Ep 92 – The state of cloud in telco, with Iain Morris from Light Reading

This week’s guest

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Iain Morris

International Editor Light Reading

I’ve spent the last four years championing the game-changing benefits of the public cloud for telcos, from cost savings to faster innovation. While some operators are embracing the cloud (like the O2 Telefonica Germany deal that was announced last week to run their 5G network 100% on AWS), others are doubling down on building their own private cloud—but all signs point to a turning tide. 

To get an honest take on where telcos stand, I’m talking with Iain Morris, international editor at Light Reading. He connects regularly with the industry’s top leaders to talk about their strategic priorities and technology plans, and writes regularly about where telcos are on their cloud journeys. Listen now to hear:

• How telcos’ perspectives on the public cloud have shifted since 2018 [03:50];
• Where the line is for moving network workloads to the public cloud [08:39];
• How DISH Network, AT&T and e& are moving things forward by jumping on the public cloud train [10:00]; and
• How generative AI is influencing telcos’ interest in the public cloud [14:30].

Links and resources

• Read my blog, Telco’s shift to the public cloud gets real, about O₂ Telefónica Germany and other telcos that are making big cloud moves. 
• Read O₂ Telefónica’s recent announcement about launching a new 5G core network built entirely in the cloud. 
• Check out some of Iain’s articles in Light Reading:
  • Telefónica Germany turns to AWS, Nokia in cloud core threat to Ericsson (5/14/24) 
  • The public cloud has failed to crack telecom (1/19/24)
  • Telco cloudification poses a huge systemic risk (10/13/23)
• Read what Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has to say about Bedrock in his 2023 Letter to Shareholders 
• Listen to my 2021 conversation with Iain and his podcast co-host Scott Bicheno in Telco in 20 episode 27, Talking public cloud with Telecoms.com.
• Read AT&T’s June 2021 announcement about moving its 5G mobile network to Microsoft Cloud.
• Check out this February 2023 article from Fierce Network’s Linda Hardesty about Microsoft reworking 5G core software from AT&T for sale to other carriers.
• Iain’s son is a proud member of the University of Denver’s men’s tennis team. Read about their awesome 2024 season.  
• Check out this episode on our YouTube channel.
• You can find the transcript for this episode here.

Wanna talk public cloud? Telco execs, set up a meeting with our team to learn how to tap the immense business value it can bring. Or better yet, come find me at TM Forum’s DTW-Ignite in Copenhagen on June 18 – 20. Send me a DM on Linkedin or X @TelcoDR and we can set up a time to meet. Team Totogi will be in the AWS stand as a Featured Partner, so stop by to catch a demo of Totogi’s BSS Magic. 

Guest bio

Iain Morris is the International Editor at Light Reading, having joined the team as News Editor at the start of 2015. Prior to boosting Light Reading’s UK-based editorial team numbers, he was a successful freelance writer and editor covering the telecom sector for 15 years. His work has appeared in The Economist and The Observer, and a variety of trade and business journals. He was previously the lead telecom analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit, and before that worked as features editor at Telecommunications magazine. Iain started in telecom as an editor at consulting and market-research company Analysys (now Analysys Mason).

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The Telco in 20 podcast won a 2024 and 2022 Hermes Award, 2023 and 2022 MarComm Awards, and was recognized as a TeckNexus Top 12 Telco and Tech Podcast, Forrester Top 100 Channel Podcast and Feedspot Top 10 Telecom Podcast. If you enjoy the podcast, would you leave us a short review? It takes you seconds to do in your app and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. And I love reading your feedback and reviews!

Podcast credits

• Executive Producer and Host: Danielle Rios Royston, 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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