Boost Mobile eyes big savings from Nokia ‘voice core’ shift
Nokia has collapsed numerous functions for its 5G voice core into a single container and claims the move will be a game-changer.
At its cloud and network services business group, experts have been working to collapse what Raghav Sahgal, who heads up that division, describes as a “whole slew of small, small network functions” into a single “cloud-native” one for its 5G voice core, substantially reducing its footprint. It’s an area where Nokia claims to be far ahead of its rivals, and Sahgal spies a big market opportunity.
The resulting function, named cloud-native communications suite (CNCS), has already lured a customer in the form of Boost Mobile, the company building a fourth network in the US. Quoted in Nokia’s update on the move, Dawood Shahdad, Boost’s vice president of core engineering, said that CNCS would cut relevant network infrastructure costs by as much as 70%, besides speeding up the introduction of new 5G services. If all that is accurate, demand from the broader market could be high. Energy efficiency alone improves by 10% to 20% with the upgrade from the standard IMS voice core to CNCS, according to Nokia’s data.
Sahgal clearly believes CNCS sets Nokia apart from the competition, arguing that most of his rivals have entirely ignored the voice core – as opposed to the data core – when transitioning to the cloud. “We had a very clear strategy that we were going to move all elements of our core technology to cloud, and that included voice core,” he said. “Most of our competitors chose not to do that, and we did.”
Lundmark, who steps down from the CEO job this month, evidently thinks he is leaving the cloud and network services division in good shape for his successor Justin Hotard, who joins Nokia from a senior role at Intel. “This is an area where clearly we have market leadership,” Lundmark said at Nokia’s press conference. Of the 60 5G standalone networks deployed today, Nokia has supplied about 35, he claims.
Making a network cloud-native is one prerequisite for automation, Lundmark went on to say, noting that a recent study by STL Partners estimated a telco of average size could realize $800 million in savings and additional revenues from automation. “That is a big number for an average-size operator,” said Lundmark. With sales growth still elusive, telcos will be listening. https://www.lightreading.com/mobile-core/boost-mobile-eyes-big-savings-from-nokia-voice-core-shift