As they increasingly look to leverage their clouds into the telecom sector, Google and Amazon are making some top-line hires in the telecom industry to boost their industry credibility.

"I am excited to share that I am joining one of the world's most innovative companies, Google! Proud and honored to be part of Google Cloud's Telco media and entertainment team in which I will be responsible for #Telco solutions," wrote Nermin Mohamed in a recent LinkedIn post.

According to LinkedIn, Mohamed was previously head of global telco solutions for software vendor Wind River.

Mohamed isn't the only new face in Google Cloud's telco operation. As Light Reading previously repored, George Nazi (previously of Accenture, Alcatel-Lucent and BT), Shailesh Shukla (previously of Neustar and Cisco), Majed Al Amine (formerly of Huawei, Etisalat and Motorola Solutions) and Sebastian Barros (formerly of Ericsson) are also among the company's recent telecom hires.

Google though isn't the only massive cloud provider strengthening its telecom chops. For example, Amazon Web Services (AWS) recently made two noteworthy hires in the telecom space: Christopher Parra – previously the chief executive for Zayo's small cell business – is AWS' new principal business development manager for 5G and Telecom Network Transformation. And Romain Barrault – previously head of sales for Nokia's Middle East and Africa region – is AWS' new principal account manager for the Telco Business Unit.

The developments come as Google, AWS and other cloud computing providers work to expand their business among network operators as well as their product portfolios into the telecom space.

There are a growing number of examples of telecom network operators partnering with cloud computing companies, whether it's the 2019 partnership between Vodafone and Google involving data analytics or the 2021 partnership between Dish Network and AWS that will see Dish running all of its networking software inside the public AWS cloud.

Concurrently, cloud providers are increasingly selling telecom services directly to enterprises. A prime example of this strategy involves Microsoft's acquisitions last year of Metaswitch Networks and Affirmed Networks. But it can also be found in the edge computing and private wireless networking ambitions outlined by AWS and others.

Although such offerings in part rely on partnerships with telecom network operators, they nonetheless signal the encroachment of the Internet's biggest companies into the depths of the telecom industry's core business. Thus, some are beginning to fret over the potentially outsized role that some cloud providers may hope to play in the telecom industry.

Based on some of the cloud providers' recent hires and acquisitions, it certainly appears the companies are serious about telecom.

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— Mike Dano, Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies, Light Reading | @mikeddano