- Telcos believe they need to become professional software development shops to keep pace with evolving technology
- Experts told Fierce, though, that they'll likely have trouble attracting talent because of low pay
- Additionally, telcos would need to shift to a more flexible investment mindset to be successful
Out of all the things that were said at DTW Ignite in Copenhagen last month, there’s one comment that stands out. It’s a seemingly simple statement on the surface, but the phrasing belies the massive operational shifts it would require in practice.
“All of our companies I think are going to have to mature into professional software development shops,” AT&T CTO Jeremy Legg said during an operator keynote panel. “[In] our underlying networks, hardware is being replaced by traditional compute and software layers are being put on that. So even your traditional network engineer or RF engineers have to learn software.”
He continued: “Now what we have to do is begin to take ownership of our own product roadmaps and directions and technologies and deploy those technologies ourselves so we are leading and controlling our destiny.”
Following on, Telstra Group Executive for Product and Technology Kim Krogh Andersen reinforced the point, stating operators have hit a juncture where they must change their legacy models and see software as the new core of their business.
But several others at the show told Fierce this is easier said than done. It’s not just a matter of having staff learn to code.
Totogi CEO Danielle Royston (perhaps better known for her consultancy TelcoDR) said telcos first face the issue of luring in the right talent.
“Here’s the fundamental problem with this idea: software people command a certain level of compensation. And the comp that they can command is probably 3-4x” what telcos are offering, she said.
“You’re not going to have the cream of the crop and you need the cream of the crop for building a great software company," Royston continued.
And even if they can woo top-tier talent, telcos still need to undertake a massive mindset shift.
AWS Telco Business Unit GM Chivas Nambiar told Fierce telcos are used to undertaking large capital investments, but noted these often come with what AWS calls “one-way doors.” That is, once the investment decision is made, you can’t back out of it.
But that’s not really how software engineering works.
“The software engineering world is a little bit different in that you have a lot of two-way doors where you can try something and you can come back,” he said. “What I talk to my customers about is how do you get to doing more of these prototypes, experiments and be dynamic and flexible because the investment you’re making is not substantial compared to a capital investment.”
So, are telcos destined to become professional software development shops as Legg suggested? Survey says probably not.
“They’ve been saying that for years” Red Hat’s Telco CTO Ian Hood remarked. While telcos are working on opening up their APIs and do spend time on customer facing applications, almost everything on the network side utilizes third-party software, he added.
“There are pieces of it where they are developers, and a majority where they’re not,” he concluded.