Bruce Xun from Huawei: Embracing digital intelligence and accelerating operations transformation with telecom + AI

Press Release

[Barcelona, Spain, February 27, 2024] During MWC24, Huawei, together with global carriers, industry organizations, and academics, held the Digital Operations Transformation Summit 2024 to discuss how carriers accelerate digital operations transformation. Mr. Bruce Xun, President of Huawei’s Global Technical Service Dept, said, “The ’Telecom + AI’, formed with telecom cognition, digital and AI, will bring new operations mode and new service growth to carriers, creating tangible business value.”

Bruce Xun, President of Huawei’s Global Technical Service Dept.

Telecom + AI: Accelerating Transformation from Telco to Digital Intelligent Service Provider

AI has become a technology hotspot sweeping the globe. When it comes to unleashing the full potential value of AI, carriers have unique advantages based on ubiquitous connections, over 100 billion data records per day, billions of entries of telecom knowledge, decades of telecom operations experience. “Digital twin + AI” can create new operations mode, and “Converged data + AI” can drive new service growth. The in-depth collaboration of telecom and AI will accelerate carriers’ transformation to digital intelligent service providers.

Digital Twin + AI: Creating New Operations Mode Along the Customer and Employee Journey

Along the customer journey, each operation activity focuses on customer experiences, which drives the evolution of the operations mode from network- oriented to customer- and service-oriented. Every customer can perceive the value brought by the new mode. Huawei has developed the innovative SOC + NOC intelligent O&M solution with a carrier in Asia Pacific, where O&M activities were planned, prioritized, and executed according to the actual impact on the customer. This has reduced traffic loss by 15% on average.

Along the employee journey, the new operations mode will empower every

employee by providing each of them Copilot to help them improve both efficiency and effectiveness. Mr. Xun shared many Copilot best practices for different employee roles. For example, broadband on-site and cross-selling engineers can use Copilot to accurately locate faults and solve 85% of the issues within 30 minutes. This improves the success rate of cross-selling by 10%. With assistance of Copilot, agents in the Contact Center can gain an in-depth understanding of customer requirements and satisfy customers with one-stop solution. This improves the FCR (first call resolution rate) by 30%.

Converged Data + AI: Driving New Service Growth from Connectivity as well as Beyond Connectivity

Connectivity services are the core business of carriers. Utilizing AI to analysis massive operation data, carriers can provide personalized, precise, and convenient services, maximize network monetization through multi-dimensional product design and on-demand marketing. In addition, new growth ecosystems can be built through new products, platforms, and devices. For example, intelligent payment and micro-finance solution can improve the performance of carriers’ mobile finance services. In 2023, Huawei supported a carrier in Ethiopia doubled the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) of Mobile Money and increased the total revenue by seven times.

Mr. Xun emphasized that “Telecom + AI” will accelerate carriers’ digital operations transformation. Telecom cognition is the core which includes telecom knowledge, decades of experience, and best practices. Digital is the cornerstone which includes high-quality data with suitable platforms and sufficient digital talent. AI is the accelerator which contains discriminative AI and GenAI. Combination of the three key factors will accelerate digital operations transformation and achieve breakthrough to create enormous business value.

Over the past year, Huawei has released best practices of digital operations transformation for various scenarios by working with global carriers. These practices have supported carriers achieve operations excellence, deliver ultimate user experiences, and increase the revenue from new services. Currently Huawei Services has over 20,000 experts, including more than 200 AI and data scientists. In the transformation projects, we supported global carriers implemented data governance from single-domain data to converged data to digital twin, as well as knowledge governance from documents to knowledge to high-quality corpus and vector data base. Huawei continues to make long-term investments in digital operations transformation in which we will explore, innovate and build best practices in hundreds of transformation projects.

MWC Barcelona 2024 will be held from February 26 to February 29 in Barcelona, Spain. During the event, Huawei will showcase its latest products and solutions at stand 1H50 in Fira Gran Via Hall 1. With the 2024 commercial launch of 5.5G, Huawei is collaborating with operators and partners around the world to pursue exciting new innovation in networks, cloud, and intelligence. Together, we will drive 5G business and foster a thriving industry ecosystem, creating a new era for intelligent digital transformation. For more information, please visit: https://carrier.huawei.com/en/events/mwc2024.

