Despite recent rhetoric (cough, cough), in-person trade shows might not be dead. And if the recent 5G telco-focused MWC Barcelona event is any indication, we may want to thank the cloud ecosystem for that.

Pardon the poor analogy, but from afar, the cloud was a ray of light on the recent Fira festivities. Whether it was big-name keynote speeches or a gluttony of announcements, giant cloud providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft were a big part of the event.

Traditional telecom operators and vendors did have a significant physical presence, but it was the cloud that showed it was leading the innovation way for the telecom market.

Most of this cloud leadership is tied to the glaringly obvious reality that the traditional telecom ecosystem can only do so much when it comes to getting the market to the next level. Sure, 5G networks have been deployed and everyone is already sick of the hype – that’s how you know it’s good – but the chasm between putting a “5G” icon on a device and actually supporting true “5G” services remains vast.

Whether it’s AWS signing deals left and right with operators to support their various 5G expansion efforts or Microsoft continuing to take the SDN bones that AT&T initiated through to an end platform, 5G is not going to hit its true potential without the cloud.

5G telco needs cloud cover

Traditional telecom network evolution has hit its limit. There are only so many wires you can put in the ground and antennas in the air. And as we are seeing, for 5G to truly hit its potential, those physical pieces need the cloud and software behind the scenes to be smarter.

And, when it does come to actual physical equipment in the ground or in data centers, cloud providers have it all over their telecom counterparts. It’s what they do, and they do it well.

Sure, these cloud giants are helped by not having decades of legacy equipment to maintain and regulatory hurdles to jump through. But as my wife hates to hear me say, it is what it is.

And what “it is” is that traditional telecom operators are increasingly at the mercy of these cloud giants if they want to evolve, which is a tricky position, as these cloud giants are also starting to eat into telecom revenue streams.

“MWC22 made it clear that a new threat for telcos is on the horizon,” Forrester principal analyst Dan Bieler noted in a post-show report. “Telcos must urgently define their strategy for how to deal with non-telco network solution providers.”

Dumb pipes 4Ever?

In that same report, Bieler also highlighted how telecom operators need to change their mindset toward “business-outcome-driven-networks” instead of the current coverage battle.

This ties into the long-held disdain telecom operators have toward being called “dumb pipes,” which they have always taken as an affront to their business decisions. Various operators have at various times attempted to make their networks “smarter.” But this has been limited to basic quality of service ends that at most, have allowed for different billing rates.

These attempts have failed to take that thinking to the next level of using the vast scale and scope telecom and wireless networks have to make them invaluable to true high-paying enterprise customers.

But what can traditional telecom operators do? They should embrace being dumb pipes!

At the end of the day, telecom operators are the last link between consumers, enterprises, and their connectivity needs. They have well-established billing and customer support systems that, while maybe not anywhere near where they need to be, are light years ahead of what the cloud giants have or probably even want to have.

They need to do a better job of leveraging this advantage to drive revenue-generating innovation. They need to stop trying to outsmart the cloud giants at their own game and focus on what they do best. This means being smarter in partnering with the cloud and software ecosystem and taking advantage of their brand name cache with both the consumer and enterprise space to be that “trusted” service provider.

I know this might not generate the high-tech hype financial analysts love to tout, but in the end, those same financial analysts love to see the sunshine glow of profits.