The telecoms sector continues to battle its biggest challenge yet – legacy infrastructure.

Four-fifths of telecom companies acknowledged last year that outdated infrastructure is preventing innovation, according to DJS Research. While the majority of those in the sector face this issue, some have been hesitant to replace outdated systems, which can hold back the rollout of new services and increase costs.

Speaking with Ciena’s Rebecca Smith and Nokia’s Rodrigo Brito as part of this report, they explained how platform models like network-as-a-service (NaaS) could be a successful solution. They position the technology as a reinvention of what operators sell, to improve network efficiency and generate new revenue streams.

“Historically, telcos have relied on hundreds of disparate OSS/BSS systems, legacy hardware and heavily fragmented data,” Rebecca Smith, senior vice president of global marketing & communications at Ciena said.

NaaS: Unifying networks for scale

As AI continues to cause industry demand to surge worldwide, it has become vital for telecom companies to combat legacy pain points to champion innovation and avoid network fragmentation.

For Smith and Brito, NaaS is a successful way for operators to gain better efficiencies, save costs and gain greater flexibility into their network transformations. Put simply, platform models enable companies to do away with multiple siloed systems and instead have one unified place.

“Integrating, managing, and automating these systems manually is completely unsustainable today, especially as AI increases network traffic and creates surging demand,” Smith explained.

Rodrigo Brito, VP of secure & autonomous networks at Nokia, added: “[NaaS] benefits include lower total cost and complexity for operators, faster time‑to‑market and innovation and more flexible, on‑demand network services for enterprises, like pay-as-you-go, scalable and easier to integrate with their apps.”

Shifting towards platform models like NaaS can also help telcos solve the issue of complexity and enable them to scale networks up or down to meet customer demand. Such platform-based approaches can also work to improve profitability and address return on investment (ROI) issues for companies, which is particularly important reassurance for investors.

“By streamlining processes rather than relying on disparate systems, telcos can open up entirely new revenue streams, turning the network itself into a scalable, programmable and easily monetisable platform,” Smith said.

The importance of staying relevant amid rapid digital transformation

As the pace of technology continues, constantly changing consumer demands continue to reshape the market as telcos understand it. Industry leaders are therefore having to face the reality that evolution is the key to success.

However, despite the industry understanding this fact, many telcos remain attached to business models that do nothing to enhance their agility or ability to create value. By adopting a platform-based approach, those in this report argue that telcos will be able to unlock a new, AI-enabled era of innovation.

This is particularly important as 5G continues to scale, offering up future pathways for more advanced network generations like 6G. With networks often spread out geographically and involving multiple vendors, platforms become increasingly critical for operators to manage their infrastructure.

“Networks are becoming more complex, cloud-based and software-driven, so operators need orchestration and programmable, API-based platforms (NaaS) to automate operations, cut integration and operating costs and launch new services faster,” Brito explained.

What’s clear is that, as industry leaders continue to scale, those who don’t will find themselves at the mercy of rising costs and an uncertain future.

This article formed part of a Digital Wholesale report in the ITW edition of Capacity Magazine. It was launched in 2026 due to the platformisation of wholesale, with carriers and connectivity providers evolving from capacity sellers to digital service platforms and systems, offering APIs, automation and on-demand connectivity.

Read the magazine HERE.

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