EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES & APPLICATIONS
Capacity Openness Boosts Digitization Transformation
of Telecom Operators
Jiannan Guo
China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, 52 Huayuan North Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100191, China
Abstract: With the emergence of digital
transformation success stories, more and more
enterprises are launching digital solutions to
improve business efficiency or achieve opti-
mal revenue growth. The traditional commu-
nication market tends to be saturated, and the
digital transformation of telecom operators is
imminent. This article combining the devel-
opment trend of telecom operators’ product
business and the application situation of the
pilot summarizes the innovative application
categories that telecom operators continue to
launch based on their own advantages and in
response to the needs of the industry. This ar-
ticle focuses on the transformation of security
capabilities in communication services, big
data, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence,
unified authentication and network informa-
tion security, and deeply analyzes the business
characteristics and application modes from the
aspects of resource integration, open platform
construction, new connection construction,
and innovative business development. This
article puts forward suggestions for the secu-
rity development of telecom operators, and
provides basic research content for the subse-
quent research on the innovative application
of telecom operators’ capability openness.
Keywords: capacity openness; digital trans-
formation; big data; artificial intelligence; tele-
com operators
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I. INTRODUCTION
From the perspective of the development of
major industries in the world, both the infor-
mation industry represented by the Internet
and communications, and the traditional indus-
tries represented by finance and manufacturing
have entered the tide of digital innovation in
varying degrees. Digital transformation is be-
coming the driving force for innovation in var-
ious industries. As an important breakthrough
point, the digital business is a new place to
compete. Internet companies have established
business models successfully by opening
up their own business capabilities and core
resources. In order to solve the dilemma of
traditional business growth, telecom operators
are opening up high-quality resources for new
opportunities and challenges such as 5G and
“Internet+”[1], accelerating the construction of
an open-minded ecosystem, sharing resources
and capabilities, and gradually evolving into
supporters and main force of digital services.
II. DEVELOPMENT STATUS
Embracing “Internet +” and empowering tra-
ditional industries have become an strategic
choice for telecom operators. In the era of mo-
Received: Oct. 27, 2019
bile Internet, telecom operators, which have
Revised: Jul. 24, 2020
vast user resources, are not only network ac- Editor: Shangguang Wang
231

