Cloud technology and services are important to businesses and consumers in multiple sectors of the economy worldwide.  In telecommunications, modern networks are increasingly deploying cloud-based solutions in multiple settings across networks, operational functions, and customer facing business support, including cloud native 5G networks. “Cloudification” affects consumers and competition, introducing new dynamics to telecommunications value chains.

The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) has commissioned Plum and our partner, Stratix, for a study of cloudification. We will examine the impact of cloudification, virtualisation, and softwarisation on markets and business models, and consider regulatory and policy challenges which may arise from these developments. We are conducting interviews with experts from cloud services, vendors and telecom operator to collect their visions of the subject.

We will report our findings to BEREC later this year.