The telecom industry never stands still, and new innovations, as well as external factors, are driving continuous change. Here we look at the five biggest telecom trends in 2023.

1. THE TOP 4 TELECOM TRENDS IN
2023

2. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
THE TOP 4 TELECOM TRENDS IN 2023
The telecom industry never stands still, and new innovations, as well as external factors,
are driving continuous change. Here we look at the five biggest telecom trends in 2023.

3. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
The next 12 months look set to be a bumpy year for many global markets, and communications
service providers (CSPs) will not be entirely insulated from the volatility. To offset this, businesses
are looking to step up innovation and digital transformation.
In the telecommunications sector, there are a number of stand-out technologies and trends that
will increasingly be leveraged to boost customer experience, network and business resilience,
and value propositions.
Here, I highlight those that I feel will make the biggest impact in 2023 – the ones that no telco
operator or CSP can afford to ignore.

4. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
CYBERSECURITY AND RESILIENCE
In 2023, it will become more important than ever that network operators take all
appropriate steps to secure themselves from both cyber-attacks and turbulent market
conditions. Although covering both bases requires different technologies and tactics, both
are equally important when it comes to ensuring that a business is truly robust and ready
to face up to the future.
From a security point of view, the biggest threats have traditionally been seen to come
from three factors; hackers and thieves looking to expose data that can be sold on or used
to compromise a business, corporate espionage, and a lack of awareness among
employees of basic security measures such as safe use of passwords and prevention of
phishing attacks.

5. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
As telcos provide the “backbone” infrastructure that enables other digital services –
from movie streaming to corporate email networks – to function, they are often highly
attractive targets for those with less-than-pure intentions.
As such, they are under extreme pressure to ensure that there are no exposed "back
doors" thanks to the implementation of internet of things (IoT) architecture, uneducated
users, or third-party partners. Understanding and mitigating these threats will be a core
task for telecom operators in 2023.

6. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
CLOUD ADOPTION
Telecom service providers will continue to see the benefits of moving critical IT
infrastructure into the cloud – public, private and hybrid – rather than activating more
private data centers. In 2023, telcos will harness the cloud in order to create scalability
by building services that can be ramped up when demand increases and scaled back
when outside factors – such as cost-of-living or supply chain disruption – dictate that
business will slow down.
It also means that new services can be bought to market quickly and trialed to assess
customer uptake without incurring huge losses due to infrastructure expenses if they
are not immediately hugely popular.

7. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
This will be increasingly useful as the race to monetize 5G services gathers pace, and
CSPs will differentiate themselves by how quickly and efficiently they can put tools that
make this possible into their customers' hands.
This year, we saw major players such as AT&T, Vodaphone, and Telefonica announce new
deals with cloud providers to handle their data processing operations. In the coming
year, we can expect this to expand as telcos build services to enable 5G and edge
computing services through cloud platforms.

8. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Artificial intelligence (AI) has the power to transform just about every industry, and the
telecom industry is certainly no different. It is used for many purposes, from streamlining
customer services to predictively managing the flow of communications traffic across the
network.
Virtual assistants and chatbots enable telecom operators to respond more efficiently to
requests for help with technical support, troubleshooting, and network maintenance.
Network traffic optimization uses AI algorithms to adapt and reconfigure networks as their
usage changes, assigning more resources to route traffic where demand is highest and
scaling back when demand slows.

9. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
AI and machine learning (ML) are also used to detect fraudulent activity, such as illegal
and unauthorized access to networks or specific areas of networks or theft of services
via stolen passwords and user profiles.
As AI technology becomes more sophisticated and the challenges facing telecom
operators become more complex, we can expect to see even more interesting and
unique use cases for AI opening up in the sector during 2023.

10. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
TRUE OR “STAND ALONE” 5G
5G has been around for several years now, but most of the services offered by
consumer CSPs do not use a “pure” form of the technology, instead piggybacking their
services on existing 4G (LTE) infrastructure. This means it’s not likely that users are
using it to its full potential.
The next step in the rollout of 5G will be the move to what is being called "stand-
alone" 5G. This is where experts say that many of the interesting upgrades and
features that 5G makes possible, such as network slicing, will come into their own.

11. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
If you’ve got a 5G handset today, you would be forgiven for thinking that the only thing
the new and much-hyped technology offers is "more of the same, but faster." In fact, 5G
has the potential to enable new types of applications and digital services.
It also brings greater security and stability, meaning that it will make it possible to carry
out tasks such as remote surgery that existing mobile networks just aren’t robust
enough to handle.

12. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
To stay on top of the latest on new and emerging business and tech trends,
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YouTube, and check out my books ‘Tech Trends in Practice’ and ‘Business
Trends in Practice, which just won the 2022 Business Book of the Year award.

13. © 2021 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker,
futurist, and a strategic business & technology advisor to governments and
companies. He helps organisations improve their business performance, use data
more intelligently, and understand the implications of new technologies such as
artificial intelligence, big data, blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is
a frequent contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for
Forbes. Every day Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers
and shares content that reaches millions of readers.

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