AT&T tries to reconcile with customers following massive network outage

News

AT&T has offered account credits for customers most impacted by their Feb. 22 outage, which left three quarters of AT&T customers unable to access services on Thursday morning of last week

An initial review of AT&T’s massive outage on Feb. 22 has revealed the apparent cause, according to AT&T CEO John Stankey, who addressed the outage in a letter to employees over the weekend.

Stankey wrote that the outage “was due to the application and execution of an incorrect process used while working to expand our network.”

He called it a “challenging day” for AT&T.

“Moments like these are a test of resilience,” Stankey wrote. “This is not our first network outage, and it won’t be our last – unfortunately, it’s the reality of our business. What matters most is how we react, adapt, and improve to deliver the service our customers need and expect.”

As a result of the outage, Stankey announced that AT&T would automatically apply account credits to consumers and small businesses most impacted by the outage and said AT&T’s prepaid customers “will have options available to them if they were impacted.”

Additionally, Stankey said AT&T is in discussions with the company’s mid-market and enterprise customers. He committed to addressing their concerns “as those discussions take place.”

Stankey’s letter, dated Feb. 25, stated that the outage began in the early morning hours of Thursday, Feb. 22, with about 75 percent of the company’s customers unable to access services in the hours that followed.

“We prioritized FirstNet service restoration, in line with our commitment to our nation’s first responders,” Stankey’s letter stated.”The remaining customers were reconnected throughout the morning.”

Stankey said AT&T was able to successfully stabilize the network by around noon time on Thursday. He thanked the company’s employees for working to resolve the issue.

“Whenever a challenging or unexpected event impacts this company, I can always count on everyone to rise to the occasion and the last few days have been no exception,” Stankey wrote. “Our frontline employees demonstrated expertise under pressure as our network teams took immediate action to restore service for our customers.”

In total, AT&T provides services to more than 100 million families across the United States and over 2.5 million businesses, according to a summary of the company’s operations provided by AT&T.

This story was originally published on Total Telecom’s sister site, Broadband Communities

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Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and Huawei Join Forces for AI-Driven Innovation and Talent Empowerment

Press Release

[Barcelona, February 26, 2024] — Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and Huawei signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on digital development with the aim to provide support towards AI development, industry applications, ecosystem building, and talent cultivation during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024 in Barcelona. The MoU was signed by Vikram Sinha, President and CEO, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and Jacqueline Shi, President of Huawei Cloud Global Marketing and Sales Service.

The signing ceremony was also attended by Halim Alamsyah, President Commissioner of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison; Rudiantara, Independent Commissioner of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison; and Daniel Wu, Huawei Indonesia IOH Account Director.

Agreed upon both parties, AI is the driving force of the current global technological progress and industrial transformation wave, which has a profound impact on human society and will reshape the industry.

AI and informatization have brought about the rapid development of Internet applications and the rapid growth of Indonesia’s digital economy. Towards the vision of Golden Indonesia 2045, the digital economy will become an important pillar, while cloud and AI construction will become a key path for digital development.

Vikram Sinha, President Director and Chief Executive Officer of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, said, “Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison is committed to democratize digitalization in Indonesia. It is part of Indosat’s larger purpose of connecting and empowering every Indonesian by accelerating nation’s digital transformation. This partnership enables us to maximize service offering using AI and cloud ecosystem. We believe this will lead us to the forefront of bringing the vision of Golden Indonesia 2045 to life.”

By collaborating with Indosat, Huawei aims to make breakthrough in public cloud and AI applications and provide more diversified services for local users and enterprises, basing on its technical and commercial experience in the public cloud and AI fields. Both Indosat and Huawei eagerly work on a joint cultivate cloud, develop AI ecosystem partners and AI talents to empower various industries and promote the development of digital economy.

“We are proud of the partnership forged with Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, recognizing that Indonesia is towarding a digitally transformative future. At Huawei, we view this collaboration as a commitment to pioneering innovation and fostering sustainable development. Our joint effort signifies a shared vision to harness the power of AI and cloud computing, driving unprecedented growth and opportunity across industries. This partnership underscores our unwavering commitment to empowering industries and propelling the digital economy forward. Together, we embark on a transformative journey, fueled by collaboration, innovation, and a shared vision for a brighter tomorrow,” according to Jacqueline Shi, President of Huawei Cloud Global Marketing and Sales Service.

