Skip to content
5G/6G AcademyEst. 2009
Join free
All Courses
Level 33

Telecom Solution Engineering — Pre-Sales for 5G and Beyond

Enter telecom from the customer-facing technical side — pre-sales, solution engineering, customer engineering, and field technical roles. Master the operator buyer's journey from prospecting through closed-won; lead technical discovery calls that uncover real requirements; design solutions matching real telco operator needs across macro 5G, private 5G, FWA, and IoT; build demos that win deals; write RFP technical responses; price and position against incumbents; negotiate competitive deals; and hand off cleanly to delivery. This is the high-paying non-engineer path into telecom.

20 interactive0 simulation4 labs4 quizzes
0/28 lessons

Open Telecom Solution Engineering — Pre-Sales for 5G and Beyond free for 7 days

A new account opens this level, every other level and every certification course for 7 days — no card.

Join for free

The Pre-Sales Engineering Role

0/7

What pre-sales engineers actually do day-to-day, the buyer's journey in telecom sales, the lifecycle of a telecom deal, how SE works with the rest of the deal team (sales reps, customer engineering, product, executives), and the difference between SE, customer engineering, and post-sales roles.

What pre-sales engineers actually do — beyond the job description
A realistic week-in-the-life of a telecom solution engineer, what skills matter, and the income range across markets.
interactive3 min
The buyer's journey — how telco operators actually buy
From "interested" to "closed-won" — the realistic timeline, stakeholders, and decision moments in major telecom deals.
interactive3 min
The lifecycle of a telecom deal — prospecting to renewal
Six stages: prospect, qualify, discover, propose, negotiate, close — and what the SE does at each.
interactive3 min
Working with the deal team — sales reps, CE, product, execs
How the SE fits into the broader deal team, what each role contributes, and where SE owns versus advises.
interactive3 min
SE vs customer engineering vs solution architect
Three adjacent customer-facing roles with overlapping skills but different responsibilities, comp models, and career paths.
interactive3 min
Lab: Mapping your first telco opportunity
Walk through identifying stakeholders, deal stage, and SE responsibilities for a realistic Tier-2 operator opportunity.
lab5 min
Quiz: The Pre-Sales Engineering Role
Test your understanding of the SE role, buyer journey, deal lifecycle, and adjacent roles.
quiz5 min

Discovery & Requirements

0/7

How to lead an effective discovery call, qualifying questions for telecom operators and enterprises, translating use cases (URLLC, IoT, FWA, slicing) into concrete technical requirements, and documenting them in a requirements traceability matrix the team can act on.

The discovery call — listening, asking, qualifying
The structure of a productive discovery call, the questions that move the deal forward, and the antipatterns that kill momentum.
interactive3 min
Operator needs — network, business, regulatory
Three lenses every telecom operator buys through, and how to surface each one in discovery.
interactive3 min
Translating use cases — URLLC, FWA, slicing, IoT
How a customer's "we want to do XR" becomes specific requirements for KPIs, slicing, RAN tuning, and core capacity.
interactive3 min
Technical discovery questions for 5GC sales
The exact questions to ask about existing core, integration interfaces, migration path, and operational maturity.
interactive3 min
Requirements traceability matrix — turning conversations into deliverables
Why every winning proposal links each requirement to a specific product capability — and the format that scales.
interactive3 min
Lab: Conducting a discovery call for a Tier-2 operator
Walk through a structured discovery for an operator considering 5G SA migration, capturing the right requirements.
lab5 min
Quiz: Discovery & Requirements
Test your understanding of discovery calls, requirement capture, and use-case translation.
quiz5 min

Solution Design & Demo

0/7

Designing a solution that matches captured requirements, using reference architectures for macro 5G, private 5G, FWA, and IoT, the craft of telecom demos (what to show, what to hide), pricing model construction, and TCO presentation.

Solution design — from requirements to architecture
How an SE converts a requirements matrix into a concrete deployment proposal with sized NF counts and hardware BoM.
interactive3 min
Reference architectures — macro 5G, private 5G, FWA, IoT
Four telecom buyer archetypes and the canonical reference architecture each one expects to see.
interactive3 min
The art of the demo — what to show, what to cut
Why a 60-minute demo with three live actions wins more deals than a 60-minute demo with 15 features.
interactive3 min
Live demo vs canned demo vs video — choosing the format
Three demo formats with very different operational risk profiles and persuasion power.
interactive3 min
Pricing, BoM, and TCO presentation
How telecom pricing models actually work — per-seat, per-site, per-NF, per-subscriber, plus the 5-year TCO buyers care about.
interactive3 min
Lab: Building a demo storyboard for a private 5G enterprise pitch
Walk through scripting a 30-minute demo for a manufacturing customer evaluating private 5G for factory automation.
lab5 min
Quiz: Solution Design & Demo
Test your understanding of solution design, reference architectures, demo craft, and pricing presentation.
quiz5 min

Proposal, Negotiation & Win

0/7

The structure of a winning RFP response, technical proposal writing, pricing strategy and competitive positioning, customer negotiation patterns and objection handling, and the post-sale handoff to delivery and customer success.

The RFP response — structure that wins
The canonical telecom RFP response structure, what evaluators score on, and the sections that decide deals.
interactive3 min
Technical proposal writing — what to include, what to cut
How to write a proposal that answers the customer's question rather than recites your product's features.
interactive3 min
Pricing strategy and competitive positioning
How to price against Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei, Mavenir, and others — when to compete on price and when to compete on value.
interactive3 min
Negotiation and objection handling
Common customer objections in telecom deals and the structured patterns for addressing each.
interactive3 min
Post-sale handoff — delivery and customer success
Why how you hand off a closed-won deal determines whether it renews — and what the SE does after signature.
interactive3 min
Lab: Drafting an RFP technical response section
Walk through writing the technical response to a specific RFP requirement for 5G SA deployment.
lab5 min
Quiz: Proposal, Negotiation & Win — Level Gate
Final level gate covering RFP response, proposal writing, pricing, negotiation, and handoff.
quiz5 min