MWC 2021: New AWS CEO wants to help telcos reap the benefits of cloud

Adam Selipsky, incoming AWS CEO, has set out ambitions to help telecommunications operators reap the rewards of cloud technology.

Speaking at MWC 2021, Selipsky explained that cloud will unlock a range of opportunities and “powerful cost savings” for telecom operators, who have traditionally been limited by capital constraints and technical complexities at a data center level.

“We are really excited to be able to bring the cloud model to telecom operators, allowing them to get rid of CapEx in favor of OpEx and deploy flexibly and on very short notice, and to have elastic capacity depending on what’s going on with customers,” he said.

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“This will enable operators to focus on what really matters: building innovative services for their end customers. These are the benefits of the cloud.”

Selipsky, who will take the reins at AWS next month after Andy Jassy becomes Amazon CEO, says cloud will also give telcos the ability to take advantage of AI and machine learning techniques to enhance the customer experience.

For example, operators will be able to mine massive volumes of data to more accurately identify the times at which the network is likely to be congested and more capacity is required.

Separately, Selipsky claimed the cloud will help telcos provision brand new services that take advantage of 5G and edge computing. By shifting data processing and analysis closer to the point of collection, operators will be able to take advantage of low latency and extremely high throughput.

“Putting the compute and AI and the ability to run micro-infrastructure all the way out at the edge is starting to unlock new services, be that around gaming, video streaming, autonomous vehicles and more,” said Selipsky.

“It’s an incredibly exciting time for telecom operators around the world and these are the types of services that are going to underpin and enable innovation among so many telcos.”

AWS-Swisscom partnership

AWS also used the MWC session as a platform to announce a new partnership with Swiss telecoms firm Swisscom, as well as a new AWS infrastructure region serving Switzerland.

Set for construction in 2022, the AWS region will allow Swisscom to provide customers with a wider range of options when choosing which country their data is stored and processed in. Further, Swisscom says it will utilize AWS resources to optimize its internal IT systems and accelerate time to market for new end user services.

The partnership will also allow the Swiss telco to explore opportunities related to migrating from current 5G infrastructure to a 5G network powered by a cloud-native architecture, the role of which is to direct the flow of traffic. The anticipated efficiency gains should translate into reduced operating costs, greater reliability, and faster deployment of new services for customers.

In conversation with Selipsky, Swisscom CEO Urs Schaeppi spoke about the kinds of opportunities 5G will bring about, in conjunction with cloud.

“5G has massive potential; it’s the backbone for the next wave of digitalization. We will have a technology that is fast, more reliable, but also with lower latency. These features in combination will boost a lot of new use cases, such as Industry 4.0, smart agriculture and more,” he said.

“Together with AWS and our mobile partner Ericsson, I’m convinced we can even improve these networks, with more virtualization, more and automation.”