The bedrock of digital economy

The first-ever virtual Telecom Leadership Forum saw the industry experts deliberate on the technology trends, 5G’s impact on society, local manufacturing, and the issues reshaping the ecosystem

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Keeping up with its tradition of being in sync with the time, and in view of the existing COVID-19 protocol, Voice&Data organized the 20th edition of the annual Telecom Leadership Forum (TLF) and Awards on a virtual platform. The multi-track, full-day conference was held on 24 March 2021. It was divided thematically into technology and strategy session saw the telecom leaders and key stakeholders from India discuss and explore new and emerging business models, technology options, revenue streams, and changing customer expectations.

The one-day virtual TLF was supported by Cisco as the Presenting Partner and it was powered by HPE-PC Solutions. The event gold partners included Sterlite Technologies, Comviva, Accenture, and Ciena. The TLF also got overwhelming support from industry and trade bodies, including Broadband India Forum, CMAI, Cellular Operators Association of India, ICEA, ITU-APT, TAIPA, and TEMA.

While the technology session saw the experts deliberate on issues like the impact of 5G on enterprises, how enterprises and hyperscalers can benefit from 5G edge and network slicing ecosystem, and how organizations can cope up with mobile cloud architectures and models, they also discussed SD-WAN, SASE, intelligent automation, as well as technologies for digital banking. The strategy session explored the readiness of telecom sector to support the Digital India dream – regulatory challenges, competition and the evolving customer needs; what India needs to do to the global supply hub for telecom equipments; and the demands of the evolving OTT ecosystem. The session also explored what the country should do to improve infrastructure for the new economy and market impact of Wi-Fi 6.