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    Beware the seven deadliest customer experiences – Foundever

    Nick Booth
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    Beware the seven deadliest customer experiences – Foundever

    Repetition, ratings and rude robots

    You can tell a CEO who’s spent too much time ‘in the cloud’. They believe their own customer satisfaction surveys. Either that or they are deliberately gas-lighting us. To improve customer experience, Mobile Europe sought simple ‘people pleasing’ advice for telcos from people who really know the customer. In the first of an occasional series, Maria Harju, Foundever’s Chief Revenue Officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, describes The Seven Deadliest Customer Experiences and how mobile network operators can avoid them.

    Repetition.

    Repeating your story to multiple people is enough to make 57% of Europeans hang up. Yes, some problems demand escalation, but if you’re moving your customer across an omnichannel platform it’s omni stupid not to move the information from channel to channel too. A CX should systematically do that. This averts another massive frustration, disregard for the customer’s history. How can you pretend to care about the customer experience when you show you are demonstrably oblivious to it? All the information across all channels is captured and should be correctly stored and retrieved so that your agents can do their best jobs.

    Rate your experience.

    OK, we need performance feedback, but customers are suffering from survey overload. Every trip to the toilet now involves an invitation to rate the experience. There are better ways to learn how customers feel about service and how they perceive your brand. Speech and text analytics are instant, less obtrusive and more accurate.

    Chatnots.

    If you don’t acknowledge your chatbot’s limitations, you’re setting your brand up for a CX failure. If your customer knows it’s an automated system, they’ll treat it as such and adjust their expectations accordingly. But when the bot goes beyond its domain intelligence it must hand off to a live representative and pass on the information shared up to that point.

    Chats …. with delayed response. 
    Chat’s rationale is about immediacy and accuracy but long wait times and vague unfocused responses will demolish that advantage. Immediate contextual support can help a customer take action or make a decision. Avoid the temptation to set high chat concurrency targets for agents. The more conversations they handle the less likely they are to resolve complex issues or satisfy each customer. Use your best pre-scripted responses in early conversational stages so that agents have more time to find a resolution. Cross train your CX staff so that they can work across channels based on peaks in demand.

    Undervaluing CX

    If each interaction doesn’t meet expectations it will damage your brand. So stress its value in your proposition. A superior customer experience should be reflected in the price of a product or service. If you’re cheap very hard to hold on to customers, especially in the current economic environment. Here is the value of CX. Three in four consumers will walk after a single disappointing customer experience, yet 42% would pay more for an identical product or service if it were supported by a superior CX. Being in the latter camp starts with understanding who your customers are, their wants, needs and expectations.

    Treating vocal interaction like a necessary evil.

    Test yourself before you test their patience. Voice is about people not managing processes, so IVR should solve customers’ problems, not stress test their patience and short-term memory on the altar of your management processes, said Harju. Most consumers are frustrated by complicated menus then agitated by the agent that takes over. A happy resolution is an uphill battle. An IVR should minimise menu options, as part of the identification or authentication process so that more of the conversation is focused on the customer and their issue, and use it to coach the customer. Rather than playing a message saying the call is important, a message asking if a person has the reference number or other relevant information to hand is going to make everyone’s life easier.

    Network resilience is fundamental to Ukraine’s fight for survival

    Michelle Donegan
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    Network resilience is fundamental to Ukraine’s fight for survival

    Kyivstar’s CEO and CTO talk about the power of grit and operators pulling together

    In a small, quiet meeting room on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress with executives from Ukraine’s largest operator Kyivstar, the discussion was in stark contrast to what was going on at the show. While other European operators talked about fair-share politics and future immersive experiences, Kyivstar provided an update on how it has kept people safe and its network up and running after one year of war. 

    Oleksandr Komarov, Chief Executive of Kyivstar, acknowledged having a somewhat “alien” feeling here as the operator has “very different challenges and priorities” compared to the rest of the industry.

    In an interview with Mobile Europe, Komarov and Volodymyr Lutchenko, Chief Technology Officer at Kyivstar, shared how network resilience challenges have changed dramatically over the last year and how people have pulled together to preserve communications services. (Also see Telecoms in time of war)

    National roaming

    Cooperation among the country’s three operators – Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine, and Lifecell – has been “essential” for overall network resilience, and they have been “exchanging capacity and providing equipment to one another,” said Komarov.

    Indeed, one of the first and most important steps the operators took after Russia invaded a year ago was to implement national roaming, so that if network services are down on one network, users are automatically switched to another. National roaming is unusual and difficult, but the Ukrainian operators were able to launch it in about three weeks with support from the national regulator.

    The service is “working well to keep services going,” said Lutchenko. When the country suffered power blackouts in November last year, he said more than 2 million people per day used the national roaming service.

    When the war started, the government also issued additional frequencies free of charge to the operators to give them extra network capacity. Meanwhile, equipment suppliers and local businesses have also rallied to help keep the networks going.

    Komarov cited an example where Ericsson stepped up to support a “very big ambitious project to roll out a national core site in the western part of Ukraine … to mitigate the risks related to the potential loss” of other sites, he said. In peace time, such a project would take 12 to 18 months. But with everyone cooperating, he said they started the project at the start of 2022 and it was completed in early May, taking less than five months for a major deployment.

