Hari Haran

Wholesale isn’t the back office of telecom. It’s the engine of digital economies. Every fiber route we connect and every interconnection we enable strengthens not just networks but the economies and industries they power. From cross-border connectivity to cloud enablement, wholesale is where infrastructure turns into impact and where regional collaboration creates real value. As leaders, our role isn’t just to build. It’s to connect. To align. To make sure every step forward in telecom opens a door for the next generation of innovators, platforms, and economies. This is how we move from infrastructure to lasting outcomes ✌️ #TelecomLeadership #WholesaleStrategy #RegionalConnectivity #DigitalInfrastructure

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Amdocs launch of aOS stands out not because it adds another AI layer, but because it attempts to redefine where intelligence sits inside the telecom stack. What differentiates aOS is its positioning. Rather than competing at the model layer, Amdocs is inserting the Cognitive Core as a semantic and governance control plane across multi-vendor OSS/BSS environments. This is not prompt engineering. It is contextual engineering — aligning data, workflows, and policy logic across domains so agents can operate deterministically in complex operational environments. The Cognitive Core is telecom-specific by design. It is built to manage multi-state service lifecycles, cross-domain dependencies, and operational risk constraints that generic AI platforms struggle to handle. That vertical specialization is unique. Most AI competitors approach telecom as another enterprise vertical. Amdocs is embedding intelligence inside systems that already run revenue management, order orchestration, and service assurance at Tier 1 scale. Equally important is the commercial strategy. By integrating Cognitive Core into existing system sales, Amdocs seeds its intelligence layer across its installed base without requiring a new, standalone capital program. In a market where telco OPEX intensity remains stuck at 15%, that matters. Architecturally, aOS appears designed to sit between systems of record, mediation frameworks, agentic decision layers, and execution systems. If successful, Amdocs shifts from application provider to orchestrator of operational logic. The differentiation is clear: vendor-neutral intelligence, telecom-native ontology, embedded distribution through an existing footprint, and pragmatic commercial alignment with CSP budget realities. Check out the full report Appledore Research https://lnkd.in/eTzD85mb #AgenticAI #TelecomAI #Amdocs #OSS #BSS #AutonomousNetworks #OperationalAI #CSP #DigitalTransformation

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The IBM/Confluent acquisition is a clear signal that real-time streaming is now foundational to enterprise AI. But it also raises a tough question: what happens when openness and independence become absorbed into a single vendor’s stack? If you're concerned about how this impacts you, I recommend this resource from Cloudera that explains the benefits of an independent, managed, containerized alternative: https://shorturl.at/LYcwD

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Is Net Neutrality Obsolete? Net neutrality was born in a different era. In 2005, Madison River blocked Vonage. In 2007, Comcast throttled BitTorrent. Regulators feared ISPs would strangle innovation at the last mile. The principle of “all packets equal” looked like the only guarantee of a free internet. Now in 2025, the picture is starkly different. By 2023, video represented 65% of global internet traffic. Just five platforms now account for over 70% of downstream payload: YouTube, Netflix, TikTok, Amazon Prime, and Meta. In digital advertising, Google and Meta capture more than 50% of global spend, turning the “free” internet into the most concentrated marketplace of all. Neutrality didn’t democratize the web; it paved the road for hyperscale monopolies that monetize us as the product. And the future makes the old principle even less fit. The next phase of the internet will be driven not by people pressing play, but by AI agents acting on our behalf. These agents do not trickle sensor data; they generate bursty, recursive API calls, spawning dozens of flows per action. A single agent might query a model, call retrieval APIs, trigger payments, and negotiate with other agents, multiplying control-plane transactions by 10–50× compared to a human click. Their demands are not for generic best-effort delivery, but for deterministic latency and reliable completion times. A trading agent, a health assistant, or a logistics AI cannot tolerate being stuck in the same queue as a cat video. This is why 5G introduced network slicing, with performance targets like <5 ms latency and 99.999% reliability for critical services. Yet under strict neutrality, such prioritization risks being flagged as a violation. In other words, neutrality forbids the very mechanisms required to make the next internet safe and functional. The problem we will face is clear: neutrality protected the internet from abuses in 2007. But in 2025, it blocks investment, bans new models like zero-rating or telco-service bundles, and undermines the technical evolution needed for an agent-driven economy. The fix is not to abandon neutrality, but to reform it. We need open service classes with measurable SLOs, cryptographic fairness, continuous audit, and strict transparency. Equal access, not equal packets. That is how you preserve freedom while giving networks the ability to support billions of agents and the critical applications they will power. Read the full piece here: https://lnkd.in/gVVuX_eJ

