Newsletter archive

Missed out on a previous newsletter? Catch up on every single Telco in 20 newsletter to date, right here. ⬇️


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Signing a massive AI contract could be your biggest mistake of 2024

December 3, 2024

AI is evolving rapidly and prices are plummeting, so now is the time to keep your AI options open. Here’s why, and how to do it.

My spidey sense about CloudSense

November 19, 2024

TelcoDR affiliate Skyvera just bought CloudSense—a CPQ solution that helps telcos sell and deliver services faster and more efficiently. Here’s how we plan to make it a powerhouse tool for telcos.

48% used, 100% paid: how to fix the overspend on your cloud contract

November 5, 2024

According to Infosys, telcos use only 48% of their cloud commitments, leaving millions on the table. Here’s how to fix this.

When it comes to DSS, telcos need to wake up and smell the AI

October 22, 2024

When it comes to driving transformation, a recent survey shows promising trends and alarming blind spots in our industry.

Will telco get to the public cloud before Elon Musk gets to Mars?

October 8, 2024

My mission to bring the public cloud to telco is paying off—see how far we’ve come and where we’re headed next.

The death of Amdocs

September 24, 2024

AI-generated enterprise software is becoming a reality, a breakthrough that is poised to transform telecom.

Getting AI right is hard

September 11, 2024

Struggling to make AI work in your telco? You’re not alone. But before you give up, let’s talk about first-principles thinking.

TelcoDR’s back-to-school reading list

August 27, 2024

We’ve curated 2024’s top stories to help you catch up on what’s shaping the industry. Dive in and learn!

10 examples of how telcos are using AI (BESIDES customer support!)

July 30, 2024

Telcos are putting AI to work in areas far beyond the low-lying fruit of customer service apps. Here’s inspiration for your next AI power move.

If you focus on business value, AI pays for itself

July 16, 2024

Think AI is too expensive for your org? Think again. When implemented strategically, AI can pay for itself.

Let freedom ring (and break free from your BSS vendor)

July 2, 2024

Despite fears of hyperscaler lock-in, it’s actually the legacy vendors that have you trapped. Here’s how to take back control.

The promise of AI is no UI

June 18, 2024

Discover how AI is set to change telco (and especially BSS) software forever, and what your business needs to do today to prepare.

Unlock the true value of your BSS with AI

June 4, 2024

AI is transforming telcos’ BSS data, delivering strategic insights, predictive analytics, and more.

Telco’s shift to the public cloud gets real

May 21, 2024

O2 Telefónica Germany is going all-in on the public cloud for its network—a signal that telco’s future is the public cloud.

Mi Casa es su Casa (if you’re Verizon)

May 7, 2024

Casa Systems’ bankruptcy filing surprised many in telco. After all, it had a substantial relationship with Verizon. What happened and why?

Why AI’s future might depend on nuclear energy

April 23, 2024

Earth Day 2024 has me thinking about the energy demands of artificial intelligence. Is nuclear power the answer?

The public cloud is PERFECT for Africa

April 9, 2024

The public cloud is taking off in Africa—and it’s a perfect match for the continent’s telcos.

Cloud bursting for disaster recovery

March 26, 2024

Telcos can slash disaster recovery costs by 90% and eliminate the headaches of maintaining an on-prem system. Here’s how.

How to transform your customer support with AI

March 12, 2024

Customer support is the first place to look when adding GenAI to your org. We set out to boost performance in this area, and today we handle 56% of queries with no human intervention. Here’s how we did it.

5 things you gotta do at MWC24

February 23, 2024

There are a few things I’m especially looking forward to at MWC 2024. You should check them out, too!

4 ways to spot #fakeAI

February 13, 2024

There are companies doing it right and others that are faking it. How can you distinguish the true AI innovators from the charlatans?

The perfect BSS

January 30, 2024

The BSS landscape in telecom is a mess. But change is coming. Totogi is ready to bring together AI and the public cloud to save the day.