    Moving targets for resilience

    As the months of war have dragged on, the network resilience challenges have changed. In the first few months, Lutchenko said Kyivstar was engaged in “urgent activities” to keep the network going when the infrastructure was physically damaged by rockets, bombs, mines, and tanks, because the biggest problem is that it is often too dangerous to get to the sites to repair damages.

    “[The sites] could be in occupied territory or on the front line. The area could be under fire or the fields can be mined so that without supervision from the military, you cannot get there … That’s why your network should be very reliable and still work with multiple damages like ours,” said Lutchenko.

    Later in the summer, the resiliency work shifted to “stabilisation” projects. By September, Kyivstar’s network performance KPIs remarkably were “almost on a pre-war level.” Apart from occupied areas where Kyivstar had no access to sites, “the network was really good,” he said. 

    Attacks on energy pose new threats

    The communications resiliency landscape changed in October when Russia started attacking the country’s energy infrastructure. Lutchenko said the challenge is now “really huge” and the “new reality.” In late October, about 20% of Kyivstar’s base stations were affected by power outages. Lutchenko said the worst day was November 24, 2022, when 65% of Kyivstar’s network was without electricity.

    In response, Kyivstar has strengthened energy resilience by adding longer-life backup batteries and diesel-powered generators.

    Here again, cooperation has been vital. In Kyivstar has “crowd-sourced” access to power generators from local businesses, such as a petrol station located near one of the operator’s cell sites. “We asked businesses and invited people to help us with keeping the network up and running,” said Lutchenko, and now more than 600 sites are connected to diesel generators.

    But this is one area where Komarov feels help from the government has been “limited”. Of Kyivstar’s 1500 generators, he said about 40 were provided by the government and the rest were either procured by the operator or acquired from third parties that have “extra power capacity on hand located nearby our sites.” Kyivstar said it has invested around US$5 million just on generators and diesel fuel. 

    Fighting on two fronts

    Kyivstar’s network is under threat from cyberattacks as well as physical attacks. “The Russians want to destroy us not only physically, but virtually as well, so that means we have to fight on two front lines,” said Lutchenko.

    The operator took measures to protect its network by relocating certain equipment away from areas that were likely to come under Russian control. Komarov explained that in occupied territories there was a cyber defense effort underway to ensure that despite not having control of all its network, the operator was not “vulnerable to extra threats.”

    “We streamlined the architecture of our core infrastructure to minimise the number of potential vulnerabilities,” he said. In Kherson, for example, Kyivstar had “just a media gateway and RAN network” and this “decreased the risk of penetration,” he said.

    Restoring liberated areas

    As territories are liberated, Kyivstar works on repairing the destruction to its network. Lutchenko said that about 18% to 20% of the telecom infrastructure in formerly occupied regions is “totally destroyed,” meaning “there is nothing from an equipment or infrastructure point of view.” About 30% to 35% is “heavily damaged” and about 40% has “minor damages.” Kyivstar says it can repair nearly 90% of the network in those areas.

    “We’re waiting for our military to liberate more territory and we are ready to restore everything,” said Lutchenko.

    Losing more than infrastructure

    Kyvistar is worried about losing more county’s critical communications infrastructure: it is also working to keep its 3,800 employees and their families safe. In the initial months of the war, the operator provided instructions for where people could go for safety and converted regional offices into temporary homes with showers and washing machines for displaced families.   

    Around 140 Kyivstar employees have been drafted into the army and thousands volunteer to help the army in various roles. The operator has lost three of its employees in the war and two are missing.

    Kyivstar relies on maintenance and construction suppliers, but their situation is “very much worse” because they cannot protect employees “with the same efficiency as Kyivstar” due to its critical infrastructure status, explained Komarov.

    Lutchenko joined Kyivstar in November 2021 and has been in the telecom industry in Ukraine for more than 25 years. “I don’t think anyone can plan for stuff like this. The most important thing is we have the greatest team in the world.”

    Asked how the war has affected the operator’s business, Komarov said the operator was “in the green” and there is “extremely high pressure on our networks.”

    “But let’s face it, it’s less about business and much more about survival,” he said.

    More techcos step up to support Ukraine

    Annie Turner
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    More techcos step up to support Ukraine

    Microsoft, VMware, Intel, AMD and OneWeb are the latest to stop trading with Russia – and some with Belarus too

    Last week Google blocked Russians’ access to Google Pay and Apple did likewise with its wallet product and product sales in Russia.

    Some have criticised Apple’s move, pointing out it could push people towards using Android phones made in China that are more susceptible to hacking and surveillance.

    However, Apple made the moves after a direct appeal to its CEO, Tim Cook, by the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Vice

    Now more big tech firms are following their lead.

    Microsoft has suspended all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia.

    The chips are down

    Chip giant Intel said in a statement that it, “condemns the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and we have suspended all shipments to customers in both Russia and Belarus.

    “Our thoughts are with everyone who has been impacted by this war, including the people of Ukraine and the surrounding countries and all those around the world with family, friends and loved ones in the region.”

    Another chip giant, AMD has also stopped shipments to Russia and Belarus.

