Top Takeaways from the 2023 UTC Telecom & Technology Conference
From June 7-8, 2023, I had the privilege of attending the 2023 UTC Telecom & Technology Conference in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The event brought together more than 1,200 industry professionals for educational seminars, an exhibit hall, and networking opportunities – all pertaining to trending topics in the industry. And private LTE (PLTE) was a common theme that made a lot of noise.
Behind the scenes
An important aspect of our participation at this year’s event included presentations and open discussions with our customers and industry peers. Collaboration is a hot topic at GE Vernova, and we strive to build partnerships and work together with key utilities and EPCs as we face the energy transition and evolution to the grid of the future. Through understanding our customers’ needs and educating them on their available options, we can determine our strategy about the migration to PLTE and the formulae of the existing ecosystem to determine where our business can add value and explore the turnkey solutions GE Vernova offers.
From the “why?” to the “how?”
It is evident that the industry, in general, is moving beyond the “why private LTE?” and is currently at the “should we invest or how do we implement this?” stage. Many utilities are convinced on the value PLTE brings, but perhaps stalling on which option to move forward with. And rightly so. The cost of implementation is significant, and utilities are challenged to justify the large investment a PLTE network requires, which is why it’s critical to collaborate and share the use cases and benefits.
The market for private LTE is strong. Though it is in its early stages, the next few years will see significant growth as spectrum solutions develop and more options emerge globally. There is no doubt that technology is heading in this direction and larger scale migration will be seen, which is one of the reasons GE Vernova will continue to invest and develop solutions for cellular and PLTE. These solutions need to be reliable, resilient, and flexible in order to future-proof our customers’ next generation networks.
Our focus is, and always has been, providing cost-efficient, reliable, and innovative solutions. Our attendance at the UTC event re-enforced the need for deploying better and expanded solutions to drive further acceptance and adoption. And although the future is hard to predict, it’s safe to say that that PLTE will be part of it.