Carrier to close data centres following cloud migration
Telecoms operator TIM is on track to complete its cloud migration this year.
The Brazilian telecoms operator first announced its cloud migration project in 2020 and began migrating in 2021.
The company will be using Google, Oracle, and Microsoft’s cloud platforms, and will shut down their two data centres currently located in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
TIM CIO Auana Mattar told BNamericas: “We practically completed the migration. What is missing now is the [online charging system], whose process should be completed by July. After that, there is a natural process of decommissioning the servers and cleaning up the data centres. This should be completed in the second half [of the year].”
In 2021, the company was the first carrier in Brazil to announce it would migrate all of its data centres to the cloud.
The company will be hosting its analytics technologies on Google Cloud Platform, its databases and back-end process on Oracle and its digital channels and front end applications will be hosted on Microsoft’s Azure.
The telecom is anticipating an IT cost reduction of 25 to 35% by the end of the migration.
Mattar added that the migration has been essential to the continuation of the company.
“If we had not taken the decision in 2020 to migrate to the cloud, last year we might not have been ready to accelerate the 5G rollout, the M&A process [purchase of Oi mobile], and all the rest,” Mattar said.
After acquiring part of Oi Movel, TIM has been unable to shift its surplus base stations but has otherwise had a busy few months. TIM Brazil sold its third data center in Porto Alegre in October 2022 to Elea Digital, and in January the company announced a new partnership with AST SpaceMobile, a company building a space-based cellular broadband network.
On the announcement of TIM Brazil’s move in 2021, CEO Pietro Labriola said: “Our proposal is to take the customer’s experience to a new level with more efficiency and agility, always with the highest levels of security. We are the first carrier to promote a change with this dimension, also anticipating initiatives related to governance and sustainability, within a larger project, related to an ESG agenda that permeates all TIM’s operations.
“We are following the market movement and investing in areas such as analytics and digital, which are fundamental for the expansion of company’s business, and we have partners that meet the highest levels of quality to highlight our pioneering spirit and reference for the telecommunications sector.”
