2027 Event Agenda

As utilities accelerate the transition from legacy telecom systems to private LTE and 5G networks, they face a fundamental challenge: how to rigorously justify these investments in the face of overlapping systems, phased transitions, and benefits that are often difficult to quantify.

This panel introduces a structured, utility-tested cost-benefit analysis (CBA) framework developed through the STAR TREC (Scalable, Tactical and Resilient Telecom) initiative, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. STAR TREC is a multi-partner effort to develop and demonstrate secure, standards-based, and interoperable private LTE/5G architectures, including alignment with emerging zero trust cybersecurity frameworks for utility communications. Within this broader effort, the CBA tool serves as a decision-support layer that translates roadmap-driven strategy into transparent, auditable cost and benefit streams.

Unlike traditional CBAs that compare two discrete states, utility telecom transitions involve hybrid environments, staggered retirements, and persistent legacy systems, making standard approaches insufficient.

Panelists will present a seven-step CBA methodology (and accompanying spreadsheet-based tool) for telecom transitions that guides utilities through a process comprising the following steps:

• Establishment of a baseline inventory of legacy systems, functions, and costs
• Phasing the transition of systems over time, including overlap periods and retained legacy assets
• Characterizing future-state configurations based on roadmap decisions
• Quantifying performance improvements in areas such as reliability, latency, resilience, and cybersecurity—including alignment with zero trust principles
• Monetizing both tangible and hard-to-quantify benefits, including strategic and risk-based value
• Capturing transition costs across distinct categories, including capital, operations, parallel operations, decommissioning, and retained legacy systems
• Synthesizing results into actionable metrics such as net benefits, NPV, and payback periods

The session will also highlight the real-world complexities of telecom CBA, including:

• Interconnected and overlapping systems that resist simple one-to-one comparisons
• Data gaps in lifecycle costs and asset performance
• Challenges in valuing resilience, cybersecurity, and the “cost of doing nothing”

A key feature of the panel is a utility-led product test of the framework. Salt River Project (SRP) will share insights from applying the CBA tool within its planning and evaluation processes, including:

• Practical challenges in assembling baseline data and defining phased transitions
• Approaches to handling uncertainty and incorporating qualitative benefits
• Lessons learned in aligning the tool with internal governance and decision-making workflows

The session will include a walkthrough of the spreadsheet-based CBA tool, demonstrating how utilities can structure inputs, model phased transitions, and generate decision-ready outputs while maintaining alignment with their existing roadmap and planning processes. This will provide attendees with a practical template-based approach that they can adapt for their own telecom modernization business cases.

Participants will leave the session able to:

• Understand why utility telecom modernization requires a different CBA approach than traditional asset replacement.
• Apply a structured, seven-step framework to evaluate LTE/5G transitions
• Define phased transition pathways and properly account for parallel operations and retained legacy systems.
• Address common challenges in quantifying resilience, cybersecurity, and strategic value
• Adapt a practical, spreadsheet-based tool to support internal business cases and investment decisions.