Amid surging computing demands driven by artificial intelligence (AI), the communications industry faces a structural barrier—controlling its proprietary radio access network (RAN) through proprietary technology. "Open RAN" is being hailed as a solution, and initiatives aimed at broadening the door to technological advancement are proliferating.
Traditionally, telecommunications companies have followed major technological trends, from cloud computing to e-commerce, but they still face difficulties competing with the rapid development of the technology sector and its ability to secure funding. There are warnings that this gap may widen further as recent AI inference workloads require even more computing resources.
StackPath founder and CEO Sabujit Johar emphasized, "Inference not only consumes significant computing resources, but will also require more strategic control in the future," meaning more logical control. He also mentioned that through open wireless access network technology, telecommunications companies can break down excessive proprietary control and create new opportunities for innovation.
As artificial intelligence plays an increasingly important role, the necessity for telecommunications companies to re-examine their infrastructure is being emphasized. This is because AI systems are beginning to influence network operations and traffic routing, and the importance of "intelligence" is transcending mere connectivity.
Johar stated, "Artificial intelligence is democratizing intelligence, and telecommunications companies will gain a huge advantage if they adopt it and use it in their operations." However, most telecommunications companies serve regional or multinational markets and find it difficult to close the gap in scale with the technology sector.
The $14 billion (approximately 21.6 trillion won) open wireless access network contract between AT&T and Ericsson is a case in point, requiring infrastructure rebuilding investments that only large operators can afford. Johar explained, "Most telecommunications companies provide services locally and are regulated by governments, making it difficult to achieve economies of scale," adding, "The larger the scale, the more favorable the conditions for innovation."
