Afghan Wireless Expands with Redknee

Afghan Wireless Expands Growth Strategy with Redknee’s Charging and Policy Solution. Redknee Solutions Inc. announced that it is supporting Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC), the leading telecom operator in Afghanistan to differentiate its services and provide an advanced customer experience for its subscribers. Utilizing the Redknee Unified charging and policy solution, AWCC is leveraging convergent […]

Homogeneous thinking

“There is no need for us all to be alike and think the same way, neither do we need a common enemy to force us to come together and reach out to each other.” Anthon St. Maarten. Over the years, I’ve worked in a few OSS environments where I had the distinct feeling that there […]

Ericsson acquires Sunrise Technology

Ericsson acquires telecom IT services business in China. Ericsson has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the telecom business of Sunrise Technology, a provider of IT services in the operations and business support systems (OSS/BSS) domain. Sunrise Technology, which is headquartered in Guangzhou, China, will continue to exist as a separate entity – serving customers […]

Overcoming restistance to change

“Inspiration is much more likely to develop from the habit of consistently paying attention to life’s small moments.” Robert Maurer, from his book, “The Spirit of Kaizen: Creating Lasting Excellence One Small Step at a Time.” As we all know, OSS projects are a combination of people, process and technology. However, since most of us […]

Cisco invests $21m in STEM

“Cisco Systems Australia has announced a five-year investment program expanding to train over 100,000 Australian tertiary and school students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) skills. AUSTEM 2020 is a new program, which builds on Cisco Australia’s long-term commitment to tackle the STEM skills shortage and help create an innovation economy, boost productivity and […]

Supporting Ops

“The mind is seldom quickened to very vigorous operations but by pain, or the dread of pain. We do not disturb ourselves with the detection of fallacies which do us no harm..” Samuel Johnson. Operational Support Systems are exactly that – OPERATIONAL support systems. Many people in our industry lose sight of that fact sometimes. […]

Schurz Communications renews with NetCracker

Schurz Communications Signs Multi-Year Renewal for NetCracker Billing and Revenue Management Solution. NetCracker Technology announced that it has signed a multi-year renewal with Schurz Communications for its NetCracker Billing and Revenue Management solution. This extension underscores NetCracker’s ongoing commitment to deliver cutting-edge solution functionality to cable operators across the United States. Schurz Communications is an […]

16 root causes of OSS problems

“The Toyota production system has been built on the practice and evolution of this scientific approach. By asking and answering ‘why’ five times, we can get to the real cause of the problem, which is often hidden behind more obvious symptoms.” Eric Ries, in his book, “The Lean Startup.” Some time ago, I prepared a […]

MegaFon selects Nokia Networks

MegaFon selects Nokia Networks to build its 4G LTE network. MegaFon has signed a contract with Nokia Networks to upgrade the operator’s nationwide network in Russia. Under this 7-year deal, a 4G network based on the company’s Single RAN (radio access network) technology will be built in order to benefit from greater capacity, higher data […]

Eastlink selects CSG

Eastlink selects CSG International. CSG International announced that Eastlink, one of Canada’s leading video entertainment and communications service providers, has chosen CSG Ascendon to further strengthen the consumer viewing experience. CSG Ascendon is a new platform designed to enable service providers like Eastlink to launch, scale and monetize new digital services such as movies, games, […]

Bulgaria’s Mtel Deploys Amdocs

Bulgaria’s Mtel Deploys Amdocs Master Enterprise Catalog. Amdocs announced that Mtel, the largest mobile service provider in Bulgaria and part of the Telekom Austria Group, has deployed the Amdocs Master Enterprise Catalog enabling Mtel to reduce the operational IT complexity typically associated with service provider product rollouts and reduce time to market for new offers […]

Reaching a binding decision

“Thrashing: tweaking, updating, revising, sometimes even major surgery; essential, but when to do it? Amateur: all at the end. Pro: early.” Seth Godin in his book, “Linchpin.” One of the biggest challenges facing a new OSS project is gaining a workable and binding set of requirements on which to build a solution. There are all […]

More complexity

“Most systems deal with complexity by adding more – more systems, more measures, more internal meetings, more units, more custom products, more unique processes, more new initiatives, more coordinators at the interfaces, and on and on. Our belief is that for more companies, the antidote to escalating complexity – and to the greater distance between […]

Jumping into the explosion

“A while ago our world exploded. The environment and the world of towns and cities and families and communities blew apart, along with the world of ideas and information, of entertainment and communication, of politics and diplomacy, and of course the world of businesses and organisations. It’s hard to date when the explosion started, but […]

Batched or chained?

“A single twig breaks, but the bundle of twigs is strong.” Tecumseh. I have an interesting dilemma to pose for you today. Let’s say you have a migration to undertake that involves your field work-force. The migration requires the re-direction of customer services from one destination to a new destination via re-patching at various points […]

Front line management

“I don’t have any easy answers to the time management dilemma. For me, it works best if I divide my week into 10 half-days. My guess is it would take much less than half a day a week to coach your team on the messages and vision the CEO is passionate about.” Rob Davidson, here. […]

Sprint selects Brite:Bill

Sprint selects Brite:Bill to Improve Customer Billing Experience. Brite:Bill has been selected to serve as a billing communications solutions provider for Sprint Corp. As a result, Sprint will be able to enhance customer experience across all channels through transparent, personalized and easy-to-understand billing communications. Sprint required a customer communications and billing analytics capability to support […]

The end of network engineers (part 2)

“Scientists dream about doing great things. Engineers do them.” James A. Michener. In a recent post, I posed the question about whether we would soon no longer need network engineers. This was slightly cheeky of me. Today I shall note some caveats on posing such a bold question, as well as providing my humble opinions […]

Zain Kuwait selects Ericsson

Zain Kuwait selects Ericsson for transformation project to improve customer experience. Ericsson has been awarded the entire Business Support Systems (BSS) transformation project for Zain Kuwait. The agreement covers a wide range of products, solutions and system integration services, which will prepare Zain for the opportunities of the Networked Society. With Ericsson’s solutions, all Zain […]

Ooredoo and Ericsson launches M2M platform

Ooredoo and Ericsson launches M2M platform in Indonesia. Ooredoo’s Indosat and Ericsson has launched a cloud-based Machine-to-Machine (M2M) platform in Indonesia. The platform, Ericsson Device Connection Platform (DCP), uses innovative technologies suited to developing markets, which create connected solutions to existing problems. Indosat is the first member of Ooredoo Group to launch this M2M platform […]