    VMWare is suspending all its business activities in Russia and Belarus due to the unprovoked attack by Russia. It published a statement that read, “We stand with Ukraine, and we commend the bravery of the Ukrainian people. The human toll is devastating and like other global businesses, we are committed to supporting our Ukrainian team members, customers and partners.”

    It added, “We are also seeking to support non-Ukraine-based employees with family members located in Ukraine with information to access available resources. We continue to support our employees in Russia, as they are adversely impacted by the consequences of their government’s actions.

    “The suspension of operations includes suspension of all sales, support, and professional services in both countries in line with VMware’s commitment to comply with sanctions and restrictions.”

    The board of directors at satellite operator OneWeb has voted to suspend all launches from Baikonur, the Russian cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

    Social media battles

    Meanwhile social media sites are continuing their battle with Russian authorities, which are keen to control the flow of information and the narrative surrounding the war.

    Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have acted to prevent Russia’s state media making money from ads on their sites. In response, Moscow has said will restrict access to Facebook after its parent company Meta refused to stop fact-checking some Russian media companies’ output.

    TikTok has limited access to Russian state-controlled media accounts in the EU and Reddit has stopped users posting links to Russian state-sponsored media.

    Expect yet more big techcos to act soon.

    Vodafone Business launches new API to combat impersonation fraud

    Annie Turner
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    Vodafone Business launches new API to combat impersonation fraud

    For now the service is available to channel partners in the UK but will be rolled out in other unspecified markets at an unspecified time

    Vodafone Carrier Services, the wholesale division of Vodafone Business, has launched a new service called Scam Signal. It helps businesses protect customers from impersonation scams, particularly Authorised Pushed Payment (APP) fraud.

    JT Group, a global firm that offers connectivity and business solutions, and the analytics software house FICO are the first channel partners to offer Scam Signal with their mobile intelligence solutions. The service is available to other Vodafone Carrier Services’ other channel partners in the UK and will be rolled out in other countries “in due course”

    APP fraud tricks someone into sending them money, often through impersonating representatives from banks, government departments or a family member. This sophisticated fraud can also deceive a victim into making advance payments for fraudulent investments, counterfeit goods and services, and extort money through a seemingly genuine romance or friendship.

    APP fraud is a growing problem. For example, statistics published by the UK government show that 1 in 15 people have fallen victim to fraudulent activity and in 2022, more than £485 million was lost to APP fraud. New legislation in the UK mandates that banks must reimburse customers for fraudulent transaction losses, hence financial institutions are looking at ways to defend against it.

    Scam detection using this service improved by 30% after three months of a pilot with a UK bank, according to Vodafone.

    Suite of APIs

    Scam Signal is part of Vodafone’s suite of APIs which it describes as “a framework of computer rules that app developers and businesses can use to tackle online fraud and protect the digital identities of their customers”. 

    The Scam Signal API is contained within the secure Vodafone Identity Hub and uses analysis of real-time network data during transactions to detect and mitigate “social engineering” attempts to deceive and defraud account holders.

    Fanan Henriques, Director of Vodafone Business International and EU Cluster, said, “Vodafone is using the intelligence in our networks to help financial institutions to protect consumers by tackling fraud at its source. Scam Signal provides both end users and banks with an additional layer of protection against scammers and peace of mind that their transactions are legitimate.” 

    Banks’ priorities

    Scott Taylor, Principal Consultant, FICO, said: “By providing Scam Signal through our Customer Communication Services (CCS), we can help banks crack down on scams and reduce consumer harm by applying contextual data and analytics-driven decision intelligence. Our recent survey showed that 73% of banking customers rank fraud protection in their top three considerations when choosing a bank – businesses that spot scam signals early can not only prevent losses but gain more customers through trust.”

    Vodafone says the introduction of the Scam Signal API-based service “builds on the successful launch of other APIs in several markets which improve online verification and security including SIM Swap and Number Verify”.

    These APIs use common open standards defined by the global alliance CAMARA in conjunction the GSMA’s Open Gateway initiative. 

    CACI seals $1.3bn deal for ICT services to US, European and Africa Commands 

    Simon Dux
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    CACI seals $1.3bn deal for ICT services to US, European and Africa Commands 

    Global military expenditure rose for the ninth consecutive year to an all-time high of $2,443 billion last year – NATO accounted for 55%

    CACI International announced it has been awarded a five-year task order worth a total estimated value of $1.3 billion to provide communications and information technology expertise to US European Command (USEUCOM) and US Africa Command (USAFRICOM). The new work continues and expands CACI’s current relationship with these two “4-star commands”, service component commands and associated staff elements and organisations.  

    CACI will provide IT solutions and expertise tailored to the two commands’ missions. Under this task order, CACI will modernise and improve critical software and hardware performance, optimise network IT and communications and deliver end-user support for more than 11,000 personnel across 60 locations throughout Europe and Africa.  

    This includes cloud enablement, edge computing, Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC), Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) integration and implementation of advanced cyber security and zero trust solutions. 

    “CACI’s proven performance delivering responsive IT and communications in complex, multi-regional OCONUS environments, coupled with our leading-edge technical solutions and accelerators, enhance USEUCOM and USAFRICOM’s rapid response capabilities,” said CACI president and CEO John Mengucci. “We are uniquely positioned to equip the warfighter to successfully execute their missions and enhance communication, collaboration, and coordination with partner nations.” 

