Parent and Child: Optus Should Seek Deeper Collaboration with Parent Singtel to Boost Enterprise 5G Ambitions

by Malcolm Rogers, posted in Cloud Enable, Internet of Things, Secure
M. Rogers

Summary Bullets:

• Both Optus and Singtel have invested heavily in 5G with an eye toward the enterprise market, but Singtel has surpassed Optus in terms of deeper partnerships and solution innovation.

• Optus and Singtel should focus on deeper collaboration on enterprise 5G to keep pace with innovations in the Australian market, using solutions and intellectual property (IP) developed by the parent in Singapore.

Australia’s number two telco Optus is fully owned by parent Singtel, one of Asia’s leading carriers in terms of network carriage as well as mobile network innovations. Both Optus and Singtel have been investing in 5G from the outset of when the technology became commercially available, and both have done well in rapidly expanding 5G coverage in their respective markets. Both have also switched on 5G standalone services in their commercial network, which enables more advanced capabilities like network slicing and edge compute. However, in terms of commercial development of 5G solutions and services, Singtel has far outpaced its Australian child company. Since the beginning of 2022, Singtel has wracked up a laundry list of 5G service innovations, trials, and launches.

Key ones include:

  • February 2022: Singtel unveiled Paragon, a platform for 5G network edge computing and service orchestration. An all-in-one 5G and edge compute platform for enterprises to develop solutions using 5G networks and edge compute technology (for more information, please see Singtel Unveils Paragon, an All-in-One Platform for 5G; It Now Needs Partners and Customers to Strengthen Its Case, February 23, 2022).
  • May 2022: Singtel partnered with Micron to deploy a commercial 5G millimetre wave solution as well as an edge core at the semi-conductor manufacturing fabrication plant in Singapore.
  • June 2022: Singtel partnered with Hyundai Motor Group to develop advanced manufacturing facility using Singtel’s 5G infrastructure and edge compute capabilities in Singapore.
  • September 2022: Singtel announced its collaboration with Intel to establish a 5G multi-access edge compute (MEC) incubator, enabling enterprises to adopt 5G seamlessly, deploy applications that need low latency processing at the edge, drive innovation, and accelerate their digital transformation (for more information, please see Singtel and Intel Announced MEC Incubator to Strengthen Its Enterprise 5G Capabilities and Accelerate Adoption, September 19, 2022).
  • February 2023: Singtel launched a 5G security-as-a-slice capability in partnership with Palo Alto Networks, leveraging next-generation firewalls, 5G-native security, and other key products to block cybersecurity threats at the network level before reaching end-user devices.
  • February 2023: Singtel and AIS demonstrated 5G MEC federation capabilities by simultaneously live-streaming a concert in 8K in Canada to users in Singapore and Thailand using 5G smartphones and VR headsets.
  • May 2023: Singtel and Microsoft launched Azure public MEC access for enterprises in Singapore, allowing businesses on Singtel’s 5G network to use Azure compute at the carrier’s network edge.

During this timeframe, Optus has its own announcements and achievements. The company worked with Melbourne Airport and Art Gallery of NSW to provide indoor 5G coverage for guests. The company also trialed autonomous drones using 5G with endeavor energy and signed an agreement to explore cloud gaming using the company’s 5G network with Nvidia and Pentanet. Also, the company launched an enterprise-grade 5G FWA solution, which has been taken up by Super Retail Group. However, the trials and solutions launched lack the depth of 5G functions like MEC and 5G network slicing and the broader participation of technology players (like Intel and Azure) as well as industry involvement compared with Singtel. While Australia and Singapore are very different markets, and Singtel and Optus target different enterprise customers, Optus has not taken advantage of the strides its parent company has made to develop more innovative commercial 5G solutions. Competitor Telstra has invested in many of same areas as Singtel. Since the beginning of 2022, Telstra has launched a live network slicing capability in partnership with Ericsson. Telstra also has launched Telstra Edge, which combines network edge solutions from Azure and Amazon Web Services with its network services, including 5G. While the management of Optus Business was formally transferred back to Australia in June 2022, Optus and Singtel should consider deeper collaboration around developing an enterprise strategy in Australia leveraging the work done by the parent in Singapore to advance its capabilities and mind-share in the market. This could be leveraging Singtel’s Paragon capabilities to launch Optus’ own all-in-one 5G platforms or co-developing new solutions with Singtel’s partners.

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