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Also in the news:
DOCOMO partners with SAPEON to explore new AI chip
AT&T tries to reconcile with customers following massive network outage
Kyivstar looks to Rakuten’s Open RAN tech to rebuild its network

Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and Huawei Join Forces for AI-Driven Innovation and Talent Empowerment

Press Release

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom newsletter

Also in the news:
Kyivstar looks to Rakuten’s Open RAN tech to rebuild its network
DOCOMO partners with SAPEON to explore new AI chip
AT&T tries to reconcile with customers following massive network outage

Kyivstar looks to Rakuten’s Open RAN tech to rebuild its network

News

A letter of intent from Kyivstar suggests that Open RAN could play a significant role in replacing the country’s damaged digital infrastructure

This week, Ukrainian operator Kyivstar has signed a letter of intent confirming that it will procure Open RAN technology from Japan’s Rakuten Symphony.

The letter says the deployment will involve both 4G and 5G technology, with initial steps towards deployment expected to take place later this year.

“Rakuten is extremely proud to continue its support for Ukraine’s efforts to rebuild its infrastructure and in supporting Kyivstar’s vision for deploying Open RAN. We look forward to advancing collaboration between our two organizations and to realizing Ukraine’s digital potential through the rebuilding of the country’s digital infrastructure,” said Rakuten Group CEO Mickey Mikitani.

The deal builds on the companies’ existing relationship, which saw Mikitani accompany Japanese government officials on a diplomatic mission to Ukraine in September last year.

Kyivstar itself currently in the process of investing $600 million to rebuild the nation’s communication infrastructure over the next three years, saying it will increase this total to $1 billion over the next five years, if market conditions permit.

Exactly how much of this total will be directed towards Rakuten’s Open RAN technology remains unclear.

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Also in the news:
VMO2 records £3.3bn loss as interest rates begin to bite
Verizon to trial private 5G networks at NHL stadiums
From humble beginnings: The amazing journey of Hormuud Telecom CEO Ahmed Mohamud Yusuf

Navigating ISP Growth: Transformative effects of FSM on P&L [Part 1]

VIEWPOINT

This article is contributed by Praxedo who are a Silver Sponsor at Connected America in Dallas, March 12-13, 2024

Over the past several years, the telecommunications industry in the US has been focused on closing the digital divide and making sure every household has access to broadband services. Federal and local funding have been used to support several technologies, but it is fair to say that a strong focus has been put on fiber, as many argue this is the future-proof technology.

EVOLVING KPIS AND THE CRITICAL PHASE FOR ISP BUSINESSES
Despite – or perhaps because of – the amount of public funds invested, the industry has seen a shift in the past several months. As an increasing number of miles of fiber are laid out, the main KPI that investors and specialists are focused on is the number of homes passed, viewed from a capital expenditure (CAPEX) perspective. However, as the industry and the economy as a whole enter a new phase, there is now an emphasis on KPIs that impact all aspects of the P&L: take rates, customer satisfaction (C-Sat) and churn.

This phase is critical and, if not handled properly, can make or break an ISP business. It represents a period of growth in customers, related installations, and maintenance operations and the skills required from a field perspective during this phase are even more challenging than those needed for the construction phase. You will have to deal with an increasing high volume of shorter and customer-facing jobs, which present challenges where FSM plays a crucial role, especially in regard to your revenue growth, profitability and long-term scalability.

This is the reason why any broadband service provider entering or expecting to soon enter this phase should carefully consider field service management (FSM) as a key tool to leverage to improve its P&L. In this post, we will explore how proper FSM software can significantly impact your financial KPIs.

CONVERTING HOMES PASSED INTO ACTIVE SUBSCRIBERS: PRIORITIZING A SEAMLESS CUSTOMER-FIRST EXPERIENCE
The first and most important challenge of this new phase is to convert your homes passed into active subscribers. In that phase the customer-first experience will be critical.

You want to ensure that your prospects who are not yet active subscribers but have expressed interest in your offering have the most streamlined experience possible. The main reason is that if you are building your network, you may be competing with incumbent providers who have all the infrastructure in place and can accommodate a new request very quickly. You don’t want your customers’ experience to feel like you are far behind. This applies to the appointment booking process for the first installation, the communication with the customer until the installation is completed, and the behavior of the field technician who will perform the job, whether it is in-house or through a contractor. It will also be critical to ensure that the job is – as much as possible – done right the first time.