Turn your Open Gateway APIs into a strategic advantage

January 16, 2024

Open Gateway is solving one challenge to taking back lost CPaaS revenue. Now, telco needs to solve the other one.


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Do telcos need an AI strategy?

December 19, 2023

GenAI is brand new and changing fast, which is why every telco needs a strategy to drive the use of AI through their organization.

Dead Vendor Walking – What to do when your vendor is TOAST

December 5, 2023

Watch out for warning signs that your telco software vendor is struggling and take these steps so its problems don’t become yours.

TelcoDR’s top picks for AWS re:Invent ‘23

November 21, 2023

Next week is AWS re:Invent, the annual event where AWS makes major announcements and generally promotes itself and all of its cool new tech.

What to watch at Microsoft Ignite

November 7, 2023

Microsoft annual Ignite cloud conference kicks off next week. I’ve whittled down the 500+ session catalog to 30-some topics that are most relevant to telcos.

MVNOs, it’s time to Moneyball with AI

October 24, 2023

Embracing AI, the public cloud, and Totogi’s SaaS solutions can help MVNOs compete with big league MNOs.

How MVNOs can use AI

October 10, 2023

Here are five ways operators and MVNOs of all sizes are leveraging AI for game-changing results. Don’t get left behind!

5 questions to test if it’s SaaS or not

September 26, 2023

Worried you’re getting #fakeSaaS? Ask your vendors these questions to tell if their solutions are the real deal.

Ready to kick Twilio to the curb? Meet Whoosh!

September 12, 2023

We ran through all the content we’ve created this year to identify major themes and build a TelcoDR Cheat Sheet. Think of it as Obama’s summer reading list, but with a telco twist.

Think you’ve already lost to Twilio? Think again.

August 29, 2023

We ran through all the content we’ve created this year to identify major themes and build a TelcoDR Cheat Sheet. Think of it as Obama’s summer reading list, but with a telco twist.

TelcoDR’s watch list for Google Cloud Next

August 15, 2023

We ran through all the content we’ve created this year to identify major themes and build a TelcoDR Cheat Sheet. Think of it as Obama’s summer reading list, but with a telco twist.

TelcoDR’s Summer Reading List 2023

August 1, 2023

We ran through all the content we’ve created this year to identify major themes and build a TelcoDR Cheat Sheet. Think of it as Obama’s summer reading list, but with a telco twist.

Who wins in the Nokia-Red Hat deal?

July 18, 2023

Nokia recently announced that it will offload its Nokia Container Services and CloudBand Infrastructure Software to Red Hat. My initial response was: WUT?

I can help you save BIG BUCKS on your AWS bill 

July 4, 2023

There’s a super cool SaaS platform that can quickly find MILLIONS of dollars in savings and go get them for you AUTOMATICALLY.

How to save 50-90% on compute with spot instances

June 20, 2023

The telcos that win big with the public cloud will be those that get really skilled at optimizing the cost of their workloads.

Is Open Gateway the answer?

June 6, 2023

Twilio, the communications platform, stole SMS and an important revenue stream from telcos. Let’s discuss the ingredients for a successful comeback.

For Cloud AI, it’s all about the chips

May 23, 2023

Cloud AI stands ready to transform telcos, but they will need the hyperscalers’ purpose-built chips to unlock its power.

Create new revenue streams by monetizing private enterprise networks

May 9, 2023

This year’s MWC attendees were blown away by how easy it was to set up a private network and let enterprise customers monetize it.

The BIG Problem with Generative AI

APRIL 25, 2023

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is game changing for the telco industry. But can telcos fire it up “as-is”?

It’s easy being green with the public cloud

APRIL 11, 2023

Telcos can reduce emissions and costs while meeting customers’ increasing bandwidth demands with help from the public cloud.

