Carriers are focused on supporting hybrid and multicloud environments as more customers integrate solutions from multiple providers

HAMPTON, N.H. (July 18, 2018) — According to Technology Business Research, Inc.’s (TBR) Carrier Cloud Market Forecast 2017-2022, total Cloud as a Service revenue from the telecom market rose an estimated 13.5% year-to-year to $6.5 billion in 2017, driven by portfolio and geographic expansion. However, TBR projects revenue growth will decelerate to an 8.8% CAGR through 2022 as webscale providers become more dominant in the market. Though carriers have launched new native public cloud platforms over the past several years, such as Orange’s Flexible Engine and Deutsche Telekom’s Open Telekom Cloud, these offerings have not been able to slow customer demand for webscale solutions from providers such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google that are becoming staple services for businesses.

“Carrier cloud providers will emphasize hybrid and multicloud solutions over the next five years as customers look for integrated suites and ties to existing network and IT assets,” said TBR Analyst Steve Vachon. “Carriers are focused on fostering deeper interoperability and accessibility to webscale solutions to support hybrid and multicloud environments and bolster revenue from value-added services as well as from network platforms such as SD-WAN and IP-VPN.”

TBR’s market forecast also examines how carriers are integrating emerging technologies to enhance their cloud portfolios. Total other cloud (which includes SaaS, PaaS and BPaaS) revenue from the telecom market increased an estimated 16.2% year-to-year to $2.2 billion in 2017, driven by the adoption of services including unified communications, CRM and office productivity solutions. These workloads will become more deeply integrated with artificial intelligence and analytics capabilities over the next several years, which will create new cross-selling opportunities for carriers. Carriers are also integrating NFV and SDN technologies to enhance their enterprise solutions, enabling operators to offer a more agile cloud portfolio that can be delivered with greater quality of service to customers on demand.