In conjunction with MWC Barcelona 2022 which will be taking place from the 28th of February to the 3rd of March, Tara Neal, Executive Editor of The Fast Mode spoke to Ian Watterson, Head of CSG’s Asia-Pacific Business on the company's plans and showcases for this year's event.
Tara: What do you think MWC 2022 will be all about? And what are your MWC 2022 plans?
Ian: This year, we should see a major emphasis on the next phase of 5G rollouts and the Internet of Things (IoT). As CSPs make significant investments in these new business areas, they also face the challenges of maximizing returns on those investments. CSPs are well-positioned to capitalize on the transformative power of 5G, enabling use cases like network slicing, partner ecosystems and more. To differentiate themselves and stay ahead of the curve, operators need to get to market faster to maintain revenue. 5G and IoT are just the beginning, and CSPs need a future-proof, agile architecture in place to effectively monetize the opportunities they surface.
Tara: How has the pandemic impacted the operational and business landscape of the tech segment you are operating in?
Ian: The importance of mobile connectivity has remained constant throughout the pandemic, but global traveling volume has decreased significantly. As a result, most of CSG’s customers are only receiving one broadband payment because their customers use Wi-Fi on their mobile devices instead of 5G capabilities and roaming, resulting in a decrease in their mobile revenue. While traveling may look like it is getting back to normal, the ebbs and flows have made it difficult for operators to accurately project future mobile revenues.
I have also noticed that suppliers emphasizing great customer experiences have really prevailed during the pandemic. Now more than ever, people are highly focused on the interactions they have with suppliers and the overall, end-to-end customer experience. The pandemic has rapidly accelerated the digitalization of the customer experience as customers have adopted and now expect digital. Digital agility has quickly outpaced outdated, antiquated methods, which is a positive for both providers and customers.
Tara: What emerging trends/technologies have you observed in your tech segment in recent months?
Ian: We are entering an era of accelerated growth, innovation, and collaboration with public cloud/software-as-a-service (SaaS) and 5G infrastructures. Traditionally and predominantly, this growth has happened in the more advanced parts of the Asia-Pacific market like Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, New Zealand and Australia. In some instances, CSG has helped our customers transform into digital CSPs, like M1 in Singapore and Telstra.
Where does that leave the rest of the Asia-Pacific market? Well, they are not too far behind, and in recent months, we have seen further adoption and interest in SaaS and 5G infrastructures by emerging markets such as Sri Lanka, Indonesia and India. This is not surprising, given the large investment and faith it requires to adopt the infrastructure.
Cloud infrastructure will continue to create a virtualized world, laying the foundation for ecosystems, harmonious orchestration, and collaboration. At CSG, we see rising demand for a solution that is open, integrated, and modular, to enable dynamic, agile, and scalable collaboration across a multitude of partners to reduce the complexity of multi-sided, B2B2X ecosystems. It is truly an exciting time for the industry, and I anticipate that this will be an MWC for the ages.
Ian Watterson is Head of Asia-Pacific at CSG. In his role, Watterson guides growth strategy and customer success initiatives in this dynamic region.