I’m optimistic about telco

MARCH 28, 2023

Don’t listen to naysayers! The future of telco is bright. Celebrate your network and the untapped potential of solutions like Kandy.

On Cloud 9: Special MWC23 Edition

MARCH 14, 2023

Did you miss any of the exciting haps around the public cloud and telco at MWC 2023? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered!

Machine learning is changing the game for telcos

FEBURARY 28, 2023

Telcos can use ML to improve experiences, reduce churn, increase ARPU, and more. And they need to use the public cloud to do it. 

Turn that telco data into customer love

FEBURARY 14, 2023

These MNOs and MVNOs are using subscriber data, AI, ML, and the public cloud to deliver personalized experiences, proactive support, targeted offers and customer love to their subscribers. 

Bring the CLOUD to your BSS

JANUARY 31, 2023

Totogi is bringing the public cloud to BSS on the ground. Why? Because BSS capabilities are what’s important—not necessarily where it’s running. 

I’m Buying.

JANUARY 17, 2023

Somebody has to refactor telco software for the public cloud. The big vendors aren’t, so my team will—through the $1B Telco Transformation Fund.


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Should you build for repatriation?

DECEMBER 21, 2022

Let’s talk about the elephant in the cloud: should you build your workloads in the public cloud with the idea that you can move them back on prem?

TelcoDR’s re:Invent recap

DECEMBER 6, 2022

AWS re:Invent happened last week, online and live in Las Vegas. Here are the most interesting announcements for telco to come out of the event.

Coding with connectivity: Using the new DISH network APIs

NOVEMBER 22, 2022

DISH Wireless has a new open network API platform that anyone can use to add connectivity to anything with unfettered access.

MVNOs: Use personalization (and the public cloud!) for differentiation

NOVEMBER 8, 2022

MVNOs can set themselves apart by delivering exceptional, personalized subscriber experiences thanks to telco tools built with public cloud technology.

Google Cloud Next And Microsoft Ignite: Let’s Recap The Haps

OCTOBER 25, 2022

Google Cloud Next and Microsoft Ignite have wrapped. Here’s a recap of announcements from both events that affect telcos the most.

Your playlist for this week’s Google Cloud Next and Microsoft Ignite

OCTOBER 11, 2022

Google Cloud Next and Microsoft Ignite kick off this week. Here are top picks for sessions that telcos should attend.

How Amazon ditched Oracle databases for good

SEPTEMBER 27, 2022

Amazon’s consumer business shut down 100% of its Oracle databases. Here’s how they did it so you can do it too.

Why the public cloud is perfect for India

SEPTEMBER 12, 2022

The public cloud is perfect for India’s unique telco market. The only catch is that operators have to select software built for the public cloud.

Public cloud outages are your problem

AUGUST 30, 2022

It’s time to set the record straight about outages in the public cloud. The tech of the public cloud is more resilient than your own data center.

Deploying a new charger used to take a year. The Totogi Charging System takes hours.

AUGUST 16, 2022

The Totogi Charging System is so easy to deploy that people can’t quite believe it’s true. But it’s the real thing.

A public cloud masterclass with Vodafone

AUGUST 02, 2022

Vodafone has been rebuilding its business intelligence infrastructure piece by piece, replacing outdated tech with the latest and greatest.

The double bubble is NOT double trouble

JULY 19, 2022

There are two common approaches telcos use when moving workloads to the public cloud. Which one is best?

Need innovation? You won’t find it in an RFP

JULY 6, 2022

Requests for proposals, or RFPs, were great when new software installations were costly, time-consuming, once-per-decade efforts. Times are changing.

The Telco Pioneers: DISH Wireless

JUNE 21, 2022

DISH Wireless Executive Vice President and Chief Network Officer Marc Rouanne talks about DISH’s cloud-native 5G network – a game changer for telco.

3 Things You Need to Do to Become a Tech-Co

JUNE 7, 2022

Lots of telecoms are thinking about pivoting to become tech companies. Before you decide to do this, consider the challenges.