    Last month, CACI International secured a single-award technology task order worth up to $239 million with a one-year base period and four one-year option periods to modernise the US Army’s Global Secure Internet Protocol Router (SIPR) Network (GSN), including the application of commercial solutions for classified (CSfC) technology to increase options for secure user access and mobility. 

    Cyber defences also boosted  

    According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a decade after NATO members formally committed to a target of spending 2% of GDP on the military, 11 out of 31 NATO members met or surpassed this level in 2023 – the highest number since the commitment was made. Another target – of directing at least 20% of military spending to ‘equipment spending’– was met by 28 NATO members in 2023, up from 7 in 2014. 

    This month, USEUCOM was also in Sweden signing bilateral letter of intent (LOI) outlining a framework for a cyber partnership with the Swedish Armed Forces covering: policy, interoperability, training, capability development and cyber operations. 

    Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund PIF and stc agree to form $1.3bn towerco

    Simon Dux
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    Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund PIF and stc agree to form $1.3bn towerco

    With 30,000 mobile towers, the towerco looks the same size as the Ooredoo, Zain and TASC Towers deal in December, but worth more

    Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF will acquire a 51% stake in towerco TAWAL from stc Group to create what they say is the biggest regional towerco with around 30,000 mobile tower sites and estimated annual revenues of around $1.3 billion. The partners say the TAWAL deal creates an entity with an enterprise value of $5.85 billion per the agreement. 

    The deal also pips December’s Ooredoo, Zain and TASC Towers tie-up to create what they said at the time was the largest regional towerco in the Middle East, also with around 30,000 towers and a combined estimated current enterprise value of $2.2 billion.  

    The PIF stc deal also reaches into Europe where TAWAL completed the acquisition of United Group’s telecom tower assets in September last year and began operations at 4,800 sites spread across Bulgaria, Croatia, and Slovenia. In 2022 stc launched TAWAL Pakistan and runs an estate of more than 15,000 towers within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 

    PIF and stc Group plan to combine TAWAL and Golden Lattice Investment Company (GLIC) – in which PIF holds a majority shareholding – to form the region’s largest telecom tower company. The combined new entity will be owned 54% by PIF and 43.1% by stc Group, with GLIC minority shareholders owning the remaining issued share capital. 

    The transactions – including the 51% stake sale for an expected cash consideration of 8.7 billion riyals ($2.32 billion) – are expected to be completed in the second half of 2024 after obtaining all required regulatory approvals and satisfying other necessary conditions under the agreements. 

    Telefónica and Spanish government watching closely  

    The deal won’t have gone unnoticed in Spain given how favourable it is to the Saudi incumbent. “stc is a clear beneficiary from the deal of as the sale price of TAWAL” is bigger than five times its book value and five times its revenues, Arqaam Capital head of TMT equity research Ziad Itani told Reuters, adding that the cash inflows of 8.7 billion riyals will allow the telco “to pursue additional M&A and investment opportunities”. stc Group became Telefónica’s largest shareholder in December by building a 9.9% stake worth €2.1 billion.  

    What the dealmakers said 

    “By bringing together the assets of GLIC and TAWAL, we will establish a consolidated platform on which the telecommunications sector can flourish and give people a better experience to best connect communities and businesses,” said PIF head of MENA Direct Investments Raid Ismail. 

    “These agreements are part of stc Group’s continuous endeavour to grow and maximise value in the most sustainable manner, by recycling capital while retaining ownership in strategic value-added assets to benefit from the return on these assets and enable expansion into new domains,” said stc Group chief investment officer Motaz Alangari. 

    “Today’s announcement is in line with stc Group’s strategy and the pivotal role that the group is playing in accelerating the digital transformation of society and the economy in Saudi Arabia and the region,” he said. “Combining TAWAL and GLIC is a stepping-stone to consolidating the Saudi tower market and driving further efficiencies and operational excellence to deliver superior experiences and value for customers.” 

    Telco to techco: how data driven are telcos?

    Annie Turner
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    Telco to techco: how data driven are telcos?

    Siniša Arsić from Telekom Srbija discusses his company’s challenges and progress towards becoming data driven in the era of AI with Annie Turner at our recent virtual event

    Arsić is Director of Data, Analytics & Intelligent Automation of Business Processes. As he explains, although his 27-year old organisation is relatively small, it has been a trailblazer in its use of analytics to drive growth inside Serbia and beyond. It has “daughter companies” in Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and has embarked on “interesting projects” in Macedonia, Turkey and Western Europe including Austria and Germany.

    WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

    Telekom Serbija offers fixed and mobile services, and has been using analytics for the last 10 to 15 years seing data “as our biggest asset”. The analytics started for “simplified analysis” such as segmentation of customers. Like so many other telcos, data in silos is a big obstacle to establishing “a single source of truth” about customers. Multiple versions of the same data cause many business problems.

    Building a pyramid

    Arsić explains, “We had to think about how to consolidate the technology stack.it was important to see, for instance, how many tools are being used to analyse something, to process data. It’s not just Microsoft tools or spreadsheets, it is multiple tools. In some…parts of the reorganisation they have multiple tools that perform the same kind of tasks.”

    So a first step was to review the activity around data across the organsiation and to establish where to cooperate and improve to be a “top-notch operator”.