This article focuses on
the transformation of
security capabilities in
communication ser-
vices, big data, Inter-
net of Things, artificial
intelligence, unified
authentication and
network information
security, and deeply
analyzes the business
characteristics and
application modes
from the aspects of
resource integration,
open platform con-
struction, new connec-
tion construction, and
innovative business
development.
232
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cess providers but also service providers. They
have great influence and control over terminal
manufacturing and content provision. How to
position themselves, play a greater role and
take more social responsibilities are the com-
mon challenges faced by telecom operators.
At the same time, telecom operators de-
cisively seize the opportunity to advocate
and practice the capability openness strategy,
integrate their own capabilities to provide
external services, continuously improve ser-
vice quality, ensure business security, and
reduce operational risks. They are committed
to creating flexible, convenient and mutually
beneficial business model and further build
an open ecosystem of capabilities. Recently,
telecom operators have also signed strategic
framework agreements with governments
and communication companies to further
promote exchanges and cooperation in new
areas of digitalization, and actively expand
the development space of capacity openness,
technology evolution, informationization and
related emerging business areas. They provide
multi angle and multi-level infrastructure and
digital services for the government, industry,
enterprises and individual users to create more
social and economic benefits.
In China Mobile, capacity openness is the
focus of digital transformation and a new
service form for users. In order to deepen the
company’s “big connection” strategy, and ac-
celerate the four development steps of “seam-
less and worry-free big connections, smart
business big data, open capabilities of large
platforms, cooperation and win-win big ecolo-
gy”, the ability to open up plays an important
role in transformation path of “from large con-
nections to large Data, from the big data to the
big platform, from the big platform to the big
ecological”, and is a strong support to promote
the four major development steps. Capacity
openness construction has realized the opening
up of basic communication capabilities, intel-
ligent pipeline capabilities, big data capabili-
ties, Internet capabilities and IT capabilities.
Capability openness construction provides
one-stop service experience and standard in-
terface access by encapsulating self-contained
ability, cooperation ability and integration
ability into lightweight network remote access
interface. It can be accessed in 15 minutes and
online in 1 hour. In addition, it provides timely
response, service and security for its partners,
and provides business support for its partners
by providing API interfaces, SDK toolkits, and
H5 pages. The number of API real-time calls
of its communication capability openness plat-
form is more than 9 billion, and the number of
its partners is more than 30,000.
In the development of DICT¹ business of
China Telecom, it actively responds to the digi-
tal and information needs of various industries.
It promotes the integration of informatization
with government management and social ser-
vices, the integration of information technology
with real economy, the integration of informati-
zation with new industrialization, urbanization
and agricultural modernization, the integration
of informatization with military and civilian.
It steadily improves the quality of service sup-
ported by the transformation of various indus-
tries. On the one hand, they will go all the way
to promote the development of digital economy
in the fields of government affairs, education,
health care, industrial Internet, finance, trans-
portation and logistics, modern agriculture, etc.
on the other hand, they have achieved fruitful
results in the fields of electronic payment,
IPTV, Internet of things, etc. In addition, there
are more than 122 million users in the “Smart
Home Ecosphere”; there are an average of
43.41 million active users a month in the “Inter-
net Finance Ecosphere”; there are more than 23
million service users in the “DICT Ecosphere”;
there are more than 110 million users in the
“Internet of Things Ecosphere”; there are more
than 600 million user in the “Smart Connection
Business Ecosphere”.
III. INNOVATIVE APPLICATIONS
3.1 Communication service
capability application
Communication capability is the tradition-
China Communications • November 2020
al advantage of telecom operators. It is a
breakthrough in the digital transformation
of telecom operators to form a high-quality
capability set and provide packaged services
or products to external partners. With the rise
of express delivery industry, takeout industry
and sharing economy, the telecom operators’
“unified number” capability, “intermediate
number” capability, and voice verification
code capability can help service providers and
users to quickly establish secure and reliable
communication channels, and supervise ser-
vice quality for enterprise users, although the
traditional voice and SMS business volume
has gradually declined. At the same time, it
will strictly control the data security and infor-
mation security of business services, and can
protect the legitimate interests of both parties.
When facing partners, the telecom operators
often perform the secondary encapsulation of
the underlying basic capabilities according to
the typical application scenario. They provide
one-click notification, corporate business card
and other functions, provide them with scene-
based and embeddable communication capa-
bilities, make the service more agile, more
efficient and safer.
As shown in Figure 1, the “middle num-
ber” business is characterized by the service
of telephone communication between the two
parties in the field of online car, O2O online
and offline transactions, e-commerce platform,
logistics platform, intermediary consulting,
etc., and the temporary number can be ran-
domly assigned to the caller as the middle
number. The middle number is used according
to the order status. After the end of the order,
the middle number will be untied with the
calling number immediately. It establishes a
secure privacy barrier between the two parties.
Especially in the network car industry, tele-
com operators have developed in-depth co-
operation with the main operating companies
to achieve two-way protection for passengers
and drivers’ mobile phone numbers. When the
order is generated, the actual mobile phone
number of the driver and passenger will be
hidden, and are replaced by the “intermediate
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numbers”. The intermediate numbers will be
displayed on both parties, and the intermediate
numbers will be untied and recycled after the
