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Ep 120 – The $300 billion question: Can telcos monetize network APIs? (Shkumbin Hamiti)
Nokia's Shkumbin Hamiti explains why building a developer community is crucial for telcos that want a piece of network APIs' $300 billion revenue potential.
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Ep 121 – Building AI-driven autonomous networks with Google Cloud (Angelo Libertucci)
This week’s guest
Angelo Libertucci
Global Head of Industry, Telecom Google CloudNetwork APIs are the telecom industry’s next big bet for unlocking new revenue, with McKinsey & Company projecting they could generate up to $300 billion in connectivity and edge computing revenue over the next four to six years. But the real challenge isn’t technical—it’s convincing millions of developers to adopt telco’s network APIs instead of sticking with what they already use.
Google Cloud runs the largest private network on the planet, managing billions of users with a fraction of the staff that regional telcos need. Now it’s opening up its playbook to share this AI-driven approach with telecommunications operators.
In this episode, I’m talking with Angelo Libertucci, global head of industry for telecom at Google Cloud, about its partnership with Ericsson to build a cloud-native, 5G core and autonomous operations framework entirely on Google Cloud that can self-heal and self-optimize without human intervention.
Listen now to hear:
- How Google’s partnership with Ericsson delivers instant service deployment for 5G networks [03:40]
- Why the timing is finally right for telcos to move core network functions to the public cloud [04:56]
- The math behind network utilization that makes public cloud for network workloads financially compelling [09:12]
- How Bell Canada transformed its network performance using autonomous operations without moving workloads to cloud [13:55]
Links and resources
- Read about Google Cloud and Ericsson’s carrier-grade 5G Core-as-a-Service platform.
- Learn about Google Cloud’s Autonomous Network Operations framework.
- Check out O2 Telefónica Germany and Google Cloud’s partnership to move 5G functions to the cloud with Nokia.
- Watch my 2018 Interview with Google Cloud about Spanner (yes, I’ve been talking about telco and the public cloud for FOREVER)!
- Angelo was a professional hockey player. Check out his jersey when he played with the Canadian All Stars.
- I’m not a hockey player, but I do play tennis. Check out this sport that combines both, ice tennis — watch out for those slapstick backhands!
- Check out this episode on our YouTube channel.
- You can find the episode transcript here.
Wanna talk AI and public cloud? Telco execs, set up a meeting with our team to learn how to tap the immense business value it can bring.
Guest bio
Angelo Libertucci heads the telecom industry for Google Cloud globally. He is responsible for business development and strategy, partnerships, and field enablement that will drive CSP service differentiation and value, leveraging Google Cloud’s technology and platform. He also identifies and capitalizes on new opportunities across Google’s ecosystem.
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Podcast credits
- Executive Producer and Host: Danielle Rios, TelcoDR
- Senior Producer: Lindsay Grubb, TillCo Media
- Senior Editor/Brand Manager: Alisa Jenkins, Springboard Marketing
- Audio Editor: Andrew Condell
- Supervising Producer: Amanda Avery
- Associate Producer: Kriselda Dionisio
- Music: Dyami Wilson
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Google Cloud and Ericsson’s 5G Core-as-a-Service platform?
Google Cloud and Ericsson partnered to create a carrier-grade, cloud-native 5G core stack that runs entirely on Google Cloud infrastructure. This platform allows telcos to deploy services instantly, narrowing the gap between cost and revenue while eliminating the need for traditional hardware over-provisioning. The timing is now ideal because Google Cloud has significantly expanded its distributed infrastructure globally. For example, Canada went from having one region six years ago to two regions today, meeting the stringent latency and performance requirements that 5G networks demand.
2. How does AI that is built into the network core change how it operates?
When AI is natively integrated into the network core, it shifts operations from manual configuration and reactive troubleshooting to a system that constantly learns and self-optimizes. This enables autonomous networking capabilities where networks can self-heal and adapt without human intervention. Google Cloud builds AI across all its platforms and products, with the goal of enabling AI-driven telecom operations. Without AI natively integrated into cloud-native workflows, telcos cannot achieve the level of autonomous networking that’s becoming today’s killer use case.
3. What cost savings can telcos expect by moving network workloads to the public cloud?
Total-cost-of-ownership reduction comes from several areas: lower OpEx through increased automation, faster time-to-market for new services affecting revenue, and the ability to dynamically adapt to market demand without over-provisioning hardware. According to Angelo Libertucci, if network utilization is below 50%, running in the cloud is typically cheaper. Since most telcos run networks at only 30-33% utilization to avoid performance issues during spikes, the financial modeling with customers shows promising results for cloud migration.
4. Do telcos need to move their networks to the cloud before seeing benefits from Google’s autonomous networking framework?
No, telcos can gain immediate value without moving network workloads to the cloud first. Google Cloud’s autonomous networking framework allows operators to keep network functions on-premise while building data pipelines to the cloud for AI-driven analytics. Bell Canada demonstrated this approach with its wireless network AIOps program, achieving a 25% reduction in customer calls, 75% reduction in network alarms, and 75% increase in software productivity—all within months and without moving on-premise network functions to the cloud.
5. How does Danielle Rios view the Google Cloud and Ericsson partnership for telco transformation?
Danielle Rios, the acting CEO of Totogi, has been advocating for telcos to move their networks to the public cloud for years, making this partnership a significant milestone she’s been championing. She emphasizes that this isn’t a traditional lift-and-shift migration, but rather a fundamental transformation where AI doesn’t just monitor networks—it actually runs them. She recommends telcos start with an analytics wedge approach to build organizational confidence before making larger commitments, and encourages telco executives to connect with Totogi to explore public cloud opportunities.
6. What is Google Spanner’s role in autonomous network operations?
Google Spanner serves as the foundation for autonomous networking by maintaining a comprehensive real-time digital twin of the network that mirrors inventory, topology, services, and state. It’s uniquely capable of supporting both graph and relational data, providing a multilayered view of network layers including services, physical, and logical components. When combined with BigQuery for data analysis and Gemini for AI processing, Spanner enables the level four and level five network autonomy that telcos need. This is why Danielle Rios was advocating for Spanner’s use in telecom back in 2018.