    This has been the goal for the last three years. The aim is to complete the multi-project programme in 2026. Arsić says that this could be portrayed as a pyramid with the foundational layer includes internal education project such as data literacy for staff and technical competences in ethical tools for reporting segmentation, for instance.

    He says this important to “so the majority of our colleagues understand we are not…aliens or some other interesting species”.

    This educational part was developed and run with HR and is close to completion.

    WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

    Tech consolidation, data centralisation

    The second foundation of the pyramid is that the operator consolidated its technology. It now uses SAS, which has been recognised as a “visionary” by Gartner in its Magic Quadrant January 2023 as the main analytical tool. [In November, SAS was also recognised by Gartner Peer Insights as a 2023 customers’ choice for analytics and business intelligence platforms.]

    The aim was to “unify everything onto one platform” and it is in the process of centralising its data to establish that all-important “single source of truth”. The first assets it centralised and unified were the IT and technical data for customer billing, invoices, traffic usage and their different kinds of behaviour.

    He explains, “We are now on our journey…so that customers’ data records will be complete…[and] we do not have a fragmented view, with one view in customer care, one in sales, one in marketing”. The aim is that “All those guys can go into SAS and look into that data residing in our big data analytic environment.”

    Another key part of the pyramid is data governance. Arsić notes there are few examples in “our region” but the operator is “eager to learn and fail fast. We are implementing some interesting pilots, starting with the business dictionary and the unification of our most important [governance] code books – we identified over 100 individual code books.” The plan that “the majority of them will be consolidated, aligned and standardised”.

    He continues, “Our business needs are so big that we have a lot of analytical projects that are directly are part or a major part of some business process. We are in great need…we cannot have the ‘luxury’ of to keep avoiding going into a data governance framework.”

    Security is another key issue that necessitates standardises processes and procedures.

    Marketing compaigns, personalisation

    So now the base layers of the pyramid are in place, or at least well underway, the next priority and tech enabler is “to develop a very large project [to automate] key marketing campaigns, inbound and outbound…for the first time, we unified sales, product development, customer value management and analytics,” he says.

    Now all the campaigns are centralised and automated in the SAS platform and “can be put into production or scheduled for when we want them, and pushed to the [right] channels. That enables us to create an omni-channel experience for customers, because we have all the data in one place.

    Shops still play be big role in customer experience. “People like to come, to renew their contract and to see what device they will buy, so our first focus was to unite all our sales channels, so all the channels have all the right information”. Part of the modernisation of the data structure, use and analytics has been to create a self-care portal and an app “primarily to reduce pressure on our contact centres”.

    In the main, these channels are used by younger people, Arsić says. One of the next goals is to achieve greater levels of personalisation to encourage loyalty, and for instance to address the needs of households, not a single individual.

    WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

    Driven by use cases

    What has Telecom Serbija learned from its data initiatives? He notes that most structured data now can now be modelled into the standard data warehouse and can be easily analysed and validated through source systems like Siebel or SAP.

    However, much of the data is unstructured, such as from social media or location data, and does not have “clear patterns”. It can be pictures, video, audio, emails and more. At the moment, this takes many manual hours of work “to come to any conclusion”.

    However, he stresses that, “Right now, we are very use-case driven…[so]…we do not approach data that we don’t have a use case for or that we don’t have a clear intention to use. Unstructured data is very. very big data. For now, we cover the essential use cases only.”

    Network and operational efficiency

    And what about data use regarding the network? Last year Telecom Serbija used data with machine learning models to plan capacity and prevent congestion. He comments, “Our networks is very well dimensioned, but we need to prepare for 5G,” which is not yet launched in Serbia.

    Arsić says the model used was “very smart” and each week forecasts which cells on the mobile network will become congested. The model also recommends the optimal upgrade for each and the cost.

    His team is bulding a single dashboard that will display all this information for the network planning team, providing a near-time interactive tool created from output from machine learning engines.

    This is the first level of support for the network division, but many more are in the pipeline that will leverage AI for operational efficiency. This will include improved network maintenance at different levels.

    Another recent development which will be key going forward is cloud migration. The operator has started working with AWS on possible migration strategies and what it would bring in terms of business agility or operational efficiencies if we do the same things as we do now in the cloud. He concludes, “but for now, our data remains sitting on-premise”.

    WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

    See more video from our Telco to tech event here

    See our on-demand and upcoming in-person and virtual events here

    BT adds McKinsey partner to board to help with strategy

    Annie Turner
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    BT adds McKinsey partner to board to help with strategy

    One of the first moves by new CEO Allison Kirkby in her mission to improve BT’s fortunes and share price

    The Financial Times [subscription needed] reports that Allison Kirkby, BT Group’s new CEO, has appointed Tom Meakin (pictured) to the board as a temporary measure.

    Meakin is a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company where his role is global co-leader of consumer tech and media. He is on secondment to BT to act as interim chief strategy and change officer until BT finds someone permanent for the role.

    According to Kirkby’s memo seen by the FT, she intends to set up a strategy and change unit to “define the next phase of our transformation” which will include enterprise-wise programmes.

    The new unit will comprise BT’s established corporate strategy and development, and group transformation and assurance teams.

    New broom, new strategy?

