An operator is composed of three domains: Network, IT and Services. Historically we’ve treated the services domain as something that can be solved by a piece of technology, called the SDP (Service Delivery Platform). This has resulted in the industry’s slow response to the competitive threats of web-based service providers, which are now starting to […]
As promised in the Day 1 BBWF article, here is a sample of the excellent presentation given by Matthias Linder, CTO Magyar Telekom providing an open and frank discussion on their experiences around convergence (many suppliers/consultants call it business transformation to make it sound more expensive.) The key to success in convergence isn’t about technology, […]
Dear Operator, When I have a problem with your network, I really do not want to call you. I fault-find my home network, I reset the router, I check the ONT (Optical Network Terminal), I reset the PC, I reset the router with the PC off and then turn on the PC. I do everything […]
The vendor keynotes on Day 2 of the Broadband World Forum were again rather dry and focused on why operators should buy more complex networks. A common vendor claim was that a 10% increase in broadband connectivity results in some % increase in GDP (Gross Domestic Product). I have a sneaking feeling that there is […]
The Broadband World Forum continues to grow with attendees from 120 countries, 280 speakers (most were operators), 150 sponsors and exhibitors, 400 service providers and over 7500 attendees. Gavin Whitechurch and his team deserve much respect for transforming BBWF into the Broadband event of the year. At the session I chaired on next generation broadband […]
Day 1 of the SDP Global Summit kicked off with an impressive line-up of operator case studies from Michel Burger of Vodafone, Medhat Amer of Mobily, Mohammed Aldhwaiyan of STC and Mario Domingo of Globe. Common themes to their success include: SDP is not a product, it’s a project covering people, processes and technology (an […]
I will not be involved in this conference for the reasons set out in this weblog article. I’ve been asked to chair the African Service Provider IT (AspIT) Conference and Exhibition in March of 2012. Its looks like its going to be a unique and interesting conference. Its definitely reflecting the frustrations and issues I’m […]
We’re reaching an interesting stage in operators’ attempts to remain relevant to customers beyond voice and internet access, which still remains a nice business, yet commoditization continues, albeit at a slower pace than most have predicted. The slow pace shows the strength of state-granted duopolies / oligopolies. Though we’re seeing a mounting chorus in the […]
I’ve worked across the Cable / Telco divide for several years and remain perplexed at the lack of communications between the two groups. The analogy I draw between the Telco and Cable industries is that of a Jungle and a Smurf village, see picture below. In Telco the operators within a country are in competition […]
TM Forum was founded in 1988 by BT and AT&T, they had created similar support system architectures, see the BT Tile Architecture shown below. Now this architecture was created nearly 30 years ago so its understandable why it suffers from the classic ‘Bell-head’ ‘box and wire’ design. The TM Forum today brings together members (700 […]