The world’s most innovative Mobile Operators announced

Thursday 27th May 2021, London. ROCCO Group shares its Genesis 2021 award ceremony and the results of the MNO Innovators 2021 with the industry.

It’s often considered that Mobile Operators are not the most innovative companies in the telecoms sector. But often the research and development work they do to help improve services for their customers happens with intensity and passion but behind the scenes.

From October 2020 the telecoms industry started nominating innovative solutions developed by Mobile Operators across the world for a very special event. The organiser of the research, respected analysts, strategy and training company ROCCO, invited the telecoms world to get to know MNO solutions better and help establish which Mobile Operators were really making a difference to how the world is connected.

From Rakuten Japan, to the US Operator Verizon, 12 Mobile Operators were shortlisted for the award.

ROCCO Research CEO Jason Bryan explained reason for the research and the methodology they followed,

“We often find that at most industry awards events, you have no idea how companies are selected or how the winners are chosen. It’s very common that companies who sponsor events, end up winning awards, such is the circus behind how formal recognition is given in our industry to innovation. We decided to reverse the trend by putting the decision in the hands of a voting panel, but also by asking the industry itself what it thought, allowing companies to be a part of the selection process.”

Following the nomination phase, the telecoms industry could also vote on the innovations. A judging panel made up of senior representatives from MNOs and Alliances oversaw the review of all the solutions and decided on the winning solutions, bringing diversity and inclusion to the discussion.

Judging Panel:

  • Boon Chee Loo Senior Vice President, Roaming & Products at Bridge Alliance in Singapore.
  • Theodosis Theodosiou Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at PrimeTel PLC in Cyprus.
  • Kim Jakubowski Senior Product Manager at GCI General Communication, Inc in Alaska.
  • Atim Akeh-Osu Manager Wholesale MTN GlobalConnect in Nigeria.
  • Simon Wingrove Director, Strategy & Incubation – BT Ventures in the UK.

The Genesis event which took place online on the 20th May to a limited attendance showcased the top 12 innovations created by MNOs. Attendees met the judges and learned what they thought about the solutions presented.

Presenters Jason Bryan (CEO ROCCO Research), Dhiraj Wazir (CEO ROCCO Strategy) and Desirée Fenix (Genesis Event Coordinator) explained the methodology behind the MNO Innovations and announced the winners from their bases in London and El Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain.

While this is the first time that ROCCO has run its Genesis event focussed on Mobile Operators, it’s the second time that innovation has been the focus of the event. In Genesis 2020 ROCCO ran a research study with mobile operators to uncover the top 50 vendors and the top 10 leading vendors were announced. Software company Sinch based in Sweden were announced as the number 1 vendor in the research for 2020.

This year’s event revealed a diverse group of MNOs in the top 5.

1ST: RAKUTEN MOBILE – ROAMING 360

2ND: ELISA FINLAND, ELISA AUTOMATE

3RD: CKHIOD / HUTCHISON – QUALITY OF SERVICE WHEEL & SUPER SQI

4TH: CKHIOD / HUTCHISON – TRAVEL RECOVERY & SOR OPTIMISATION

5TH: CKHIOD / HUTCHISON – END TO END NETWORK CONFIGURATION

To watch the YouTube video and see the solutions, the results and read the report click here.

From 27th of May at 2pm CET the entire event will be broadcast there. If you also have a youtube account you can also comment and interact with the presenters.

For more information about future Genesis events see www.roccogenesis.com

The ROCCO Group

ROCCO was founded in 2012 and from its conception has been a catalyst for innovation with Research, Strategy and Education for the telecoms industry. Creating reports on Roaming, Messaging and Fraud and Security, ROCCO delivers on-demand training and strategic consulting which together provide a rich foundation on which to build strategic excellence. With ROCCO’s insights, Mobile Operators, their vendors and Enterprises globally can face connectivity challenges more robustly.