On display in my house is a 1926 Kellogg wall phone.\u00a0 I can\u2019t use it to place a call, but it looks great.\u00a0 It\u2019s crafted from beautifully finished oak with a candlestick earpiece and a small platform for taking notes.\u00a0 It still has the original internal components, including a magneto and dry cell batteries.\u00a0 The antique phone connects me to a proud lineage of engineers, technicians, field personnel, customer service staff, and network professionals (among many others) who have built this industry.\u00a0 I\u2019ve worked in telecom my entire career and have been awed by the response from operators around the globe to the current situation.<\/p>\n
While so many service businesses have shed workers and are fighting for survival, other sectors are faring better.\u00a0 Streaming services like Netflix<\/strong><\/a> and online retailers like Amazon<\/a><\/strong> and Walmart<\/a><\/strong> are seeing demand surge.\u00a0 We\u2019re all familiar with the ascension of Zoom<\/a><\/strong> from an enterprise video-conferencing provider to a social media sensation.<\/p>\n What do each of these online services have in common? \u00a0They are dependent, of course, on ubiquitous, reliable, and relatively cheap communications services. Our digital devices connect us to the people we care about, summon food, keep us entertained and allow many to continue their education.\u00a0 \u00a0Communications services have enabled the new \u201cnormal\u201d: Do laundry, watch children, stroke a pet, finish a meal\u2026 all while joining a conference call! \u00a0We\u2019ve perhaps never leaned so heavily on global communications networks. \u00a0And by extension, we\u2019ve never been so dependent on the people building and operating these networks.<\/p>\n Yet both networks and communication service providers (CSPs) are under stress. \u00a0Core networks are quite resilient and tend to be robustly engineered with the capacity to accommodate sustained surges in demand.\u00a0 Edge networks, on the other hand, particularly where there is a legacy copper plant and coax, are often running hot.\u00a0 No doubt, this is leading to frustration among many as their streams of Tiger King<\/a><\/strong> drop packets. \u00a0Wireless networks have seen changes in usage patterns and subscriber locality<\/a><\/strong>, double-digit increases in peak traffic, and some erosion in average data speeds in many regions.\u00a0 Broadly speaking, mobile operators have been handling the workload without significant impacts on customer experience.\u00a0 This is a testament not just to good planning, but to the ongoing work of network professionals who are monitoring and continually optimizing network performance<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n On the business side for CSPs, it\u2019s been a mixed bag.\u00a0 Demand for consumer services is holding relatively steady.\u00a0 However, the overall economic climate will lead to an erosion of business services revenue.\u00a0 Before the crisis, Analysys Mason<\/a><\/strong> was projecting a modest 0.7% increase in telecoms revenue.\u00a0 Their revised forecast predicts a 3.4% decline across developed markets in 2020.\u00a0 Despite this, operators are adding workers to their rolls to handle frontline services and are increasing salaries for essential workers in some situations. CSPs are stepping up in many cases to offer deferred payment plans, increased data caps, and contributions to various charitable causes<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n As quoted in the Financial Times<\/a><\/strong>, Hans Vestberg, the CEO of Verizon, said, “staff who have continued to work in the field to support customers \u2014 be they engineers or shopworkers \u2014 deserve credit. Those are the heroes.\u201d<\/p>\n I could not agree more.\u00a0 Certainly, we all owe a big dose of gratitude to the frontline workers who are staffing health care facilities, delivering groceries, and looking after public safety (among so many other essential services).<\/p>\n At the same time, frontline workers in the communications industry continue to be dispatched to customer locations (wearing PPE!), enter manholes, climb towers, and staff the few retail outlets that are open.\u00a0 Behind them are network professionals who are staffing NOCs, data centers, and war rooms to provide critical operations support.\u00a0 They are so essential that CSPs in India<\/a><\/strong> are making temporary living arrangements for them near telco facilities. No doubt, such accommodations are being made worldwide, with communications workers rising to the challenge of keeping global networks running.<\/p>\n So here\u2019s a shout-out to the Network Heroes!<\/p>\n