Network Asset Management to Save Network Capex
Telecom operators are challenged to maintain their position in a world where adapting to technology and competition is rapidly eating into their market share. At the same time, CSPs are also struggling to keep operational costs associated with network infrastructure low when lean yet effective operations are critical.
Previously, a significant chunk of spending was directed towards network hardware. In the current landscape, the interest is towards investing in innovative software models, including network virtualization. At the same time, network teams are challenged with rolling out new technologies under stringent budgets. But without commercial models that link technology investments to business objectives, it becomes increasingly hard to measure the ROI of Capex investments. This is mission-critical, seeing how telecom operators lose 20% of their revenue or USD 65 million per year in Capex wastage.
What is the need for network asset management system?
To achieve the benefits of 5G and 4G-LTE-based network transformation, operators must reform swathes of connections, upgrade infrastructure, and purchase network spectrum, which involves massive investment. GSMA estimates that mobile operators will spend USD 1.1 trillion in mobile Capex between 2020 and 2025. Moreover, telecom operators may spend nearly USD 890 billion on 5G networks over the next five years.
As urban cities expand, operators must constantly assess emerging network requirements, project usage, procure assets, and allocate and install these at critical sites. But network assets procurement is an expensive and lengthy process. There are contracts to follow, compliances to meet, and clearances to be reviewed before the device/product is shipped to the site for rollout.
Faced with these challenges, network asset management tools are touted as the answer to provide network teams with a holistic view of all their network equipment and sites and whether assets operate at optimum capacity, as planned. Asset Maintenance software also helps identify which assets need attention and which can be sunset. Network asset management software may also reveal unutilized or underutilized assets, presenting an opportunity to re-harvest network assets to reduce the Capex burden.
Modern themes for network assets – Reuse. Reduce. Retire.
Intelligent resource allocation capabilities of modern Network Asset Management tools allow operators to make every investment dollar count, especially during network modernization programs. It monitors assets and automatically suggests those that can be safely relocated for better utilization. Retiring these assets in time reduces the Capex burden. Similarly, shutting down or removing unutilized assets reduces power consumption.
Network asset management tools allow telcos to build ‘virtual warehouses, ‘ i.e., where assets are decommissioned and ready for re-harvest. Paired with network asset metadata or Capex harvest analytics, this helps operators realize numerous benefits. To understand more, read the point of view here.
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