    In an interview at a TelecomTV event in December 2023, BT Group’s outgoing CEO, Philip Jansen said he felt one of his achievements at BT was “a crystal-clear strategy with a plan that everyone understands and that we’ve just got to execute really well and I don’t think we had that, for lots of reasons, when I arrived.”

    He added, ““In my five years…the board has never wavered on the strategy – investing a fortune on making the company better [with] stronger new networks, new IT, new technology, new digital interfaces everywhere across the whole company.

    “So that is working. Now the impact of that [level of investment] is that for one set of stakeholders, the shareholders, the share price has gone down. Now I personally think it will come back. And so the job is trying to balance all the different stakeholders

    Maybe not so much

    For BT watchers, this is an echo of a similar division led by Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer Mike Sherman. When he quit in January 2021, it was assimilated into a new Digital unit, led by Harmeen Mehta as Chief Digital and Innovation Officer.

    The Digital unit is responsible for IT, digital innovation, BT-wide business transformation, and data and product strategy.

    BT has worked with McKinsey on assorted projects over a number of years.

    Kirkby succeeded Jansen in February and has been a member of BT Group’s board for several years. One of her main concerns is to improve BT’s share price which has fallen about 17% since the start of 2024.

    Virgin Mobile Saudi Arabia partners Hitek to develop smart cities 

    Simon Dux
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    Virgin Mobile Saudi Arabia partners Hitek to develop smart cities 

    The Beyond One-owned MVNO will provide connectivity for Saudi smart cities, incorporating AI and IoT

    Beyond One’s Virgin Mobile Saudi has become to the preferred technology partner for Middle Eastern regional technology services company Hitek, part of the Farnek group of companies, and the two will develop a joint strategic approach to developing smart cities in Saudi Arabia. Initially, the partners said the agreement will cover smart building solutions for potential projects in Saudi Arabia but did not rule out other markets. 

    Last year, Beyond One, the newly formed subsidiary of private global investment company Priora Management Holding Dubai, acquired Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa (VMMEA), the region’s largest mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), with active operations under its Virgin Mobile and Friendi Mobile brands in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman and Kuwait. Founded in 2006 VMMEA has more than three million users in multiple GCC countries for both its Virgin Mobile and Friendi Mobile operations. 

    That deal saw Virgin Group invest alongside Beyond One, retaining a minority stake in the company and a seat on the board. Beyond One is equity funded by Priora Management Holding Dubai – owned by Swiss businessman Remo Stoffel – and Beyond One Group CEO Markus Tagger.  

    Beyond One also owns Virgin Mobile in Latin America and at MWC it signed a deal with Amazon Web Services use a combination of AWS Regions and AWS hybrid cloud offerings—including AWS Outposts and AWS Local Zones—to modernize the Beyond One stack. At the time the company did not confirm whether this partnership would be extended to the Middle east. 

    Smart initiative  

    Virgin Mobile Saudi CEO Yaarob Al Sayegh said the telco will be responsible for “advanced telecommunications solutions”, including 5G networks, digital services and enablement. “By leveraging HITEK’s expertise in digital solutions and our capabilities in telecommunications, we aim to build robust infrastructure that will not only enhance connectivity but also enable the seamless integration of cutting-edge technologies like AI and IoT.” 

    He added: “Together, we are committed to developing innovative solutions that will improve the quality of life for residents and drive economic growth across the region.” 

    According to a statement on the deal, Hitek will be looking to deploy digital solutions to optimise waste, water and energy management, environmental monitoring, citizen engagement, retail and hospitality, data analytics and AI integration, smart transportation, real estate and urban development as well as education technology. 

    “Through this ground-up partnership with Virgin Mobile Saudi, we can deliver, an advanced bespoke all-inclusive, intelligent and analytical digital platform, connecting people, assets and spaces,” said Hitek managing director Javeria Aijaz. “By utilising IoT enabled building management systems, machine learning, cloud and artificial intelligence-based technologies, [plus] FM operations management, [we] will have a 360-degree overview of all facilities, 24/7, from a dedicated and centralised platform, enhancing efficiency, welfare and sustainability.” 

    Berlin Open RAN test lab carries out first certification for VVDN 

    Simon Dux
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    Berlin Open RAN test lab carries out first certification for VVDN 

    Rohde & Schwarz and Viavi support European OTIC in Berlin for O-RAN conformance certification for VVDN kit

    The European Open Testing and Integration Centre (OTIC) in Berlin, supported by Rohde & Schwarz and Viavi, has awarded its firdst O-RAN conformance certification for international markets. The certification of an indoor O-RU of the LPRU-series from VVDN Technologies was completed according to O-RAN specified processes as defined by the O-RAN Alliance.  

    Indian contract manufacturer VVDN Technologies has developed its LPRU-series 5G NR Radio Units (O-RU) to be fully compliant to O-RAN ALLIANCE standards. The VVDN 4T/4R Split 7.2 radios are covering 5G NR TDD bands n77, N78 and n79. They are compact, lightweight, easy to install, and provide optimal coverage for indoor applications. 

    VVDN alsready has production ready radio units for Private 5G Network for multiple countries and markets. The company has both low power (4T4R 1W) and mid power (4T4R 20W) radio units suitable for private 5G deployments. VVDN’s radio units support global requirements in Band 48 CBRS, Band n78/n77 (3400 to 4100 MHz), and bandwidth up to 100Mhz, TDD duplex mode 4T4R and 2T2R for indoor and outdoor applications. 

