The Telecommunications sector is made up of companies that make communication possible on a global scale, whether it is through the phone or the Internet, through airwaves or cables, through wires or without wires. These companies created the infrastructure that allows data in words, voice, audio or video to be sent anywhere in the world. Telecommunications is one of the industries that use artificial intelligence in many aspects of business today through virtual assistants and chat bots, and the artificial intelligence that runs these tools behind the scenes. Telecommunications companies improve customer service and satisfaction. Artificial intelligence is essential for the optimization and predictive maintenance of telecommunications companies’ networks. AI is also hard at work detecting fraudulent activity. Additionally, through predictive analytics, artificial intelligence makes it possible for telecoms to glean actionable business insights from the volumes of data they gather every day.
The Telecommunication industry enables internet device connectivity. It is one of the largest players in the Internet of Things market, everyday items that are connected to one another and the internet. Internet of Things technology helps monitor base stations and data centers remotely. This helps ensure minimal downtime for the network. Since the industry is so instrumental in providing IoT infrastructure, the industry is uniquely poised to develop and offer their own services for IoT. Since IoT technology results in more devices on the network there are more opportunities for security and privacy breaches to occur so telecoms need to plan and prepare defenses for that. While there are still a lot of unknowns regarding the transformation IoT will have for telecoms, there’s little doubt that it will disrupt the industry.
Today, Telecommunications companies are collecting and generating volumes of data from mobile devices and apps, wearable and more wireless data is expected to continue to increase through the 2020s, but it will be the companies that use it to their competitive advantage that will survive. Telecommunication companies need to ensure that their networks can move extraordinary amounts of data through their network efficiently and continue to support new technologies. Telecoms also need to address the new security challenges that have arisen with new technology that use their networks. Ultimately, the data that telecoms collect can be analyzed to improve customer service, determine and evaluate new products, as well as monitor and optimize the network.
Another important aspect is Robotic process automation (RPA), which can take over repetitive, rules-based, high-frequency processes and complete them very accurately. When telecoms deploy RPA for tasks, error rates and costs are reduced while customer service and operational efficiency are boosted. The telecommunications industry has one of the highest adoption rates for RPA technology since it seems to serve it so well. RPA offers high levels of applicability and agility for telecoms and can take over many tasks such as report generation, responding to customer questions, order processing, price tracking and more.
The smallest, but fastest-growing, area within the sector is wireless communications, as more and more communications and computing methods shift to mobile devices and cloud-based technology. This piece of the industry is the anticipated keystone for the continued global expansion of the telecommunications sector. The need for telecommunications services, an integral part of the global economy, persists regardless of changes in the business cycle. However, while the demand is constant, individual suppliers can rise and fall.
Electromagnetic Systems is an issue in Telecommunication as it generates electromagnetic fields at radio and microwave frequencies. Transmitters have proliferated with siting of wireless communication networks, often co-located among other transmitters. Telecommunications equipment is ubiquitous, and EMF exposure prolonged, raising the issue of possible health risks. Such risks, if any, must be managed. For example, epidemiology studies reported higher exposure to analog cell phone EMFs among brain cancer patients than among controls, but those risks were ‘managed’ via replacement of analog phones with today’s digital phones, which have not been associated with human cancer.
The deployment of the 5G networks will feature high proliferation of radio base station (RBS) in order to meet the increasing demand for bandwidth and also to provide wider coverage that will support more mobile users and the internet-of-things (IoT). The radio frequency (RF) waves from the large-scale deployment of the RBS and mobile devices will raise concerns on the level of electromagnetic (EM) radiation exposure to the public.
Health concerns have motivated further exposure reduction suggestions, and sometimes opposition to siting transmitters. Credible, objective explication of technical information to primarily non-technical audiences is necessary to support informed public participation and dispassionate weighing of telecommunications risks and benefits in community decision-making. Ultimately, experts and non-experts should adhere to the ‘precautionary principle’, requiring adoption of reasonably (but not excessively) pessimistic exposure and risk assumptions, whether or not they are likely to materialize.
One of the challenges faced today is the need to innovate in a very competitive market while reducing costs at the same time to keep their services at an affordable price range. Considering the situation, Block chain technology is offering industry the perfect solution to one of its core requirements. With such a tight and secure grasp on the data. The block chain technology is already used in multiple applications in the telecommunication industry. Being able to hold historical records of users without any chance of those records being tampered with, makes it possible to manage different aspects of the users’ accounts. Some of the block chain applications include automation of many internal operations such as billing systems, Roaming, and supply chain management. Automating the billing systems using the smart contracts that block chain technology provides and saves the companies a lot of time, money, and prevents any possibility of fraud. The block chain technology is still considered relatively new. This is why there is so much potential in it that is still unravelling. With block chain technology, the world now is in the phase of having this new tool that can be used in ways that no one really knows yet. There is so much room for exploring and finding new opportunities.
The market conditions in India is very much optimistic and the scope is very much versatile. As millions of Indians stay home and maintain social distancing from their friends and family and colleagues, they increasingly turn to their mobile devices to socialize and work from home. Even the Government turned to the telecommunications sector to spread awareness as well as to trace and track infected persons in a bid to break the chain of transmission. Yet, the ongoing situation has had a profound impact on service providers too. As we emerge from this ongoing situation, this sector must focus on leveraging technology intelligently for future business security. The pandemic showed the world just how closely technology is linked to business security in the modern world.
This is particularly important since this current situation has demonstrated the vital role played by telecommunications in the country. From helping deliver awareness messages, to telemedicine and online classes, the telecommunication sector has a vital role to play in the country’s growth and development and it cannot afford to be disrupted by unprecedented events. Indian mobile tariffs rank amongst the lowest in the world. While that is great for democratizing access, there needs to be some tariff rationalization if telcos are to thrive in this new digital economy. Innovative offers and smart usage based plans can go a long way in monetizing the 4G infrastructure. India ranks amongst the biggest telecommunications markets in the world, driven by inexpensive plans and easy availability of smartphones. More importantly, telecommunications is one of the key drivers of India’s inclusive and sustainable development plans.
Yet, the digital divide has still not been fully bridged in the country. Around half of India’s population does not have an internet connection. Nearly 1.6 million students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds in India are at risk of falling behind their peers as they lack the means to access online education. As we move ahead, private telecom players must work with the Government to bridge this chasm and bring every Indian into the digital fold. From building the necessary infrastructure to extending plans services for rural and remote regions, the Indian telecom sector has its work cut out, because only a connected India can be a truly developed and inclusive India.
