News

05 September, 2019

Shock as survey shows customers see operators as digital service providers

Reports of telecoms operators enduring a lingering decline to become commoditised infrastructure providers may have been exaggerated if the results of a new survey of mobile operators’ customers can be extrapolated. For once, the survey, commissioned by Openet, presents positive news for operators. It says that customers are increasingly willing to buy digital services from operators and are looking to them for digital innovation. George Malim reports from Dublin, Ireland.

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11 June, 2019

Product not network is the experience CSPs are selling, says TCS CMI president

Enterprises no longer see the network in the same light as their air conditioning; something necessary but a cost to be minimised. Instead, the network is now seen as a critical enabler of their business with connectivity vital for new applications, processes, business models and, ultimately, their future success. Communications service providers (CSPs) are therefore targeting the enterprise market with IT services. VanillaPlus managing editor George Malim asks Kamal Bhadada, the president of Communications, Media and Information (CMI) services at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), whether CSPs can succeed here or whether enterprise IT will be the telecoms industry’s next big miss.

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05 June, 2019

Delivery of digital infrastructure is the differentiator, says HGC chief digital officer

Jacqueline Teo is the chief digital officer of HGC Global Communications, the fixed line and ICT service provider that is extending from its roots serving the Hong Kong market to address international markets via its pan-Asian network capacity, including cable into China. Speaking at the TM Forum’s Digital Transformation World event in Nice, France, last month she tells George Malim how the company is innovating on all fronts to compete in the mature Hong Kong market, to develop further its newly acquired operations in Myanmar and to harness software defined network (SDN) technology to enable a more agile mode of operation.

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30 May, 2019

Executives and IT must collaborate to define 5G business cases, says Deutsche Telekom’s Meijer

With 5G at the centre of mobile operators’ strategies, the challenge is to avoid another cycle of intense infrastructure investment which enables the business cases of other organisations. Instead, operators need to take up a new role that monetises the enablement they provide and places them in the connected ecosystem as more than the providers of connectivity.

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29 May, 2019

Etiya wins TM Forum excellence award for disruptive innovation

Etiya, the leading software vendor providing AI-driven Digital BSS, comprehensive telco CRM , AI solutions, as well as customer analytics to CSPs, today announced that it was selected as a winner in the TM Forum Excellence Awards 2019. Etiya received the “Disruptive Innovation Award” for its work with Fizz, a completely digital mobile and internet sub-brand that provides an online customer experience for do-it-yourself smart digital consumers.

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22 May, 2019

Telefónica’s AURA turns artificial intelligence into real, enhanced customer experiences

Huge excitement surrounds the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the telecoms industry as communications service providers (CSPs) look to operate more effectively and provide richer, automated experiences to customers. The theory’s sound but talk is cheap so it was refreshing for George Malim to speak to Telefónica executives José Ramón Gómez Utrilla and Irene Gómez at Digital Transformation World in Nice, France.

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14 May, 2019

Why would you outsource your brain, asks Axiata’s analytics chief?

A retired professor of artificial intelligence, 11 companies in eight countries, a commitment to open source technologies and an appetite to enable automation may not at first appear to be the ideal ingredients for a group-wide data analytics function but that’s what Axiata has created with its Axiata Analytics business unit. George Malim reports from Digital Transformation World, in Nice, France.

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09 May, 2019

CenturyLink’s Dalvi explains expanded Google Cloud partnership benefits for enterprises

As the lines between IT and telecoms services provision continue to blur, Mahesh Dalvi, the vice president of global IT solutions at managed services at CenturyLink, tells George Malim how service providers are moving way beyond connectivity to provide IT services and consulting that support customers’ digital transformations. Partnerships with specialists are a vital enabler of this.

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01 May, 2019

Oz-based Hansen Tech snaps up Sigma to build create-sell-deliver software for telcos, media and high-tech companies

Global provider of catalogue-driven software, Sigma Systems, announced today that it is being acquired by Hansen Technologies for an undisclosed sum. Hansen is a specialist in billing, data management and customer care solutions for the energy, water, pay-TV, and telecommunications industries. (more…)

25 April, 2019

Verizon pursues ‘sell with’ strategy to provide integrated connectivity to Microsoft Teams users

Telecoms operators are circling the enterprise services market as they seek out new sources of revenue. The aim isn’t necessarily to become IT providers themselves but to assemble attractive packages of popular enterprise software alongside communications capacity and infrastructure.

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