AIS: Autonomous Networks form the basis of the journey towards Cognitive Tech-Co

During the summit, TM Forum advocated partners from the industry to release the latest Autonomous Networks White Paper R4.0 together, and the CTO of TM Forum George Glass presented a “Autonomous Network White Paper Contribution Recognition” to AIS.

Mr Wasit Wattanasap, the Head of Nationwide Operation & Support Business Unit from AIS, delivered a keynote speech titled "Autonomous Networks Form the Basis of the Journey towards Cognitive Tech-Co" during the AN Summit.

•  Strategy

As a digital life service provider, AIS has variety of businesses across different fields including mobile, fixed-broadband, enterprise business and digital services. Mr Wasit introduced that as the network complexity and number of connectivity increases exponentially after the deployment of 5G. Traditional telecom providers will encounter difficulties such as slow revenue growth, ARPU pressure, and profit challenges. In order to overcome all these challenges, the network needs to become real-time and interactive while personalized services and autonomous network operations are also highly demanded. Therefore, AIS proposed the digital strategy "Cognitive Tech-Co", aiming to transform from a traditional communications service provider to a cognitive technology company to deliver distinctive user experience for every customer. Along this digital transformation journey, Mr Wasit emphasized that AN has been playing a significant role and become the cornerstone of this journey.

•  AIS AN Objectives and Approach

Mr Wasit stated that referring to TM Forum’s and other industry standard organizations’ standards and assets, AIS has been collaborating with leading vendors to implement AN. He also mentioned that the short-term objective of AIS is to reach L3 by the end of 2023 across all network domains including RAN, Transport, Core, IT, Service Operations, etc. In order to fully achieve this goal, AIS has been making efforts in four dimensions: Defining AN target architecture, evaluating AN Level, implementing high-value use cases and collaborating with industry partners.

•  Achievements and Outlook

Based on TM Forum’s AN evolution loop, AIS has completed a full cycle of AN practice which covers 4 major pillars including AN Level evaluation, gap analysis, solution design and AN implementation. So far, Mr Wasit introduced that AIS has already completed a comprehensive evaluation of Autonomous Networks levels (ANLs) and business values of AN across multiple network domains. In particular, AIS finished end-to-end ANL evaluation for two typical scenarios including Customer Complaint Handling Process and Incident Management Process. According to the AN level evaluation results, Customer Complaint Handling has reached L2.2 and Incident Management has reached L2.1.

Mr Wasit shared the achievements of 4 high-value use cases during his speech, which are E2E Enhanced Radio CP Handling Process, E2E Intelligent Incident Management, 5GC Automatic Upgrade and Core Network Automatic Test. Which all successfully help AIS reduce 10%+ workload, improve 20%+ network efficiency, optimize 10% customer experience and enhance network intelligence and automation level.

Facing 2023, AIS will keep discovering and innovating along the AN journey towards L3 and beyond. AIS is open to collaborate with vendors to output more AN practices so as to co-create and contribute more high value assets including business and technical architectures. Eventually, AIS is aiming to move towards L4 by 2025 for the long-term objective.

AIS is the largest mobile operator in Thailand, subscriber market share of 46% with over 44 million subscribers and the 5G service covers 76% population nationwide. Positioning itself as a digital life service provider, AIS aims to become a Cognitive Tech-Co to deliver distinctive customer experience.