A growing number of mainstream telcos are embracing virtual networks, according to a new report published by research company Analysys Mason.

The report, titled “Top 10 predictions for the telecoms media and digital services sectors in 2018” states virtual networks will enable operators to retain a highly visible role in the digital economy.

The authors said that they witness pragmatic efforts to win new revenue, create a truly digital customer experience and an attempt to achieve the operational efficiencies found in web-scale businesses.

According to the report, telecom companies will invest more than $6 billion in virtualized and cloud-based networks in 2018 and the number is expected to further grow to more than $50 billion in 2022.

Analysys Mason analysts added the spending on network function virtualization (NFV) software, hardware and professional services will nearly double in 2018 to over $5.1 billion and will continue to grow to $13 billion in 2021 as the mainstream telecoms market embraces virtualization.

At the same time, communications service providers will intensify investments in software-defined networking (SDN) (WAN automation), with software, hardware and professional services spending growing by over 50% to $2.2 billion, reaching $5 billion in 2021.

The research company added that professional services will account for nearly 25% of all software-controlled networking (NFV, SDN and cloud computing) spend in 2018. Service providers expect suppliers to show the ability to develop, implement, integrate, test, onboard, support and upgrade hardware and software in multiyear network transformations.