Technology deployed in the telecommunications industry faces the constant threat of fast obsolescence. Network operators have had to come up with ways to managing this situation and continue to deliver cutting edge technology to their subscribers while phasing out legacy equipment. This is a big task with major challenges.
As the number of mobile subscriptions increase globally to an estimated 6 billion or 87% of the world’s population, subscribers expect to get the best of cutting edge technology in order to fully enjoy a broad range of mobile services as evidenced by an estimated 37% uptake of 3G and advanced wireless technologies. However, while the mobile operators have to contend with the challenges of ensuring that this expectation is met, one of the realities of consistently providing robust and cutting edge technology is the increasingly rapid rate of obsolescence of the legacy equipment. This rather tough reality seems to pose more questions than answers for network operators worldwide. The continually shrinking time frame for moving to the newer technologies even before fully realising the return on investment of the present ones is a particularly demanding issue, one that requires strategic action.
In trying to determine how best to balance the demands of cost reduction with the rising complexity of customer demands, decommissioning networks have become a very attractive solution for mobile network operators. This simply entails creating room for accommodating new technology by de-installing and removing legacy equipment from sites where they are currently installed such as data centers, cell sites and power plants among others. The application of this relatively new concept is evident in wireless and wireline-based communications service providers. In a report produced pursuant to a survey conducted, PriceWaterHouseCoopers (PwC), an international management consulting firm stated that over 60% of wireline and almost 90% of wireless network operators plan to decommission a legacy network in the next five years with 80% of the both expecting the process to take less than five years. Currently, wireline technologies are dominated by copper-based networks with 38% of the operators including MDFs, radio and fiber PDH as well as ATM networks in their decommissioning plans while legacy 2G decommissioning is planned by 90% of wireless operators with more 30% of them also planning 3G decommissioning. Decommissioning networks based on 3G wireless technology however, would take about 5.3 years, two years more than a 2G network, estimated at 2.3 years.
Key drivers propelling the implementation of this process globally have also been identified by PwC in the same report to include the need for reduction of operating costs, enhancement of customer experience, removal of overlapping and/or redundant networks, a migration of traffic to more efficient networks, co-location and similar facility sharing arrangements, regulatory considerations such as tax and environmental regulations, revenue generation, destruction of sensitive data and matching competition from rival operators.
Decommissioning networks would superficially seem to be a strictly cost-intensive venture yet a lot of revenue generating opportunities have been revealed. In a separate report, Accenture, an international management consulting firm assessed the trend of decommissioning. Its report identified cost upsides to include; sale of facilities that have housed wired centers, salvage and resale of copper wires, reduction in costs of IT support and redeployment of redundant technical staff on decommissioning projects to avoid legal issues.
As the number of mobile subscriptions increase globally to an estimated 6 billion or 87% of the world’s population, subscribers expect to get the best of cutting edge technology in order to fully enjoy a broad range of mobile services as evidenced by an estimated 37% uptake of 3G and advanced wireless technologies. However, while the mobile operators have to contend with the challenges of ensuring that this expectation is met, one of the realities of consistently providing robust and cutting edge technology is the increasingly rapid rate of obsolescence of the legacy equipment. This rather tough reality seems to pose more questions than answers for network operators worldwide. The continually shrinking time frame for moving to the newer technologies even before fully realising the return on investment of the present ones is a particularly demanding issue, one that requires strategic action.
In trying to determine how best to balance the demands of cost reduction with the rising complexity of customer demands, decommissioning networks have become a very attractive solution for mobile network operators. This simply entails creating room for accommodating new technology by de-installing and removing legacy equipment from sites where they are currently installed such as data centers, cell sites and power plants among others. The application of this relatively new concept is evident in wireless and wireline-based communications service providers. In a report produced pursuant to a survey conducted, PriceWaterHouseCoopers (PwC), an international management consulting firm stated that over 60% of wireline and almost 90% of wireless network operators plan to decommission a legacy network in the next five years with 80% of the both expecting the process to take less than five years. Currently, wireline technologies are dominated by copper-based networks with 38% of the operators including MDFs, radio and fiber PDH as well as ATM networks in their decommissioning plans while legacy 2G decommissioning is planned by 90% of wireless operators with more 30% of them also planning 3G decommissioning. Decommissioning networks based on 3G wireless technology however, would take about 5.3 years, two years more than a 2G network, estimated at 2.3 years.
Key drivers propelling the implementation of this process globally have also been identified by PwC in the same report to include the need for reduction of operating costs, enhancement of customer experience, removal of overlapping and/or redundant networks, a migration of traffic to more efficient networks, co-location and similar facility sharing arrangements, regulatory considerations such as tax and environmental regulations, revenue generation, destruction of sensitive data and matching competition from rival operators.
Decommissioning networks would superficially seem to be a strictly cost-intensive venture yet a lot of revenue generating opportunities have been revealed. In a separate report, Accenture, an international management consulting firm assessed the trend of decommissioning. Its report identified cost upsides to include; sale of facilities that have housed wired centers, salvage and resale of copper wires, reduction in costs of IT support and redeployment of redundant technical staff on decommissioning projects to avoid legal issues.