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The conversations around connectivity need to evolve: it’s not just about speed or bandwidth, it’s about access and resilience. Laying more networks with redundancy is important, but how well will they perform under pressure? Resilience isn’t how you respond after a network outage; it’s what you design into the networks so that it doesn’t go dark in the first place. I recently shared my perspective with Breakfast Media LLC on how high-capacity wireless is not just an alternative, but a critical part in building a future-proof digital infrastructure. You can read my article here and join the conversation. Thanks to #BroadbandBreakfast for featuring this piece. https://lnkd.in/gaCHsQVX #BEAD #HighCapacityWireless #NetworkResilience

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Proud to co‑author—with Homayoun Razavi—our perspective on why Voice AI is becoming the next ARPU growth catalyst for telcos. As we enter the Agentic AI era, telcos’ unique assets—network intelligence, enterprise trust, and regulatory expertise—position us to move far beyond connectivity and deliver high‑value, autonomous business outcomes. This shift opens a path to ARPU expansion as Voice AI evolves from assistants to autonomous agents powering real‑time workflows and customer interactions. Read the full article here: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/ePR8YtMM

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The Infrastructure MVNO - Ending the Variable-Cost Trap The Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) model has always been haunted by a fundamental flaw: every byte of data a customer consumes is a variable cost paid to a host operator. This creates a ceiling on profitability and a dependency. The U.S cable giants are breaking this cycle by targeting the "3% geometry" of wireless traffic. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts has noted that a mere 3% of geography generates 60% of total mobile traffic. While traditional operators maintain a long tail of rural towers to ensure national coverage, cable operators are leveraging their existing residential infrastructure to capture that dense 60% of traffic on their own hardware. Charter CEO Chris Winfrey recently highlighted that 88% of Spectrum Mobile traffic now runs on Charter-controlled infrastructure, including Wi-Fi and CBRS. This shift from a wholesale-dependent model to an infrastructure one, has allowed Charter to reduce its reliance on Verizon’s macro towers by roughly 20% over the last three years. While a traditional operator might spend $20,000-$50,000 to deploy a single small cell, Charter and Comcast are using "strand-mounted" hardware. These units, provided by Nokia and Samsung, attach directly to existing aerial cable lines. Because the power and the backhaul are already there, and the rights-of-way are secured through existing franchise agreements, the cost per unit drops to approximately $2,500. This 8-to-1 cost advantage allows cable operators to achieve a level of densification that traditional carriers simply cannot afford to match on a per-subscriber basis. The two major players are approaching this buildout with different corporate philosophies but identical end goals. Charter is pursuing a growth-first strategy, treating wireless as a core product and targeting 23 markets by the end of 2025. The math is clear: achieving their 30% offload target translates to roughly $530 million in annual wholesale savings. Comcast has taken a more selective, profitability-first approach, focusing on high-ROI markets where they hold maximum spectrum capacity. Both are racing toward a 2030 FCC deadline that requires them to cover 30% of the population in their licensed areas, a benchmark that perfectly aligns with their existing high-density cable footprints. Ultimately, the case for the "Infrastructure MVNO" is a matter of geographic arithmetic. By focusing on the metropolitan areas where the vast majority of their subscribers live, Charter and Comcast can satisfy their regulatory requirements and capture the lion's share of their data traffic without ever having to build a tower in a rural field. They are proving that an MVNO can achieve the margins of a primary carrier by owning the infrastructure in the 3% of the world where 60% of the money is made. https://lnkd.in/gWuwYxA9

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The Calix Success team and I have consistently underscored that the broadband industry is at an inflection point. The industry is facing a convergence of challenges and opportunities that demand bold vision, strategic agility, and empowered teams. AI is accelerating this transformation, making disruption not just likely—but imminent. That’s why at ConneXions 2025, the Success team will join leaders across the industry to explore how AI is reshaping broadband service providers (BSPs) — from operations to subscriber engagement — and define the steps to meet this challenge head-on. What lessons can BSP leaders learn from companies that have embraced change and led through disruption? How can AI accelerate growth while deepening community connections? And how can leaders bring their teams along on this journey and lead with confidence? The answers start at ConneXions. We’re excited to share the strategies, insights, and workshops that will help BSPs successfully navigate the era of AI and continue their transformation into broadband experience providers (BXPs). #ConneXions2025 #AI #CustomerSuccess #BSPtoBXP

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