order is over. It not only ensures smooth com-
munication between the two parties, but also
effectively encrypts and protects the mobile
phone information of both parties, so as to
prevent telephone harassment or other vicious
incidents caused by the number leakage of the
two parties, and provide effective solutions
for personal information protection of specific
industry users[2].
3.2 Big data capability application
After years of accumulation and possessing a
large number of users, telecom operators have
formed a wealth of product capabilities and
have the basis for outputting high-quality big
data. On the basis of ensuring the security of
users’ personal information, telecom operators
integrate B domain and O domain² big data
capabilities for output, and combine industries
application scenarios to create industries prod-
uct solutions. At present, big data applications
involve smart tourism, municipal transpor-
tation, public safety, health care, consulting
planning, financial credit reporting, training
and education, and business evaluation. For
example, big data applications provide big
data analysis services for government depart-
ments such as tourism, public security and
Online car
application
①The order is successfully established,
and the system assigns the passenger
and driver virtual number.
Capability open
platform
Passengers
Drivers
②The passenger dials the driver's ③The driver receives the passenger‘s incoming
virtual number with the real number. call，and the mobile phone displays the
passenger's virtual number.
Fig. 1. “Intermediate number” capability application in field of online car.
233
 transportation[3], or achieve strategic cooper-
ation and business with financial institutions.
At the same time, It can meet the big data
analysis needs of enterprise users in aspects
of brand promotion, product promotion, user
care, public service advertising, and corporate
culture.
For example, Data statistics products can
realize the real-time statistics of passenger
flow in the supervision area and intelligent
management of floating population, as well
as intelligent insight and monitoring analysis
through large screen by the big data platform.
The main application scenarios are as follows:
First, the tourism industry can get the total
amount and average number of visitors, source
information, stay time data, loyalty data ac-
cording to time and level. Abundant data can
provide better basis for the management de-
partment to plan scenic spots, and then change
the present situation of tourism post statistics,
improve capabilities of real-time feedback and
rapid response, and strengthen tourism ser-
vices and control effectiveness. Second, data
mining and algorithm analysis are carried out
according to users’ preference, consumption
behavior, user location, social contact and
other information, to facilitate the real-time
monitoring and early warning of passenger
flow, personnel concentration density and
activity trend in the region, provide accurate
support services for public management such
as security and emergency response, avoid
trampling and other incidents in time, help im-
prove the service awareness and work level of
public management departments. The third is
risk management and control, which is main-
ly aimed at three typical business scenarios:
pre-lending, lending, and post-lending. Under
the premise of user authorization, it provides a
personal information-based risk control prod-
uct plan to help banks improve and reduce the
risk of the credit service process. Fourth, tele-
com operators can carry out relevant analysis
by user location information, credit records
and behavior characteristics to play an import-
ant role in the medical field. On the one hand,
it helps the medical and health institutions to
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identify the fraudulent behavior of medical
insurance. On the other hand, it can predict the
spread range of infectious diseases and carry
out disease prevention and control based on
the trajectory analysis of patients.
In addition, telecom operators make big
data analysis a new way to help government
departments deal with telecom network fraud
by using big data real-time processing capabil-
ities. Telecom operators are actively respond-
ing to the relevant requirements of the state
and the government, and are making every ef-
fort to carry out the rectification work of fraud
calls. Telecom operators built a big data model
to deeply mine fraud data, and also realized
machine automatic learning with the help of
the model. They can continuously output sus-
pected fraud calls based on the latest samples
and scene iteration model, conduct research
and judgment on public security organs and
anti-fraud centers, and achieved remarkable
results.
3.3 Application of IoT capabilities
With the rise of applications such as consumer
electronics and personal wear, users’ demand
for IoT-related services is increasing. By the
end of 2018, telecom operators already have
hundreds of millions of IoT users. Relying on
Internet of Things technology, telecom opera-
tors can build efficient, stable and secure appli-
cation platforms between IoT services and real
devices. It can provide customized services in
finance, retail, smart cities and smart agricul-
ture to help application developers to connect
terminal devices with cloud platform[4], and it
also support multi-API application develop-
ment. The specific service scenario includes
two aspects. One is device-oriented. It covers
equipment registration, addition, replacement,
query and other services, adapts to a variety
of network environments and common trans-
mission protocols, and provides fast access
solutions and equipment management support
for various hardware terminals. The second is
the application layer. It provides a large num-
ber of APIs and data distribution capabilities
to meet the development needs of various in-
China Communications • November 2020
dustry application systems, enable IOT enter-
prises to focus more on their own application
development, shorten the formation cycle of
the Internet of things system, reduce the R &
D and operation and maintenance costs of en-
terprises[5].
For example, the IoT card service is a
mobile communication access service pro-
vided by telecom operators to an IoT user
using an IoT dedicated number segment as
an MSISDN³. The dedicated network element
device supports basic communication services
such as SMS and data, and provides smart
channel service such as communication status
management and communication authentica-
tion. At the same time, as a communication
guarantee, the Internet of things dedicated
SMS access service number and Internet of
things dedicated APN are opened by default[6].
At present, telecom operators have completed
the construction of IoT networks and base
stations with large scale and wide coverage.
On the one hand, one-stop service can be ac-
cepted and opened, and it provides users with
convenient network-wide connection services.
