Singtel said that the new offering will be provided via its Paragon platform and Ericsson’s Service Orchestration and Assurance
Singaporean telco Singtel and Swedish vendor Ericsson have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the main aim of providing a self-service, API-enabled and real-time solution for ordering, provisioning and assuring communications services.
In a release, Singtel said that the new offering will be provides via Singtel’s orchestration platform for 5G edge computing and cloud services, Paragon and Ericsson’s Service Orchestration and Assurance.
The Asian telco noted that carriers globally can use the cloud-native solution to modernize and simplify the ways to provision new wireless communications services like network slicing and service assurance for enterprise customers, which will potentially lead to new monetization opportunities for telcos.
Currently, manual provisioning of network services by telcos is the norm, with a self-service option seen as too complex or costly to develop, said Singtel The combined solution will enable enterprise customers to order and manage their own communications services through Singtel’s Paragon platform where requests are immediately executed in the network via Ericsson Service Orchestration and Assurance.
Manoj Prasanna Kumar, CTO at Singtel Digital InfraCo said: “This strategic partnership will strengthen the joint value proposition and make it easier and faster for telcos to rollout their 5G, edge and network API use cases. The combined offering will enable seamless roll out of Paragon’s advanced network and edge capabilities to global carriers to enable them monetize their infrastructure rapidly.”
Also, Singtel’s Paragon platform will feature a self-service portal or API catalogue for enterprise customers to order and manage their dedicated and distinctive 5G-enabled services.
Singel aims to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve operations and customer experience as the technology advances, Tay Yeow Lian, managing director of networks at Singtel Singapore, recently told RCR Wireless News.
“We’re always looking for ways to get more out of technology – especially in the areas of AI and machine learning. Singtel has been using AI for many years in various ways from improving network performance and operations to customer experience. But we want to do more with the technology as it advances,” the executive said.
Last year, Singtel, together with 21 global telcos, formed the GSMA Open Gateway framework and initiated a federated and interoperable framework with open standard application programming interfaces (APIs) to accelerate the development and growth of services in areas such as fintech, identity, smart mobility, gaming and Web3. “The framework enables digital service providers and mobile network operators across the world to seamlessly develop open APIs for third-party developers and app providers, catalyszng innovation and faster adoption of new technologies like AI,” said Yeow Lian.
Under the joint venture, Yeow Lian explained that Singtel is co-developing an LLM to improve its customer interactions via digital assistants and chatbots, which will be available in Korean, English, German, Arabic and Bahasa to serve the 1.3 billion customer base across 50 countries which cover the founding parties’ respective markets. “We plan to include more languages within the LLM and cover more markets in the future,” the executive said.
