Big data in telecommunication operators: data, platform and practices

• Published in: Journal of communications and information networks 2017, Vol.2 (3), p.78-91
• Main Authors: Wang, Zhen, Wei, Guofu, Zhan, Yaling, Sun, Yanhuan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Communications Engineering; Computer Communication Networks; Computer Science; Information Systems and Communication Service; Networks; Research Paper
• ISSN: 2096-1081; 2509-3312
• DOI: 10.1007/s41650-017-0010-1

In the age of information explosion, big data has brought challenges but also great opportunities that support a wide range of applications for people in all walks of life. Faced with the continuous and intense competition from OTT service providers, traditional telecommunications service providers have been forced to undergo enterprise transformation. Fortunately, these providers have natural and unique advantages in terms of both data sources and data scale, all of which give them a competitive advantage. Multiple foreign mainstream telecom operators have already applied big data for their own growth, from internal business to external applications. Armed with big data, domestic telecom companies are also innovating business models. This paper will introduce three aspects of big data in the telecommunications industry. First, the unique characteristics and advantages of communications industry big data are discussed. Second, the development of the big data platform architecture is introduced in detail, which incorporates five crucial sub-systems. We highlight the data collection and data processing systems. Finally, three internal or external application areas based on big data analysis are discussed, namely basic business, network construction, and intelligent tracing. Our work sheds light on how to deal with big data for telecommunications enterprise development.