On the other hand, VPN, the physical line and
other methods provide users with a dedicated
data transmission channel on the network side,
and can output hundreds of APIs to the users
by platform docking to meet the business op-
erations demand such as the status display of
the association card, usage query, and account
information management.
In addition, IoT-related businesses have
broad application prospects in other industries.
First, the Internet of Vehicles industry, lead-
ing-edge Internet vehicles, auto-driving and
other technologies rely on IoT wireless com-
munication[7]; Second, the security industry,
IoT-related businesses can provide wireless
data channel for all types of security sensors,
and provide deployment in a wide area with
low cost; Third, the field of wearable devices,
IoT-related businesses allow wearable devices
to keep data connected anytime to complete
real-time data collection and information dis-
tribution; Fourth, the industrial manufacturing
industry, IoT-related businesses can be used
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in a variety of harsh environments to realize
remote and intelligent equipment monitor-
ing[8]; Fifth, the energy industry, the Internet
of Things has changed the traditional door-
to-door meter reading method, and achieve
remote automatic meter reading; Sixth, as
shown in Figure 2, integrate the Internet of
Things into financial terminals and achieve
convenient mobile consumption in the smart
finance industry; Seventh, smart medical care
industry, IoT-related businesses establish a
wireless data channel for health monitoring
terminals and achieve portable monitoring and
protection of the health.
Recently, telecom operators have released
the first batch of 5G modules. The downlink
speed is higher than 2Gbps and uplink speed
is up to 1.2Gbps. It is mainly used in the field
of VR/AR, video surveillance, industrial In-
ternet and PDA. China Mobile took the lead
in launching 5G application innovations in 74
scenarios across 14 key industries. It achieves
4K Ultra HD content transmission historically
with 5g network. At the same time, with the
5G ultra-low latency feature, it realizes the
first remote human operation based on 5g in
China. It was successfully implanted by neu-
rosurgery experts 3000 kilometers away. The
development of digital technology will ac-
celerate the continuous innovation of various
industries such as automobile, manufacturing,
medical treatment, agriculture and other in-
dustries. 5G technology will play a huge role
IoT capability
openness
Warning
platform Area lock and send
out a warning
Determine the area where the POS machine is used
Confirm
Restart Stop working
The IoT card temporarily Locate in real time,
Restart the IoT card
stops working and confirm violation
Fig. 2. Internet of Things application in field of smart finance.
235
 in various fields. 3.5 Unified authentication capability
application
3.4 Artificial intelligence application
At present, most Internet applications use the
Telecom operators have a variety of business
mobile phone number or real-name authen-
forms of artificial intelligence applications,
tication to register and log in. This authenti-
which are mainly reflected in intelligent voice
cation process is cumbersome in the identity
recognition processing[9]. In the process of pro-
authentication phase. It is usually used to log
viding access services, telecom operators work
in by inputting mobile phone number, graphic
together with partners to develop advanced
verification code and SMS verification code,
voice recognition processing technologies
but authentication errors may occur. For ex-
such as voice synthesis, voice evaluation, and
ample, when a registered user changes his
semantic understanding[10], and provide stable
mobile phone number or uses another user’s
service support and abundant access methods
account number to re-enter the network, it is
to help the application platform to quickly ac-
easy to generate security risks such as account
cess services with the minimum development
information disclosure, counterfeiting and
cost. In terms of e-commerce channels sup-
theft. In order to further optimize the authen-
port, it can provide capabilities of verification,
tication method and reduce or eliminate such
ordering and query for cooperation channels,
problems, the telecom operators create authen-
and support users to easily understand and or-
tication capabilities such as “One-Click Login
der the basic services of telecom operators by
Using The Local Number” and “Secondary
various channels, and participate in relevant
Number Registration” to enhance the user’s
marketing activities in a timely manner.
perception of various services. This capability
In addition, in the era of explosive growth
will also be exported to the entire information
of Internet content, abundant information is
industry.
continuously generated and delivered. Once
Relying on the relatively perfect security
the content operation platform has a large
authentication system of the communication
number of illegal and harmful information
network, “One-Click Login Using The Local
such as terrorism, pornography, and violence,
Number” can effectively control the risk of
it will lead to lower user satisfaction and
short term verification based on the mobile
be risks of being notified by the competent
phone number in the process of login authen-
authorities of the industry. Therefore, more
tication. It can quickly identify the user’s
human resources should be invested in the
identity with only one click in seconds, which
content operation platform to audit the infor-
is several times faster than the original veri-
mation content. The traditional mode of audit-
fication speed. It can be used for login, regis-
ing adopts pure manual sampling, which has
tration, password retrieval, payment and other
the problems of high labor cost and low audit
functions. It is a convenient login and authen-
efficiency. The intelligent technology instead
tication service provided by telecom operators
of manual audit can reduce human resources
for mobile Internet applications. There are
cost and improve audit efficiency. Intelligent
two advantages. On the one hand, there is no
voice recognition technology can convert full
need to fill in the password, which can prevent
audio into text, compare the transcribed text
the password from being hijacked, stolen and
with sensitive word database, and highlight
leaked, and it is more secure. On the other
the content of sensitive words after matching,
hand, as shown in Figure 3, it is suitable for all
which can effectively improve the efficiency
risk control scenarios requiring mobile phone
and coverage of the review, process more con-
number verification, which makes the opera-
tent per unit time, and the audit scope can also
tion convenient, low delay and smooth.
be increased several times, so as to further
The function of “Secondary Number Reg-
reduce the investment of human resources.