ESSENTIAL FIELD SERVICE SOFTWARE CAPABILITIES
While the right FSM software may not address every issue, it can significantly assist you. There are essential capabilities that you’ll want to verify:

1. Appointment booking capability:
An appointment booking capability that easily integrates via open APIs is critical. It is likely that the installation process will be part of a larger process involving your NOC (for drop validation for instance), your finance team (credit validation), your sales team, etc. It is even better if the system offers self-service capabilities, ones that you can embed in your website, or via a standalone customer portal. In order to guarantee that the promised service will be delivered, you will need to make sure that the slots made available are determined using real-time data regarding skillsets, geographical locations, availability, travel durations, etc.

2. Integrated real-time notification capability:
This can be, for example, a text message sent to the customer when the technician is on his way to the job location, or automated reminders sent a day, if not a couple of hours, in advance.

3. Integrated workflows capability:
For each job type, you will want to make sure that the technicians get specific instructions while they perform the job. This will require conditional logic, controls over the quality of the data they capture, and has to be delivered in a step-by-step manner via a mobile application. This ensures that your field teams deliver the best customer service, regardless of their seniority or contractual status. Additionally, the workflows should possess the capability to trigger, directly from the mobile application, a line testing process. This process aims to validate the correct installation and provisioning of the new customer in the network, ensuring that the installation is done right the first time.

If a situation arises that the technician is not able to solve without support, the FSM solution should give the technician access to remote, video-oriented, assistance provided by an expert working with the NOC, for example.

4. Offline mode capability:
These workflows should include the ability to work offline to address situations where the job is performed in an area with little or no connectivity.

CONCLUSION
These examples illustrate how the right Field Service Management solution positively impacts your customer experience, guaranteeing a smooth and efficient installation process. This, in turn, increases take rates and your active subscriber base while influencing the top-line KPIs of your P&L.

We all know, as consumers, how important the first impression is. To stay ahead of the competition and grow your revenue, you need to provide a best-in-class customer experience. Satisfied customers not only leave good reviews, driving new business, but they are also more likely to purchase other products (wi-fi, data protection, etc.) that can be bundled into your offerings, generating additional revenue.

Ensuring a best-in-class employee experience for your field technicians is also critical, as they play a pivotal role in your service delivery. This paves the way for a smooth, consistent and robust transition from the construction phase to the run phase of your network operations. As your business grows, scalability becomes a key consideration, which is the topic of the second part of this article.

This article is a viewpoint written by Cédric Venard of field service management specialists Praxedo, it does not necessarily reflect the views of Total Telecom. Praxedo North America are silver sponsors of Connected America, taking place March 12-13, 2024 at Irving Convention Center, Dallas. To get your ticket VISIT THE WEBSITE

Navigating ISP Growth: Transformative effects of FSM on P&L [Part 2]

VIEWPOINT

This article is contributed by Praxedo who are a Silver Sponsor at Connected America in Dallas, March 12-13, 2024

Building on our exploration of the transformative effects of field service management on P&L in Part I of this series where we highlighted its impact on customer experience and installation efficiency, Part II focuses on another critical aspect of navigating ISP growth: routing and scheduling optimization capabilities. With a growing subscriber base, telecom operators will experience more and more installations (that positively impact revenue / top line KPIs) moving forward. However, despite all efforts, there will also be a rise in repeat visits, at least in absolute numbers, and potentially an uptick in troubleshooting tickets, some of which may require a truck roll. All of this will negatively impact profitability / bottom line KPIs if telecoms operators are not taking appropriate measures to ensure their processes are optimized.

Positively impact your field teams
A best-in-class FSM solution comes with a powerful routing and scheduling engine, based on reliable traffic data to help you positively impact your field teams:

• Travel time ratio: the less time the technicians are spending on the road traveling the better, because it means they are spending most of their time installing new customers or fixing issues that can impact existing customers.

• Gas consumption: whether it be from a financial perspective or from an environmental perspective, it’s a good idea to keep your gas consumption at the lowest level possible.

• Utilization rate: if a customer cancels an appointment, it creates a gap in the technician’s schedule. Having the ability to automatically fill that gap while keeping all other schedules optimized will ensure you make the best use of your technicians’ time.

• Work accident rate: a good FSM solution produces realistic schedules, and provides tools to address unexpected situations with the appropriate response in real-time. This reduces the pressure put on your field technicians’ shoulders, thus also reducing their stress and the probability of road accidents and work-related injuries.

