5G&TD2022 LATAM SUMMIT coverage. The opening of the first day of the 5G&TD2022 LATAM SUMMIT, an event held by TeleSemana.com starting this Wednesday, November 9, and which seeks to delve into the challenges and perspectives imposed by the digital transformation and the evolution of communications in the region, and in the world, had a starting question, linked to monetization, but which served as a trigger to enter a deeper and even philosophical debate about how the gaze should be positioned in the face of the challenges of innovation: if in the known business or in the future.
Rafael Junquera, editorial director of TeleSemana.com offered the opening of the day, with the premise of betting that this event provides “a new vision to continue building”, in the long and challenging path that digital transformation prints on all sectors ; and he reasoned that “without monetization, these mega investments that are being made in the region will not be able to evolve.” And, in order to point out the trend of evolution and the importance of prospering the business, Junquera warned about the advent of 6G, “which seems futuristic, but we have to start having it on the radar, because there are already many initiatives that look to 6G and that they will need 5G.”
The first speaker of the day was Livio Silva, Chief Solutions Architect Telco (LATAM) of Red Hat; in a talk titled “Monetizing Telco Networks with Edge and 5G”; and who specified that the task they are developing involves “helping to understand the cost structure, the return and to have the business analysis tools that allow the operators to identify with which use cases they can become competitive, launch new 5G and additional services, aimed at industries or consumers, such as the gaming”.
“Is monetization so dependent on technology or could it be implemented in 4G and, then, should we talk about monetization in general?” Junquera asked, and Silva confirmed that “we should talk about monetization in general, although there are cases of use where 5G infrastructure is required”. He also recalled that “we must continue to take advantage of 4G, technology that will remain for a long time.”
“Just when we started thinking about how to monetize 5G networks and edge cloudwe see that there is a paradigm of digital innovation” said Silva and added that “there is a push important for the safety of the cloudification, regardless of whether it is a private or public environment. Many countries are already implementing 5G and what is coming is 6G, but first you have to understand how to monetize 5G so that the evolution towards 6G is as smooth as possible”.
For Silva, it is not just about bringing new technologies, “there is also the need for operators to begin to differentiate themselves and to create mechanisms to be able to offer different experiences to their customers (from video streaming, of cloud gaming, etc) and that can be placed in any type of industry (not just telecommunications); in such a way that customer data must have the necessary level of security”.
Red Hat’s commitment, in this sense, involves the possibility of having Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial (IIoT) solutions; Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and other tools “that facilitate the possibility of having traceability, observability, continuous development and orchestration mechanisms, which help make everything more flexible” , said the executive and bet to be able to “start looking for those use cases that will allow them to monetize and generate new businesses, with added value, in an efficient, affordable and lasting way”.
But monetization is the Achilles heel of 5G and it was evidenced in the debate generated in the heat of the presentation, and to which Silva assured that “to continue providing Internet connection, 4G will continue to exist and serve that purpose, depending on what As close as you are to the base station, the quality of service is sufficient. But if the operators do not seek to monetize with new services with 5G, what will end up happening is that they will only be highways of connectivity, now, faster.
“If there is no innovative service, with 5G there will only be greater speed,” said Silva, acknowledging that today operators are not focused on monetizing 5G but on getting to the forefront of network deployment and launches, and then, “try to monetize what they have launched.”
“Operators have to change the way they carry their schemes: they didn’t do it with previous technologies and it would be a mistake if they didn’t do it now either,” said the Red Hat executive.
And the debate did not end with the passing of the panel, because Ernesto Corona, Organizational Evolution & Transformation and Co-founder, d-Vops Corona, He also spoke about monetization and reflected that “if we are going to redesign monetization, we must rethink all the company’s internal value schemes; it is a bigger challenge than just understanding how to charge for new services.” “You have to apply systemic and holistic thinking” said Corona and defined that “it is not just about unlocking the gaze, to be able to look more at the future and less at the dairy cows of the present”.
In this sense, Alejandro Raffaele, Head of TME LATAM at Red Hat, also specified that “if we stay in the mental map of what 5G can offer today, we will surely be stuck” and stressed that the potential of its possibilities will explode but that “5G needs another form of operation (internal and external). Monetization is not the problem to overcome, it is not there”.
“Are we prepared to advance in emerging markets?” asked Corona, and offered a question that will remain for the debate for the rest of the day.
5G&TD2022 LATAM SUMMIT – Day 1: Monetize or the challenge of knowing how to look to the future