    Last October the company, which also makes smartphones, announced plans to expand its manufacturing outside India although at the time founder and president Vivek Bansal would not be drawn on whether such a facility would be in the US, Middle East or Europe. Bansal hinted in an interview that Poland and Mexico were potentials. VVDN already has a small manufacturing presence in Fremont, California, to serve US customers.  

    Test mechanics 

    The O-RU verification followed the O-RAN fronthaul conformance test specification defined by O-RAN WG4, including the Control, User, and Synchronization plane (CUS-Plane) and the Management-plane (M-Plane). WG4’s objective is to deliver open fronthaul interfaces, in which interoperability between Distributed Unit (DU) and Radio Unit (RU) from multiple vendors can be realised. 

    The Berlin OTIC, one of four in Europe, is part of a publicly funded project called i14y Lab with its main facility hosted on premises at the Deutsche Telekom innovation campus. The others are located in Turin, Madrid and Paris, sponsored by TIM, Telefónica and Orange respectively. All approved Open Testing and Integration Centers (OTIC) worldwide cooperate with the O-RAN ALLIANCE in the O-RAN Certification and Badging Program, which represents a mechanism to ensure confidence in O-RAN solutions within the industry. 

    The i14y Lab is an open lab for interoperability testing of disaggregated telco systems, such as open RAN, led by Deutsche Telekom together with consortium partners. Rohde & Schwarz is one of the consortium members and offers an integrated solution for conformance testing of O-RAN Radio Units together with Viavi Solutions.  

    Both companies are active in specifications development in the O-RAN Alliance and have combined their capabilities: the solution consists of the Viavi TM500 O-RU Tester and the R&S SMBV100A vector signal generator (VSG), R&S FSVA3000 signal and spectrum analyser and Vector Signal Explorer (R&S VSE) software from Viavi TM500, with the O-RU Test Manager from Viavi as single point of control, providing a seamless user experience. 

    Image (l-r): Andreas Gladisch (i14y Lab Deutsche Telekom), Veneeth Sankarakutty (VVDN Technologies), Alexander Pabst (Rohde & Schwarz)

    Proximus to acquire more 5G spectrum from ICT services group

    Annie Turner
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    Proximus to acquire more 5G spectrum from ICT services group

    NRB acquired 20MHz in the 3600MHz band to offer 5G directly to its customers but has now decided to embrace the MVNO model

    Belgium’s former incumbent, Proximus, it looking to acquire more 5G spectrum from NRB in the 3600MHz range. Proximus says the acquisition will support its “ambition to continue to offer the best mobile experience in Belgium for decades to come”.

    NRB is selling its 5G licence to refocus on its core business, while maintaining its commitment to offering 5G services. The companies are discussing a possible wholesale agreement.

    The NRB Group is one of the biggest ICT firms in the country and serves public and private sectors organisations in Europe. In 2022, it had revenues of €505.4 million and more than 3,450 employees.

    Spectrum auction in 2022

    When the 5G spectrum was auctioned in the summer of 2022, Proximus decided to invest €600 million over 20 years.

    At the same auction, NRB acquired 20 MHz in the 3600MHz frequency band to provide 5G services to customers in the public and social sector, industry and biotech, energy and public utilities, financial organisations and insurance companies.

    Now the Belgian company has decided against rolling out its own mobile network, but intends to continue offering 5G services to customers as an MVNO – possibly through a partnership with Proximus.

    Raising the limit

    Acquiring the additional 20 MHz in the 3600 MHz band would give Proximus a total of 120 MHz so that the operator could add more capacity where needed. In future, it could be used to improve throughput and latency, as well as the security of data flows on private mobile networks.

    The agreement between Proximus and NRB was submitted to the BIPT, the federal telecoms regulator. The latter has approved the transaction, subject to the effective transfer of rights taking place after the publication of a new call for applications for the 3410-3430 MHz band in the Belgian Official Journal.

    That publication is imminent and the call for applications will be accompanied by an increase in the spectrum cap from 100MHz to 120 MHz to enable Proximus to acquire NRB’s 20 MHz.

    Zain Sudan shifts to Charging-as-a-Service in 18 days

    Annie Turner
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    Zain Sudan shifts to Charging-as-a-Service in 18 days

    SaaS provider Totogi claims total cost of ownership could fall by up to 80% as disaster recovery expenses are all but eliminated

    Totogi’s Charging-as-a-Service platform has gone live for Zain Sudan which has more than more than 20 million subscribers. The country has a population of just over 49 million. According to the SaaS provider, the transition from the legacy charging system to the new platform took 18 days for Zain’s production and disaster recovery environments.

    The expected benefits are up to 80% lower total cost of ownership (TCO). Totogi says the new platform has “nearly eliminated Zain’s disaster recovery expenses, slashing them to just a fraction of the previous cost of maintaining a backup service”. 

    Sudan has been ravaged by civil war between the country’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023 and it appears to be intensifying.

    Totogi bills Zain on a pay-as-you-grow’ business basis and says this also allows the operator to scale as required while avoiding large upfront costs.