Why Do People Think Kubernetes Is Cloud Native?

MAY 24, 2022

In today’s cloud native infrastructure and applications, Kubernetes is not the final step. You’ve got to use more of the public cloud than just containers.

Save Big Money By Storing Data In The Cloud

MAY 10, 2022

The economics are simple: you’ll save money by storing data in the public cloud.

How to tell if that vendor’s application is truly cloud native

APRIL 26, 2022

Telco CTOs and CIOs, use these questions to figure out which vendors are doing cloud native right.

Bet on the future

APRIL 11, 2022

Instead of making technical decisions based on where technology is today, factor in the hyperscalers’ plans for the future.

TM Forum Open APIs hit a milestone

MARCH 29, 2022

TM Forum recently announced more than 500,000 downloads of the Open APIs, and they’re gaining momentum across a variety of vendors and CSPs. Why now?

Can you feel it? The public cloud is NOW

MARCH 15, 2022

If you haven’t started your move to the public cloud, the time is now! Here are the three biggest things slowing telcos down, and how to address them.

Three can’t-miss sessions for telcos at MWC 2022

FEBRUARY 24, 2022

We’re pumped for Mobile World Congress, the biggest event in telco! It runs from February 28 to March 3, 2022 in Barcelona (and also online). 

How to keep cloud costs under control

FEBRUARY 15, 2022

When you start shifting workloads to the public cloud, a couple of things happen. Your costs shift from fixed to variable, and power shifts from your bureaucracy to individual technologists.

How to keep moving to the cloud

FEBRUARY 1, 2022

I get this question a lot from telco leaders who want to accelerate their cloud journey. I won’t lie:  It’s a big job. It’s like what my mom always tells me, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”

The secret sauce for your cloud transformation: HR

JANUARY 19, 2022

2021 was the year of the public cloud in telco. DISH went all-in on AWS. AT&T sold its Network Cloud platform tech to Azure. Verizon is integrating with all three hyperscalers. I could go on..


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All aboard the public cloud train!

DECEMBER 28, 2021

I can’t believe it’s already time to usher in 2022. What a year 2021 has been. I went 5 for 5 on my predictions for this past year, but it still brought surprises, including the incredible opportunity to bring telco and the public cloud front and center during MWC21.

AWS Private 5G blows the roof off re:Invent

DECEMBER 09, 2021

I was ready for some big announcements during AWS re:Invent. I shared my list of can’t-miss sessions. But AWS Private 5G? Huge. Like rock-the-socks-of-telco huge.

Top takeaways from Microsoft Ignite

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

Earlier this month, Microsoft announced more than 90 upgrades to its cloud services during its annual Microsoft Ignite conference.

Top takeaways from Google Cloud Next

NOVEMBER 3, 2021

It’s hyperscaler event season! Which means tons of announcements (easy to miss), tons of talks (who has the time?), all jam-packed together so we’re wading through all of it to help you navigate the noise.

Here’s what you need to know about public cloud software

OCTOBER 12, 2021

In my many conversations with telco execs, one of the biggest myths I find myself having to overcome about the public cloud is that it’s all about the infrastructure. 

Why DISH’s cloud native network will work

SEPTEMBER 16, 2021

In April, news broke that DISH would be hosting its RAN and mobile core on Amazon’s public cloud infrastructure. Now, a new announcement has come around.

Why use the public cloud at the edge

AUGUST 20, 2021

Over the past few months, there have been a number of high-profile announcements of telcos partnering with the hyperscalers to augment their edge networks.

And then there were three …

AUGUST 6, 2021

During this past quarter three big telcos made bold announcements about their plans to partner with hyperscalers to get to the public cloud – DISH with AWS, AT&T with Azure and Bell Canada with Google Cloud.

