FEATURE
A
ccording to the Chinese Zodiac, 2024 is the Year of the Dragon. In Chinese culture, dragons are considered powerful, endlessly energetic, and full of vitality. They are goal-oriented yet idealistic and romantic at the same time. In everything that they do, they strive for the highest standards and always do their best. In many ways, I can’t help thinking that these are the characteristics of most telecom companies in our industry. If you do not perform to the best of your ability, you risk falling behind and someone else will take your place. There are few signs that the current climate of high inflation, geopolitical tension, and war in Europe is going to change anytime soon. To navigate these choppy waters, this means everyone must remain on their toes and be at the top of their game. Despite the challenges, traffic continues to grow, and some promising new technologies are starting to mature. In keeping with our traditional ‘Top 3’ predictions for the year ahead, here are a few thoughts for 2024.
THE TOP 3 GLOBAL CARRIER INDUSTRY TRENDS
1. The global Internet is more important than ever. Greater geopolitical tension means that we’ll need to work harder than ever to preserve the global Internet as the universal platform it was originally intended - where anything, anywhere is connected to everything, everywhere. More than ever and in a period of war and political turmoil, we need to protect the flow of reliable and honest information. Despite many challenges and threats to its integrity, the public Internet still provides a platform where information is freely available. And as the ‘splinternet’ and other restrictive mechanisms for controlling traffic threaten the integrity of an open Internet, it is ultimately still the best platform for global communication - and will be for many years to come. Keeping a free and open global Internet up and running will be priority #1 in 2024. 2. The fine balance between security and transparency. 2023 saw several acts of sabotage on telecom infrastructure and it is unlikely this won’t happen again in 2024. The telecom sector has previously been very generous with sharing maps of its infrastructure and providing information about important connections points between networks. While this transparency has generally been in everyone’s best interests, we need to take a long hard look to see whether there are other, more secure ways of
62 SUBMARINE TELECOMS FORUM MAGAZINE
THE CARRIER GUIDE TO
2024
TRAFFIC, TECHNOLOGY AND UNSUNG HEROES BY MATTIAS FRIDSTRÖM
sharing this information. To limit outages and damage to critical infrastructure, fishermen will still need to know where communication cables are, but not at the expense of national security. 3. Ongoing economic challenges. The telecom industry will continue to face some tough economic challenges in 2024 - fueled by high interest rates, sustained inflation and ongoing geopolitical tensions. Most carriers will need to speed up their automation journeys, find new ways of running their networks and of course better ways to take care of their customers. Off-shoring, near-shoring, outsourcing, and insourcing are just examples of strategies that need to be given further consideration in 2024. In short, a lot more automation and closer collaboration will be the keys to success in 2024.
THE TOP 3 TECHNOLOGY AND TRAFFIC TRENDS
1. Further optical innovation despite Shannon’s limitations. Historically, some carriers have resisted the move towards open optical networking, while others have