Is The Network Still The Star? How Cloud-Native Forces Telcos To Rethink Their Role
RCRWirelessNews, Tuesday, April 15th, 2025
In a world of cloud-native infrastructure, is the network still the backbone - or just another service in the stack?
As telecom networks evolve into cloud-native, software-defined platforms, operators are being forced to ask an uncomfortable question: In a world defined by distributed cloud infrastructure, is the network still central - or has it become just another cloud service, abstracted away into the background and valued only for utility?
The shift to containerized microservices and Kubernetes-based orchestration has ushered in a new era of agility and scalability. But it's also created a strategic identity crisis for telcos.
'There's anxiety on the part of many operators about whether their network infrastructure is as critical to underpinning the business models of the future as it has been in the past,' STL Partners Senior Analyst and Telco Cloud Lead David Martin explained.