MWC21 has wrapped… and the journey has just begun

JULY 20, 2021

MWC21 is in the books and boy, did we ROCK IT. We took over the Ericsson stand and created the most vibrant, engaging exhibit that MWC has ever seen.

Show time! Don’t miss CLOUD CITY at MWC21

JUNE 22, 2021

We’re raising the roof at MWC21 … Literally! CLOUD CITY is going from render to reality. The roof is going UP, and next week, vendors, visitors, and public cloud tech are going IN!

Just 47 days away … all systems go for Barcelona!

MAY 12, 2021

If you follow me on Twitter (and if not, why not? I’m hilarious!), you may have seen the video and photos of our vision for CLOUD CITY. It’s one hundred percent awesome.

MWC is happening! Here’s the latest on Cloud City.

APRIL 22, 2021

With 66 days to go, excitement about MWC continues to build. GSMA announced recently that Spain will allow non-EU attendees to travel to Barcelona for MWC – hooray!

Countdown to Cloud City

APRIL 1, 2021

You may have heard that we’ve taken over Ericsson’s 65,000-square-foot booth at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2021 in Barcelona.

The new ant at the picnic

MARCH 9, 2021

This week I’m taking part in TelecomTV’s annual DSP Leaders World Forum. I’ll be participating in two ways: a panel and a talk, both available March 9.

It’s time to get rid of software customizations

FEBRUARY 23, 2021

Just because you CAN modify software to do something, doesn’t mean you SHOULD modify the software.

FOMO about the public cloud

FEBRUARY 9, 2021

Telcos have been starting small, taking steps, and moving applications to the public cloud. But the other day someone on Twitter asked, “What proof do you have that this is ACTUALLY happening?”

Be like Vodafone and move your analytics to the public cloud

JANUARY 26, 2021

Read about how one of the biggest telcos out there is reaping the rewards of moving to the public cloud.

The double bubble

JANUARY 11, 2021

What stops so many people from even starting cost-saving projects is the dreaded DOUBLE BUBBLE.


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2021 Forecast

DECEMBER 29, 2020

Take a look at the biggest headlines from 2020, plus predictions for 2021. Here’s a good question: will telco get to the public cloud before Elon Musk puts people on Mars?

BHAGs FTW!

DECEMBER 15, 2020

Big hairy audacious goals – B.H.A.G. – no it’s not the name of a kids’ book, but a phrase made famous by the mid-90s business book “Built to Last”.

Think twice before building your own public cloud

DECEMBER 1, 2020

The other day I was talking with a telco exec in South America who told me he was planning to build his own public cloud.

Hasta la vista, source code

NOVEMBER 17, 2020

One thing people don’t talk about enough when they talk about the public cloud is how you can completely eliminate MILLIONS of lines of code.

Stop using latency as a reason to not move to the public cloud

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

Faster is better, and so when it comes to speed and telco services, it’s all about measuring latency. So what’s latency?

Don’t listen to Rakuten hecklers

OCTOBER 21, 2020

At the end of last month, cloud-pioneering operator Rakuten announced the rollout of its ultra-high-speed 5G service. Exciting news, right? Not if you believe some voices in the telco sector.

The public cloud can turn telcos into (data) oil barons

OCTOBER 6, 2020

It’s been more than 15 years since we first heard that ‘data is the new oil.’

Call centers, you need to up your CX game – fast.

SEPTEMBER 22, 2020

Treat your customers like crap, and they’re not coming back.

Get ready for increased chatter around OpenRAN

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020

If you’re not hearing about cloud, you’re hearing about “OpenRAN.’

What gives with Amdocs acquisition of Openet?

AUGUST 25, 2020

Unpacking the claim that Amdocs acquired Openet for its cloud-native capabilities.

Telcos, stop talking and just get on with it

AUGUST 12, 2020

When we look back at the events of 2020, one of the few good things to result from the pandemic will surely be the re-focus on the importance of ‘digital transformation.’


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