Dalia Nabil, Nokia

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to telco modernisation. Zoltan Miklos, GM for network planning at MTN, says that telecommunications companies modernise for different reasons – to introduce new features and functionality, or improve network capacity, deploy new architectures, improve efficiencies, or offer advanced capabilities. Given these priorities, it can be difficult to decide where to start and where to focus your attention because technologies are advancing and improving all the time.

Miklos says making these decisions demands that telcos consider their investments and the equipment they deploy and whether or not that equipment will be outdated before it reaches end-of-useful-life. One of the metrics the mobile network operator tracks is return on invested capital. When it puts a piece of equipment into the network, it has to make sure that it generates a positive return on investment. “Should a network element on your network no longer be supported, and it fails, you’ve got a much bigger issue to deal with because you’re going to struggle to get it up and running again,” he says.