Why We Need an Interoperable Ecosystem for Operators of All Sizes

In today's rapidly evolving telecommunications landscape, the importance of a robust and interoperable ecosystem cannot be overstated. As we strive to meet the ambitious connectivity goals set forth by various governments and organizations, it becomes increasingly clear that collaboration across the industry is essential. Whether the "Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act" in the United States or the "EU Gigabit Infrastructure Act" in the European Union, the ultimate aim is to provide high-quality, affordable internet access to all consumers and businesses. 

However, achieving these goals requires more than just infrastructure investment; it necessitates a standardized approach to interoperability among telecom operators of all sizes. This article delves into the critical role of wholesale in solving the overbuild challenge, the complexities involved, and the promising initiatives to foster a healthy interoperable ecosystem.

The Overarching Goals for Connectivity

In both the United States and the European Union, ambitious goals have been set to ensure that high-quality internet is accessible to everyone. The "Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act" in the U.S. and the "EU Gigabit Infrastructure Act" in the EU are prime examples of such initiatives. These goals aim to provide high-quality services to all consumers and businesses at a fair price, with a target delivery date no later than 2030. However, achieving these goals is not without its challenges. Overbuild in many booming markets has increased costs and low utilization rates, making it unsustainable in the long run. This overbuild also introduces uncertainty and risk, limiting investment and innovation.

The Current State of the Market

The current state of the market presents several challenges that need to be addressed. Overbuild is a significant issue, with multiple providers laying fiber in the same areas, leading to slow and low uptake rates. Competition from legacy technologies offering low-quality products at low prices further complicates the situation. Moreover, the market is characterized by a fragmented approach to standardizing interoperability and cooperation between operators, resulting in inconsistency and inefficiency. This fragmented approach leads to poor customer experiences and increased costs.

The Role of Wholesale in Solving Overbuild

Wholesale and unbundled value chains are potential solutions to the overbuild challenge. By sharing infrastructure investments, deploying fiber networks becomes much more cost-effective, as the primary cost lies in the physical digging required. If operators know where fiber already exists, they can focus on underserved areas or "white spots," leading to higher uptake rates and spurring further investments and innovation. However, wholesale presents its own challenges, including shared customer income and increased complexity due to interactions between wholesale operators and retail service providers.

The Challenges of Wholesale Integration

One of the most significant challenges with wholesale is the cost of integrating various networks and operators into a cohesive ecosystem. Each integration is often unique, leading to substantial short-term investments and long-term operating and maintenance costs. This can also heavily affect the customer experience, depending on the network the customer uses. The goal is to transition from a situation where each additional wholesale network increases costs and diminishes customer experience to one where costs stabilize, subscriber numbers grow, and customer experience remains high. Several initiatives have been launched in different markets to address these challenges, but they often fall short due to their fragmented nature.

Initiatives to Address Wholesale Challenges

Various markets have attempted to address wholesale challenges through different initiatives. In Switzerland, several cities collaborated to create a shared platform for exchanging access line communication services. In Sweden, a large alternative retail service provider created their own API, establishing a de-facto standard for the market. However, these solutions are often country-specific and do not cover all aspects of the customer lifecycle. In Germany, the S/PRI API is a complex and advanced API that has created barriers for smaller wholesale operators. In the U.S., a large retail service provider partnered with a major wholesale operator, only to later cancel the agreement. The UK has seen multiple initiatives, each with high costs and uncertainty for the industry.

The Need for Standardization

Despite these efforts, the industry continues to "reinvent the wheel," leading to suboptimal solutions. What is needed is a new approach to standardization that covers product specifications, processes, milestones, jeopardy management, and support tools throughout the entire customer lifecycle. Standardization would enable network owners to maximize ARPU, increase uptake rates, and protect against overbuild. It would also ensure a consistent customer experience across all sales channels and networks, making building fiber networks more efficient and delivering high-quality services.

Smart Collaboration and Consistent Customer Experience

Smart collaboration is key to fostering a healthy interoperable ecosystem. Network owners can offer service providers essential local knowledge and data to elevate sales and marketing activities and reach new consumers. A consistent customer experience is also crucial, enabling service providers to implement streamlined, high-quality customer experiences across all networks. From a retail service provider's perspective, one wholesale network should not differ from another. Efficient and cost-effective integrations are necessary for this to be possible, with standardized processes and APIs being key to success.

Fostering Innovation Through a Standardized Ecosystem

Ultimately, the goal is to create an ecosystem that fosters innovation. This would enable service providers to become agile and innovative, stay competitive, and expand their footprint to new areas. The industry can achieve its overarching connectivity goals by spending time on innovation and bringing new technologies to the network rather than costly integrations and upgrades. Existing standards often lack full coverage or become excessively costly due to their broad scope. What is needed is an adoptable standard that is technically feasible for operators of all sizes, flexible enough to handle natural market variances, and governed efficiently to manage evolutions over time.

The Role of TM Forum in Standardization

The TM Forum Wholesale Broadband Standardization project is a promising initiative to create a standardized, interoperable ecosystem. The project aims to involve all operators, regardless of size, and create simple, adaptable, and flexible standards. The analogy of standardizing railways to enable cross-border transport is apt; instead of standardizing the delivery of goods and people, the project aims to standardize the delivery of digital packages. Netadmin is fully committed to this project, actively contributing to its success and sharing knowledge to foster a healthy ecosystem.

Read TM Forums Wholesale Broadband Standardisation Project

Conclusion

In conclusion, achieving various governments' and organizations' ambitious connectivity goals is a complex but essential task. Wholesale is a primary solution to the overbuilding problem, but we need a standardized, healthy, interoperable ecosystem of partners of all sizes for it to work. All operators can benefit from standardization by minimizing risks and enabling new business opportunities. By focusing on simplicity and minimalism in the standards, we can foster a healthy interoperable ecosystem of Dumb Pipes, Smart Pipes, and IDSPs, regardless of the operator's size. The TM Forum Wholesale Broadband Standardization project has the potential to create this interoperable ecosystem, benefiting the entire industry and ultimately providing high-quality, affordable internet access to all.

Related links

Netadmin Wholesale standardisation project

TM Forum Wholesale Broadband Standardisation project

TM Forum Wholesale Broadband - Video