was another important matter for the industry to deal with as the costs associated with that type of crime were rapidly growing and estimated to cost the global economy about US$10.5 trilllion dollars a year within five years.
"Many would say it's out of control. Look at all the money that is lost," Kalcina said.
"It represents the greatest transfer of economic wealth in the history of mankind. This is people that take money from the good guys and put away to the bad guys and it's more than the damage caused by all natural disasters in a year.
"So it is a big problem in Australia, it's estimated to be a $100 billion loss. So the question is, what are we doing about that?"
Kalcina said there needed to be more focus and accountability for the minimisation of cybercrime.
Artificial intelligence was another particular area of concern for telcos as part of their transformation.
"It is the most exciting bit of technology - affecting the wheel of our century - how we leveraged Chad GBT to create this, this journey of change and transformation." Kalcina said.
"You know, it is like fire that we can get really badly burned if we don't manage it very well.
"We have to take it very carefully. It's a two-edged sword."