    Totogi also claims that the cloud-native solution has “future-proofed” Zain’s BSS stack and offers better performance, reliance and compliance

    Emad Elsheikh, CTO at Zain Sudan, commented, “Transitioning over 20 million subscribers to Totogi’s platform was executed with remarkable speed and efficiency, showcasing the agility and effectiveness of their solution in managing large-scale subscriber bases under demanding conditions, particularly in times of crisis when traditional on-prem systems are likely to fail”.

    Zain Sudan is part of the Zain Group, which offers mobile voice and data services and started in Kuwait in 1983. It has opcos in seven Middle Eastern and African countries, providing services to more than 50.6 million individual and business customers as of the end of last year.

    Nokia CEO sees a second half uptick with fixed leading weaker mobile 

    Simon Dux
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    Nokia CEO sees a second half uptick with fixed leading weaker mobile 

    Despite a 19% drop in sales, Pekka Lundmark remains confident of a stronger second half and achieving the company’s full year outlook

    Nokia CEO and president Pekka Lundmark reflected on what the company called a “challenging environment” after weaker sales in North America and India led to the vendor posting revenues of €4.67bn, down by almost one-fifth from a year ago. 

    However, big cost cuts – including October’s announcement it would cut up to 14,000 jobs out of 86,000 employees – meant the vendor ending up with a 52% rise in Q1 net profit (€438m). Gross margin improved significantly year-on-year, to 48.6%, due to a combination of an improved gross margin in Mobile Networks, and the three smartphone licensing deals signed in Nokia Technologies. The vendor ended the quarter with a net cash balance of €5.1 billion. 

    Like Ericsson earlier in the week, Lundmark has seen some second-half green-shoots stating: “continued improvement in order intake, meaning we remain confident in a stronger second half and achieving our full year outlook.” 

    Breaking this down, Nokia saw improved order intake trends in its Network Infrastructure business in Q1 – the book-to-bill ratios was above one. Lundmark said the outlook for Fixed Networks has improved over the past three months, adding it was usually the first market to recover. However Optical Networks was still looking weaker. As a result, he sees Network Infrastructure returning to growth in the full year.  

    In Mobile Networks, the end of the 5G growth spurt in India combined with ongoing low levels of activity in North America led to a 37% net sales decline in the quarter. Nokia said that while all regions remained weak it continued to see growth in Middle East and Africa. 

    Fixed line’s relative health 

    Lundmark said Nokia has more than 40% market share globally excluding China in OLT products. “With our product portfolio and the ability to offer customers a roadmap to deploy X GPON, XGS-PON, and 25G PON in the same line card, we have a compelling value proposition,” he said. “Customers can also upgrade to 50G and 100G in the same chassis down the line with our Lightspan MF-14 platform.” 

    He added: “It’s important to remember that globally excluding China over 70% of homes are still not connected by fibre and there is a significant opportunity remaining in our biggest markets of both North America and Europe… In Europe, we see deployments remaining at a high level in markets with low penetration and we are seeing some mature markets starting to upgrade to XGS-PON and 25G PON.” 

    Automation and reducing telco opex 

    The chief executive said Nokia now has the capability to drive zero-touch autonomous operations across all network domains, including managing autonomous operations across multi-vendor networks.  

    “We have customers who are purchasing our autonomous operations specifically to accelerate their API exposure strategy,” he said “Our holistic solution is what also enables network programmability and the ability for CSPs to expose their APIs to developers using our network as code platform. This is a key point and we already have 11 operator agreements for our platform.” 

    He added: “To fully benefit from the emerging network APIs, CSPs need their operations to be fully automated because the API paradigm assumes an application interacts directly with the network in real time.” 

    Dell partnership is strategic 

    Lundmark highlighted Nokia’s strategic partnership with Dell, announced at MWC, as something that will benefit the vendor’s mobile, cloud and network offerings. “On the Nokia side, we will now adopt Dell as our preferred infrastructure partner for existing Nokia AirFrame customers, which will enable us to refocus our R&D efforts into areas where we can really differentiate as Nokia,” he said.  

     “Secondly, our private wireless solution, NDAC, or Nokia Digital Automation Cloud, will become Dell’s preferred private wireless platform for enterprise customers,” he said. “And we can see this becoming a very powerful channel to further drive growth in private wireless.” 

    Displacing Huawei and replacing chips in China 

    The CEO told analysts that the move by operators to strip out Huawei equipment was a gradual process. “But in typical Chinese vendors account 20% to 30% in markets outside of China, outside of the US of course, we estimate that last year in Mobile Networks and network infrastructure, the Chinese vendors have roughly or had roughly €12 billion in sales outside of China,” he said.  

    “And about half which is €6 billion of that in Europe, and this is obviously an ongoing discussion in several European countries that how they should deal with that question. But gradually the importance of this opportunity for us is continuing to grow,” he added. 

    When asked about the recent Chinese Government stripping out foreign chips from the nation’s telecom equipment, Lundmark said Nokia had not seen any impact. “We still need more clarity around that statement, because there are so-called foreign chips in pretty much all parts of all networks,” he said. “So, it’s very hard to see what that would mean in practice. So, we need more clarity about that. But important for us is to of course remember that our market share in China is fairly low and China accounts only – Mainland, China accounts for a low single-digit percentage of our sales.” 

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