Underscores The Criticality Of Research On Techno-Economic Assessment Of New Communications Technologies

By Clifford Agugoesi, Editor-in-Chief

How to secure the progress and  ensure sustainability of the telecommunications industry is one challenge that is giving sleepless nights to the world’s largest technical professional organization, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE) and one, among many others, it has vowed not to relent until solutions are found, Cyber Era NG learns.  In the estimation of the IEEE, the telecommunications industry stands the risk of failing unless  a system of relevant and proactive research is emplaced.

Now, the IEEE is inviting researchers to partner with it to deliver on the foregoing objective. The research outcomes are to be published in the prestigious IEEE Communications Magazine, among other gains, that would accrue to the contributors.

The Feature Topic (FT) is: “Techno-Economic Analysis of Telecommunications Systems”.

Notes the IEEE: “The progress of the telecommunications industry relies fundamentally on the technical co-evolution of end-to-end networks with growing customer demand for new communication services. However, successful deployment of new technologies depends on economic viability. Consequently, the techno-economic assessment of new communications technologies is a topic that deserves great research attention. 

“When deciding whether a specific technology should be researched, developed, or deployed three aspects are generally considered: technical performance, strategic issues, and economic attributes. Common questions posed by the telecommunications industry or public sector include: which technology is the most cost effective? Or in a particular market, how much time is needed for an investment to become profitable? How much financial risk is involved in the deployment of a new communications technology?

“Given the evolution of telecommunications markets in different regions all over the world, the following types of networks require continuous techno-economic assessment: mobile access networks (4G, 5G, 6G, etc.), fixed access networks (Fiber-To-The-X, cable networks, copper-based networks), different types of unlicensed wireless access networks (Wi-Fi, Li-Fi, etc.), satellite networks and High Altitude Platforms (Low Earth Orbit, Geosynchronous Equatorial Orbit, Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles, etc.), fixed wireless access networks, cloud networks, backhaul networks, transport and optical networks, core networks (mobile, fixed), and applications systems.

“The telecommunication sector is undergoing fundamental changes, driven by new market and technical developments, in combination with the continued influence of the capital and financial markets. Furthermore, the telecom sector is becoming more complex and competitive due to the increase of network and service providers offering various services and/or technologies with less product diversification. Finally, renewable energy and power consumption reduction aspects play an important role in the current and future telecom networks, and broader world economy.”

As per the IEEE, the goal of this Feature Topic is to contribute state-of-the-art methods and findings from the application of techno-economic assessment to telecommunications systems. The FT will consider studies conducted for advanced and emerging markets. Subjects of interest in this Feature Topic include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Techno-economic assessment

• Cost and capital considerations: capital expenditures (CAPEX), operational expenditures (OPEX), total cost of ownership (TCO), etc. 

• Business case assessment

• Risk analysis

• Financial analysis: earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), net present value (NPV), cash flows, return on investment (ROI), etc.

• Revenue calculation

• Business models

• Uncertainty quantification in techno-economic models (sensitivity analysis, Monte Carlo, etc.)

• Open-source techno-economic assessment software

Here are important dates in the call for papers:

•             Manuscript Submission Deadline: 1 July 2022      

•             Decision Notification: 15 October 2022

•             Final Manuscript Due: 1 December 2022

•             Publication Date: February 2023

On Submission Guidelines, the IEEE emphasized:  “Manuscripts should conform to the standard format as indicated in the Information for Authors section of the Manuscript Submission Guidelines. Please, check these guidelines carefully before submitting since submissions not complying with them will be administratively rejected without review.

All manuscripts to be considered for publication must be submitted by the deadline through Manuscript Central. Select the “February2023/Techno-economics” topic from the drop-down menu of Topic/Series titles. Please observe the dates specified here below noting that there will be no extension of submission deadline.” Interested persons in the research topics are invited to visit the link below for more detailed information: https://www.comsoc.org/publications/magazines/ieee-communications-magazine/cfp/techno-economic-analysis-telecommunications