236 China Communications • November 2020

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istration” can determine whether the current the level of user network security defense.
number is a secondary number by data com-
parison, and then combine with the collabora- IV. CONCLUSION
tive platform to build a complete and unified
user system. At present, many large Internet Based on the aggregation and opening of net-
companies are conducting related business work, data and product capabilities, telecom
docking tests with telecom operators, and the operators provide support for digital transfor-
effect is good. mation in four aspects: broadening the market
boundary, promoting multi ecology, enhancing
3.6 Network information security
the value of large connection and strengthen-
capabilities application
In order to further expand its influence and
service effectiveness, the network information
security capability has also become the focus
of telecom operators to promote and expand.
At this stage, telecom operators are concen-
trating on incubating various security products Number
validity check
for governments, enterprises, individuals and
other users, and provide them with a wider APP user “One-Click
Login Using The
range of network information security ser- Local Number”
vices. As more and more parents equip their Capability openness platform

children with smart phones, erosion of bad

network information and excessive addiction
of mobile phones have seriously affected the
User successfully logged
physical and mental health of minors. Parents into the APP
urgently need to effectively manage and guide
their children online. As shown in Figure 4, Fig. 3. “One-Click Login Using The Local Number” application in field of APP
telecom operators have developed and de- login scenario.
ployed the “Sunshine Guardian” business as
a comprehensive solution for protecting the
health of minors. By enabling the function of
mobile phone security protection, parents can
intelligently filter pornographic, violent and Internet management
viral websites to create a green and secure
online environment for their children. At the Xiao Ming

same time, it encourages children to develop Xiao Ming is here

good habits through the time division network
management function.
Favorite
In addition, telecom operators provide car-
rier-class protection services such as “cloud
embankment” for government and enterprises
Healthy Internet Access
users to prevent network security attacks. The
core is to quickly integrate the pipeline con-
trol ability and security protection ability of
backbone network. They output the network
security capability of telecom operators in the
way of Internet, and achieve fast access and
full self-service experience, so as to improve Fig. 4. The function example of “Sunshine Guardian” business.

China Communications • November 2020 237

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 ing the realization of resources. Telecom oper-
ators focus on the capabilities open platform,
integrate the advantages of various fields.
They provide full range of capabilities support
and resource sharing for partners to move
towards “Internet+” through encapsulation,
openness and output capabilities.
In the future, telecom operators should take
security development as the criterion, coop-
erate with partners to complement each other,
continue to adhere to the principle of open
sharing and win-win cooperation, actively tap
the new value of industrial integration, joint-
ly respond to the new situation of industrial
reform, strive to cultivate new momentum of
digital economy, actively expand new space
for business development, and steadily create
a new chapter of industrial win-win.
Remarks:
1.DICT: Deep fusion of DT, it and CT.
2. B domain: Data domain of business sup-
port system. O domain: Data domain of oper-
ation support system.
3.MSISDN: The numbers that uniquely can
identify mobile users.
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Biographies
Jiannan Guo, got a master's
degree from Beijing Normal
University in 2013, Engineer.
The research direction is the
new technology and new busi-
ness security assessment and
data security of the Internet.
Take the lead in developing
standards such as "Internet Resource Collaboration
Service of Information Security Assessment Require-
ments for New Technologies and New Business of
the Internet" and so on.
China Communications • November 2020