# Current challenges in the telecommunications / internet industry

Despite significant advancements, the internet industry continues to grapple with a multitude of issues. In developed markets like the US, internet downtime remains a critical problem. Over the last three years, approximately 20% of organizations have experienced a significant outage, presenting substantial costs in terms of lost productivity, revenue, data, and increased customer support, not to mention reputational damage. On average, downtime costs around $9,000 per minute ([source](https://trilio.io/resources/cost-of-downtime/)).

Maintaining robust internet performance is paramount for Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Inability to provide reliable service is a leading reason for customers to switch providers ([source](https://www.infinivan.com/top-five-reasons-why-businesses-switch-isp/)). Customer attrition is a significant drain on resources in this industry, costing US ISPs around $780 million per year ([source](https://wp.nyu.edu/adityakapoor/2017/02/17/churn-in-the-telecom-industry-identifying-customers-likely-to-churn-and-how-to-retain-them/)).

To ensure high-quality service delivery, ISPs heavily invest in their own network infrastructure. Network-related costs constitute roughly 50% of the industry's operating expenses, which are costs associated with running their business ([source](https://www.mtn-c.com/product/telco-opex-analyzer-2016-21/)). Globally, these operating expenses amount to approximately $1.5 trillion ([source](https://inform.tmforum.org/features-and-opinion/the-impact-of-5g-and-cloud-on-telco-capex-and-opex/)). Additionally, between 60% to 90% of capital expenditures, the funds used for building, acquiring, and maintaining physical infrastructure, are allocated to the network ([source](https://inform.tmforum.org/features-and-opinion/global-trends-in-telco-opex/)). In 2021, these capital expenditures totaled $326 billion ([source](https://www.mtn-c.com/telcos-are-upgrading-their-workforce-but-it-comes-at-a-price/))

In spite of the importance of maintaining a high-performing internet for both customers and ISPs, along with other stakeholders in the industry, there remain a number of unresolved performance challenges. We identify the key issues as follows:

1. No single ISP possesses enough high-quality data on internet performance.
2. Data sharing within the industry is not a common practice.
3. ISPs encounter difficulties in accessing and utilizing data within their own organizations.
4. End users typically have limited visibility into internet performance.


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://whitepaper.qualoo.io/introduction/internet-landscape/current-challenges-in-the-telecommunications-internet-industry.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.