Exciting Opportunities for Cloud Computing Professionals in Telecom Sector with the Advent of 5G

Cloud is a technology that provides rented services like storage, computation, networking, running software, voice, and video calling services, etc., through the internet. Remote servers in the data centers run the software and processes on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) to provide high-end services to customers across the globe. 

Cloud computing services offer a ‘pay-as-you-go’ model, where the user has to pay for the number or amount of resources they use. This makes it more flexible for use by businesses. Telecom companies use cloud computing for various benefits like:

• Cost reduction
• Scalable engine
• Low migration cost
• High bandwidth during services
• Low latency (latency is the time required for a data packet to move from source to destination)
• Secure communication data transmission
• Provide cloud delivery model with worldwide coverage
• Facilitate high-end network services through VPN and L4-L7 connections

From the above Google trend data, you can observe that cloud computing is in heavy demand and is steadily expanding its services to telecom.

5G or 5G network is the fifth iteration of the network system with the intent to provide high-speed and responsive wireless networks. The 5G wireless broadband connection travels at the rate of multi gigabits. The transfer speed can reach up to 20 gigabits per second (Gbps) and deliver a latency of 1 millisecond or less. 

The telecom industry can leverage this to increase response time, reduce the overall cost, eliminate latency issues, have massive multi-connectivity, higher data throughput rates, and more.

The demand for implementing 5G is increasing exponentially across various industries. Learn more about it through edX's course on Business Considerations for 5G with Edge, IoT, and AI.

Cloud computing is a game-changer that delivers on-demand services like computation, mass storage, software services, database management, networking, etc. Companies prefer it because any authorized person, from anywhere across the globe, can access data stored on it through the internet. 

Usually, conventional telecom companies would run on dedicated computer appliances and network systems. But these systems were not cost-effective, scalable, or agile. Also, they have a high latency that diminishes the communication service quality. Thus, numerous telecom giants shifted from legacy technological appliances and network architectures to cloud-based services for advanced agility and economical operational spending.

According to Global Industry Analysts Inc. (GIA), by 2025, the global telecom market service will reach $26.3 Billion. To achieve this, the industry is embracing cloud computing and 5G. As we know, the success of a telecom business is directly proportional to the number of active users or customers it has. So the main challenge faced by the telecom industry is to deliver continuous service without latency, downtime, or lag so as to attract and retain customers. 

Another competitive pressure the telecom industry faces is from messaging and social media apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram, etc. Since these use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services that leverage internet connectivity, they offer seamless communication to users. Thus they pose a tough competition to telecom companies. In such a cut-throat competitive marketplace, the legacy network infrastructure and service is insufficient to provide a high-quality solution. This is where the intersection of cloud and 5G can be utilized to boost the telecom services. 

The telecom industry is responsible for connecting people and encouraging the use of various devices like smartphones, tablets, etc. With the advent of modern technologies and network services like cloud and 5G, more and more telecom companies are undergoing digital transformation. 

Let us now explore the various advantages the telecom industry can enjoy by leveraging cloud and 5G. To know how AI and Cloud Computing helps in better business strategies, tap Professional Certificate in AI and Cloud Computing by edX.

Who likes to wait for a video to buffer for 5-10 seconds or a file that takes hours to upload? With the advent of 5G and cloud services, customers do not have to experience latency and low bandwidth while using the internet or other call services. The telecom industry is adopting 5G and cloud to bridge the gaps and provide high-quality customer service. Here is a list of some benefits the intersection of cloud and 5G can provide to the telecom industry:

Reduce or Eliminate Disruption in Productivity 

Often the productivity of an employee or the business workforce gets affected because of the low latency and slow loading of apps within an organization. Because of this, a lot of business operations get delayed. If an organization can match the cloud service delivery speed within the enterprise, it will save a lot of time for employees, and productivity will also not be hampered. 

That is why the modern telecom industry can employ a 5G network to provide high bandwidth network speed within an enterprise to cope with the cloud-based service and allow a business workforce to provide on-demand service anytime.

High-Speed Cloud-Based Communication

Another domain where the telecom industry can thrive is in the communication service. By leveraging cloud technology in conjunction with 5G, the telecom industry can deliver high-quality and high-speed communication services. Audio calls, audio conferences, video calls, video conferences, voice messaging, broadcasting, etc., are some of the popular services offered by telecom. 

As the number of active customers is directly related to a profitable business, the telecom industry must leverage cloud service to render spontaneous support of these communication services while maintaining quality speed through the 5G network.

Networking-as-a-Service (NaaS)

This cloud-based model allows customers to rent network services in a pay-as-you-go model. It allows customers to operate their networks as a service without actually buying the hardware or maintaining the networking infrastructure.

Telecom companies leverage the cloud with a high-speed 5G network to provide NaaS. Telecom vendors have to run networking operations through specific software or programs, allowing customers to configure their networks completely without hardware requirements. While cloud provides storage and maintains software and constant services, the 5G technology helps render quality speed and smooth coverage of the service. For learning more about networking, try Pluralsight's course on Networking in Google Cloud.

Improved Call and Voice Quality by Eliminating Latency

With the advent of 5G and cloud-based services, the telecom industry can provide high-quality calling services. The 5G network also enhances the quality of VoIP by eliminating latency and packet loss which is prevalent in 4G networks. We can define latency as the response time or the time length required between sending and receiving something. The current latency of a 4G system is about 50 milliseconds, while 5G has brought it down to 1 millisecond.

This reduction in latency can enhance the overall response of cloud services and cloud-based voice and video calling options. The high-speed network bandwidth can also eliminate the problem of call drops. 

All these will help the telecom industry cater a high-grade service and attract more customers in the future.