SCTE 2020: The COVID Conundrum: Lessons Learned Accelerating Network Evolution

How have top Telecom providers managed their networks during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Due to the uncertainty of the COVID pandemic, cable providers have had to accelerate their network capacity to accommodate the increase needs in bandwidth of their consumers. During the seminar at this year’s SCTE Cable Expo, industry leaders from the top Telecom companies discussed how their networks were able to adapt to the network challenges faced with the increase in bandwidth due to COVID.

One common similarity between these industry leaders were how equipped their networks were to accommodate the bandwidth needs brought on by COVID. Presenters during the seminar discussed how their networks have been deployed in anticipation for growth almost as if they were predicting the pandemic and making sure they had the capacity to grow with their customer needs. Building a network that is not only reliable but also has the flexibility to grow was key in staying ahead of the pandemic for these providers. The engineers within the industry focus on future proofing and making sure their network can grow and can accommodate new technology played a huge role in having the infrastructure set up to succeed during these times

A key take away was people within the telcom industry stepping up and working together to support their communities. Each presenter spoke on how their employees and the industry stepped up to accommodate the needs of people all over the country to make sure their customers were getting the proper network availability needed for all the social adjustments the pandemic has created. From the network engineers deploying the networks to operations and customer support they were all fully invested to make sure everyone was supported as needed.

The impact of COVID has brought up some concerns for the future to the telecom industry. One of the main concerns is material management. COVID has impacted the industry across the U.S and world and the ability to stay on top of forecasting has become more and more difficult. Working as a vendor to many of these large telecom providers forecasting is always top of mind. As the telecom provides have invested in their infrastructure to grow material providers and vendors will have a challenge on their hands as well to maintain enough inventory to support the providers in their expansions. It truly is a team effort across the industry to help maintain and grow these networks to accommodate consumer needs.

The pandemic will continue to bring more challenges to the telecom industry, and it is very reassuring to know how much time and manpower has gone into building these networks for the future. Working in the telecommunication industry during times like these and seeing how as a whole the industry has reacted makes you feel extremely rewarded knowing how the culture of the industry is extremely customer focused.

It will be exciting to see how the industry continues to grow to support the future needs brought on by the COVID Conundrum. Our engineers are here to talk through through any questions you may have; setup a time to talk with them!