Those are just a few examples illustrating how the proper FSM solution, built from the ground up for routing and scheduling optimization, will positively affect your operational efficiency and your profitability / bottom-line KPIs.

The importance of scalability when selecting a field service management tool
Consider the situation from another perspective. You might be thinking, “I already have an OSS/BSS system or an ERP,” thus wondering: “Why should I add an external component if it already incorporates an embedded FSM-like solution?” However, there are several considerations to bear in mind.

Firstly, ask yourself: Is this solution scalable? There is no one-size-fits-all solution that performs perfectly in every aspect. Each system, much like every organization, has its core business. This implies that your OSS/BSS/ERP FSM component might lack the functionalities mentioned above or they might not be sufficiently comprehensive to deliver the expected value. Scalability is also a concern, as scaling a billing process, a network monitoring system, or a workforce management solution varies significantly. There are specialists available—why not explore their expertise?

Finally, you may want to build something that is future-proof, and putting all your eggs in one basket is not the best way to achieve this. If you build a modular, component-based information system, it will be easier to adapt to future situations, such as the acquisition of a competitor. In this scenario, they may have a different OSS/BSS system and it would be crucial for you to be able to streamline and merge the field service processes.

The benefits of a specialized, best-of-breed field service solution
This means you should be looking for a specialized, best-of-breed solution, meaning one solution that will easily integrate with your existing system while providing all the expected value. The benefit of a best-of-breed solution is that it comes with a limited initial investment, which, once again, will positively affect your bottom line KPIs. Along with a best-of-breed solution, it will be important to look for software that is configuration-based. There are several reasons for this requirement:

• Many providers make huge promises about their solution’s capabilities, but to enable them often entails significant time and financial investments in developments and customizations. Opting for a configuration-based FSM software allows you to reduce your time-to-production, positively impacting your cash-flow. This approach enables you to reach the point of seeing ROI much faster compared to the alternatives.

• ISP businesses face constant changes, and finding the “ultimate” customer experience is a process, not something that happens overnight. To achieve your goals, the ability to make changes to the FSM solution on the go is crucial, eliminating the need to wait for the results of a lengthy IT production process.

Business model alignment aids growth
Finally, during this new phase of your expansion, you will grow your recurring revenue. It will be better to find a solution with a business model that aligns with yours, so that once again your cash-flow is positively impacted. Opting for a cloud-based software (with no maintenance and hosting costs) and a subscription-based pricing model will provide you with visibility into your future costs. This empowerment positions your organization for future growth. If all the above criteria are met, you can simultaneously maintain profitability and secure your capacity to invest, or attract investors.

Conclusion
In conclusion, our two-part exploration on “Navigating ISP Growth” has provided a comprehensive understanding of the pivotal shifts taking place in the telecommunications industry. Part I underscored the significant mindset shift required when you transition from building your network to connecting your new subscribers. The emphasis on customer satisfaction and first-time-right, along with the surge of a different type of workload (smaller jobs with shorter deadlines) and new KPIs, will lead you to reconsider the way you run operations and how you support your employees.

Part II delved deeper into the challenges faced during this growth phase, emphasizing the importance of routing and scheduling optimization capabilities, and some limitations of all-in-one solutions that may not scale with your business down the road, or at a prohibitive cost. As ISP businesses strive to convert homes passed into active subscribers, this series has highlighted how expertise and focus from your software providers are key to helping you succeed while preserving your profitability.

Virgin Media O2 CEO Raise Vodafone and Three UK Merger Concerns

The CEO of broadband and mobile giant Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2), Lutz Schüler, has – perhaps predictably – raised competition concerns over the proposed mobile merger between Vodafone and Three UK, not least because he believes the pair will end up controlling too much radio spectrum. Network sharing is another issue. The merger (here), […]

EE Switches Off Final 3G Mobile Network Site in the UK

Mobile network operator EE (BT) has today published a short progress update on their national work to switch-off the old 3G data (mobile broadband) network, which reveals that the last of 18,000 sites to be shut-down – in Belfast – was finally taken off the air last week. The United Kingdom’s mobile operators (EE, O2, […]

G.Network to Buy New Broadband Users Out of Existing UK ISP Contracts

Network builder and broadband ISP G.Network, which after a long pause recently resumed the deployment of their 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network in London (here), has today become the latest internet provider to announce that they will buy new customers out of their existing contracts. One of the difficulties that consumers often face, when a […]