Six Trends Shaping The Future Of Network Infrastructure For Telecom Operators

Alexander Britkin is the CEO of NFWare.

Digital transformation is accelerating at an unprecedented rate—and the telecommunications industry must evolve rapidly to meet demands for connectivity and performance. Telecom operators need to keep pace with network infrastructure developments to remain competitive and continue meeting customers’ short- and long-term needs. The following six trends are shaping the future of network infrastructure for telecom operators.

1. Moving From IPv4 To IPv6

In less than 50 years, the internet has experienced explosive growth, far beyond the expectations of its creators. The internet’s original architecture, built in the 1970s, assigned each connected device a unique 32-bit number—an IPv4 (internet protocol version 4) address—to exchange information with other online devices. The initial bank of available IPv4 addresses totaled around 4.2 billion, which seemed substantial at the time, but demand has already greatly exceeded supply.

The available pool of IPv4 addresses is nearly depleted in the U.S. and other areas of the world, forcing network operators to adopt a new internet protocol. IPv6, which uses 128 bits instead of 32, therefore offers an enormous pool of unique addresses. But IPv6 adoption is slower than expected, due to compatibility challenges and infrastructure inertia. According to data from Google, “the availability of IPv6 connectivity among Google users” is around 46%. Even though we are moving toward IPv6 deployment, IPv4 won’t become obsolete any time soon. Many legacy systems still rely on IPv4, so networks must keep IPv4 operational alongside IPv6, a practice referred to as dual-stacking.

To extend the life of IPv4, telecom operators are widely adopting CGNAT (carrier-grade network address translation) as a solution. CGNAT allows multiple users to share a single public IPv4 address by assigning private IPs within the provider’s network and translating them to a public IP only when necessary. While we wait for full IPv6 deployment, which could take at least another decade, CGNAT is a viable option for bridging the gap.

2. Network Virtualization

Network functions virtualization (NFV) is an approach that replaces network hardware appliances with a virtual infrastructure. NFV allows operators to essentially run network functions as software on virtual machines, providing more flexibility and scalability. I’ve seen this trend toward network virtualization gain momentum in the last five to 10 years. Not long ago, most operators considered hardware appliances more reliable for deploying networking solutions. Now, the operators we work with no longer request hardware-based infrastructure; they are interested in adopting virtual software that is cost-efficient and adaptable to their needs.

3. Edge Computing

Traditional data centers, which aggregate all traffic from different cities in regions in centralized locations, struggle to meet this exponential growth in traffic. Edge computing, in contrast, uses a distributed network infrastructure to bring data processing and storage closer to end users, reducing latency and improving performance. CGNAT plays a critical role in edge computing by managing the scarcity of IPv4 addresses and facilitating connectivity in high-traffic environments. Operators are now structuring their networks to accommodate 5G and edge computing, leveraging many smaller data centers distributed across a country or region instead of large centralized locations.

4. Artificial intelligence

AI is revolutionizing the telecom industry alongside every other sector. Telecoms are using AI to make networks smarter and more efficient and predicting issues before they cause outages. AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants are speeding up customer service, solving problems faster and improving overall user satisfaction. In the future, telecoms will increasingly deploy AI for self-optimizing networks, which use AI and automation to continuously adjust and improve performance without human intervention.

5. 5G And 6G

The GSMA, an organization that represents the interests of worldwide mobile operators, estimates that “5G will account for as many as 1.2 billion connections by 2025,” with networks covering one-third of the global population. While 5G is expanding globally, its availability and development depend heavily on the region, with leading countries far ahead in terms of adoption and coverage. Nevertheless, 6G is anticipated to deliver speeds up to 100 times faster than 5G, offering extremely low latency and support for massive connectivity. It aims to enable more advanced technologies like immersive extended reality (XR), advanced AI-driven applications, holographic communications and real-time digital twins.

6. Expanding Fiber Networks

The expansion of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks is transforming connectivity, providing ultra-fast internet to households and businesses worldwide. This shift is driving a surge in data traffic as users engage in high-bandwidth activities like streaming, gaming, and cloud applications. As a result, telecom providers are scaling infrastructure with advanced solutions to manage increased loads efficiently. FTTH not only meets today’s demand for seamless connectivity but also lays a foundation for future technologies, supporting innovations like IoT, 5 and VR with minimal latency and high-speed reliability.

As traffic continues to skyrocket every year, fueled by growing subscriber numbers and increased availability of high-speed internet, telecom operators can no longer focus only on meeting today’s demands. They also need to develop and adopt network infrastructure that is flexible and scalable enough to support users’ traffic needs well into the future.

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