Voice&Data Talkies #5: Saurabh Kumar Sahu, MD and Lead – Communications, Media and Technology, Accenture in India

Accenture is one of the leading global professional services companies in the world with capabilities in digital, cloud, and security. The company enables digital transformation for companies across industries. And in the case of 5G, the consulting and tech company has become one of the most important players in the field, providing 5G, Industry X, network services, cloud-first, and technology solutions.

At Accenture in India, Saurabh Kumar Sahu holds the position of Managing Director and Lead - Communications, Media, and Technology. An Accenturite all his professional life, Saurabh has over a decade and a half of rich industry experience. He also is a member of the India Executive Committee at Accenture.

On the 5th edition of Voice&Data Talkies, Saurabh talks about 5G, the opportunities it creates, and Accenture's 5G play in the coming months.

5G has now become a reality over the last 18 months or so and will become a reality in India over the next 18 months. Do you think the time is right for 5G?

As a disruptive technology, 5G has the potential to reshape the entire communications value chain and act as an enabler for telecom service providers to offer ubiquitous connectivity layers and support the digitization of industries across multiple domains to drive new efficiency, agility, and innovation. In India, the movement and interest towards 5G readiness is strong. Manufacturing, transport, automotive, healthcare, retail, and agriculture sectors have shown a strong appetite to integrate 5G. The upward curve as enterprises prepare for their commercial rollout is a testimony to that.

Telecom companies need to consolidate their investments and incorporate performance, planning, and deployment for a return on investment (ROI) based strategy to enable this business opportunity in the most optimal manner whether it is to roll out business to business to consumer (B2B2C) use case-based 5G services over private networks and edge computing to enhance the customer experience. In fact, Indian telecom operators were quick to initiate go-to-market (GTM) with targeted marketing, set up an ecosystem of partners, build labs and innovation centers to prove the functionality of the use cases.

When it comes to enterprise readiness, large businesses recognize the 5G opportunity and are trying to firm up use-cases that will benefit them. The time is ripe for them to develop a 5G innovation strategy, focus on creating custom use cases and transform their business models to capitalize on the 5G potential.

Since the talk of 5G began a few years ago, there have been a wider variety of use cases developed for it than for any other generation of mobile networks. In your opinion, what are some of the most important use cases for 5G?

5G presents a huge enterprise business opportunity and holds substantial scope for revenue growth. The technology enables us to configure network slices targeted for businesses to solve industry-specific issues in new and innovative ways. While previous generations were limited in the number of use cases that could be supported, 5G will enable a variety of use cases, paving the way for the economy to realize the cross-industry benefits of magnified connectivity. It would act as a great enabler for digitally intelligent verticals such as retail, content and media, finance, healthcare, where the value of custom, dynamically sliced networks designed for specific connectivity and data needs to be demonstrated.

In other industries such as manufacturing, utilities, and mining, 5G will drive a new productivity wave and enable automation tasks at scale with high bandwidth. It could also help build sub-millisecond latency like solutions for transportation, decreasing the amount of space between cars, remote telemedicine, remote surgeries, high throughput applications, immersive stadium, and venue experiences. For example, low latency without direct dependence on fiber opens up new possibilities for disaster prevention.

In terms of network technology, 5G has seen a plethora of improvements and innovations such as cloud network deployments. What are the key technological innovations that will drive 5G?

The most important trend that is shaping the 5G and network modernization agenda for telecom companies is cloudification of the network. Its key components include distributed hybrid architecture across Core and RAN decoupled network and applications management stack, and an evolved operating model. The enabling technology trends of operating a cloud-native network include automation as well as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) which help make the network more self-reliant and responsive.

Another clear opportunity is building a secure, high-speed network to address the potential Internet of Things (IoT) business, like Narrowband-IoT over 4G/5G. Similarly, edge computing and advanced data analytics can help create a seamless user experience when enabled by 5G. They can also help prevent wildfires and boost innovation through preventive measures, near real-time response, and consistent improvements.

Industry 4.0 applications such as automation, massive IoT connectivity, and so on. How do you believe these applications will transform the industry?

An integral part of enabling the user experience being envisaged for the future will involve the use of artificial intelligence (AI), edge computing, and advanced data analytics. These technologies have the capability to understand, anticipate, predict, and decide through their evaluation of relevant options available. The maturity of these enabling technologies will transform the industry, with the main plank being the 5G wireless radio standard. This will mean advantages of near real-time responsiveness (ultra-reliable, low latency), fast speed (enhanced mobile broadband), all device connectivity (massive Internet of Things/ IoT) enabled by network slicing.

Accenture announced its collaboration with Bharti Airtel to accelerate 5G adoption in India. Can you share details of the use cases being showcased at the 5G lab?

We have collaborated with Airtel to bring alive the potential of 5G networks in improving industrial productivity. At Airtel’s 5G lab in Network Experience Centre in Manesar (Gurgaon), as part of our first phase, we are showcasing use cases of a robotic arm for precision manufacturing, worker safety using industrial IoT, artificial intelligence, machine learning, video analytics, and extended reality and digital twin of a shipyard for real-time, remote maintenance and immersive training.

India still is working on 5G while countries such as US and China have established commercial 5G networks. How is the Indian experience different than those countries?

Globally, many countries have already witnessed 5G deployments along with some regions seeing the commercial deployment of 5G happening faster, enabled by spectrum availability. India too has been making steady progress in that direction, however, there are a few challenges being faced by telecom companies which include a viable business and pricing model, fiberization, an upgraded transport network, and extension of cloud. While it’s important to understand that 5G readiness is a capital-intensive exercise, there’s no doubt that 5G in India is well-positioned to transform consumer experiences, businesses, the economy, and society in the next decade bolstered by faster connectivity speeds, ultra-low latency, and greater bandwidth.

Do you think that 5G will be the most influential mobile communications standard to date?

5G presents a huge enterprise business opportunity. The addressable digitalization market for service providers could grow to about USD 700 billion by 2030, according to an Ericsson report. The largest benefit would be the ability to offer network slicing. With 2020 being a critical tipping point for 5G wireless networks and the pandemic accelerating infrastructure development and regulatory reforms, now is the right time to develop a 5G innovation strategy and process. Enterprises should focus on creating custom use cases and creative business models in order to make the most of the benefits from 5G investments in the future.

Accenture has one of the largest tech capabilities in the world. What are Accenture’s plans for 5G?

We are extremely bullish on our 5G capabilities which enable us to orchestrate the entire ecosystem as we deeply understand and work closely with different players across the operator, Network Equipment Provider (NEP), application vendor, and other devices and sensor partners. Our Industry X and network services are strong horizontal practices that work together as part of our Cloud-First capability to provide comprehensive support and orchestrate our solutions for end customers. We have a set of Accenture Labs to innovate, develop and validate Industry X use cases using a diverse set of partners and using cutting-edge technology. This approach helps us constantly improve upon the maturity of our innovations. We also bring proven expertise across industries which enables us to achieve digitization and transformation at scale.

Accenture has been recently named a leader in 5G engineering services by Everest Group. This recognition further validates the strength of our comprehensive set of capabilities that help clients leverage the powerful combination of 5G, edge compute, and cloud to accelerate digital transformation, solve business problems and drive growth and innovation.