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MANAGING NETWORK COMPLEXITY - DELIVERING CUSTOMER DELIGHT

EXPERT SPEAK

Managed network services are a bas-ket of offerings that include flexiblesolutions and engagement models

for operators that enable them to offload theonus of operations, management or nicheprocesses to an external party. The benefitsof managed services comprise, but are notlimited to increased efficiency in processesand reduced costs. They augur well for op-erators in case of scant resources, whereoutsourcing transfers the load of networkresponsibility from the operator, to anequipment vendor with expertise. Engage-ment models may differ as per the needs ofthe operator and may be chosen amongst arange of modes that have been tried andtested in the industry, significantly lower-ing any chances of risk.

As a pertinent step in disseminatingclarity on the nuances of managed services,the ET Intelligence Group Knowledge Fo-rum in association with Global Group hassought means for "Managing Network Com-plexity-Delivering Customer Delight." Mod-erated by Ms. Damini Kumari, Senior Edi-tor, ET Now, the event was focused on sub-jects such as redefining the managed serv-ices delivery paradigm, cost-effectiveness,significance in the current scenario and so-lutions to common challenges faced. To thisend, Ms. Kumari led the panel discussionand confronted issues concerning betterend-to-end management that can optimisethe quality of telecom services for cus-tomers.

Need for a Renewed Service ParadigmAs a market, India is characterised by scale,complexity and efficiency. These verythings are primary when driving new mod-els for managed services aimed at ensuringend-user satisfaction. A technical challengethe industry has been facing is limited spec-trum as opposed to the large numbers of

subscribers. In relative terms, Indian cellu-lar telephony operates at half or a third ofthe spectrum used globally. As a result,some network quality-related issues are in-evitable. Innovation in the Indian commu-nity, in terms of applications and softwaredevelopment, will see the dawn of a new en-vironment and is poised to drive traffic sig-nificantly. Gearing Up for Challenges: Mr. SarvdeepGarg, Vice President-Services, Alcatel-Lu-cent India admitted, "With the launch of 3G,there will some relief to 2G networks in theinterim period, some of the voice traffic willbe offloaded to 3G. But as data traffic grows

again, there will be challenges in thisspace." Whether the bubble of data is just abubble or a lucrative revenue stream for op-erators is still to be seen. "The expansion ofthe industry from vendors' perspectivemeans that it is an era of convergence, out-sourcing and quality end-user experience atan acceptable price. This is the paradigmthat the services industry has to look into,"observed Mr. Devender Kumar, ExecutiveDirector (Delivery & Service), Huawei In-dia. In the opinion of Mr. Murray Ward,Head of Global Services for India Region,Nokia Siemens Networks, managed serviceis therefore not just cheaper operations, butalso about bringing the knowledge of net-works and experience from global marketsin a limited spectrum scenario to optimisethe asset base. And that is where managedservices becomes much more of a value op-timisation game.

Optimisation-The BuzzwordAccording to Mr. Fredrik Jejdling, VicePresident, Ericsson India Pvt Ltd, with 10-15

years of evolution in 3G, data capacity hasoptimised, making 21 Mbps on 5 MHz a pos-sibility. However, 4G will pose a differentchallenge since technologies like LTE TDDare likely to be first launched in India andChina. Therefore, developments will contin-ue to drive price, increasing the need to op-timise delivery models. Fortunately, there issome hope for reduced equipment pricewith rising volumes. The operator mindsettowards shared sites has also changed as allinfrastructure is shared with providers,tower companies and the goal is increasedtenancy.

Optimisation also involves greater em-phasis on bottoming out costs and climbingup the value chain. Operators that are look-ing to drive cost-efficiency can gain signifi-cantly by partnering up with managed serv-ices considering every avenue of networkwhere value can be added. Collaborative Effort: In offering solutionsthat cover the full range of end-to-end man-aged services, the different cogs of the in-dustry will need to collaborate since theywill be dependent upon the vendor who sup-plied the equipment. For instance, if Ciscoprovides the routers, one might have to de-pend upon them for the spare parts. The ob-

jective will be to allow the operator and cus-tomer to win in the game. End-to-end own-ership will play a critical part in providingoptimal user experience. Criticality in Risk Sharing: Another fac-tor that all partakers will consider is risksharing. As long as the entire supply chain,starting from the operator to the lowest ven-dor is unable to share risks, managed serv-ices may not be fully possible or successful.Risk sharing does not imply that one candissolve the responsibility aspect. Respon-sibility will remain, but what one canbroad-base himself on is sharing the risksas well as the rewards that will come as a re-sult. Therefore, the entire supply chain is

very critical for managed services modewhere there is ultimately a multi-vendortype of capability to serve the customer.

Spotting the Discerning FactorHaving said all this, one wonders then, howto choose amongst so many names for a re-liable managed services partner. Accordingto Mr. Deven Buch, Senior Vice President,GTL Limited, the differentiators for man-aged services vendors will be their reach ofthe network across a minimum number ofcircles and technology skills. "Any partnerthat the service provider chooses to workwith in terms of a managed services ap-proach will need to have the reach to coverthe entire network, not only on a geograph-

ical basis, but also on the logistical manage-ment basis. Secondly, almost all operatorstoday have network components from dif-ferent vendors using different technologies.So, any partner which a service providerchooses should have multi-vendor capabili-ties on his skill side," he said.

Winding UpWith frequent call drops and network quality that is not quite up to the mark,there is clearly a long way to go for the serv-ice delivery model. The industry has under-gone rapid change on the technology and de-mand fronts and this has involved hugecosts amid price wars. Not to mention, thecosts of acquiring precious spectrum. How-ever, the consensus is that quality user ex-perience is sacrosanct to attract and retainthe customer. It is absolutely crucial to havethe backend sorted out, for which, managedservices is going to be the key. Technologywill inevitably be the key differentiator aswe go forward. As for the data bubble-thebig promise of 3G that is going to ramp up revenues for many service operators and become the keystone of potential success-isgoing to be eagerly awaited.

Partners for Prosperity Poised to Augur Telecom Growth

Catch the coverage of The ETIG Knowledge forum

in association with Global Group on ET NOW on

16th April 2011 (Sat) at 5:30 p.m and repeat

telecast on 17th April 2011 (Sun) at 5:00 p.m

In Association with GLOBAL GROUP

Mr. Deven BuchSenior Vice President GTL Limited

From Left to Right - Mr. Fredrik Jejdling, Vice President, Ericsson India Pvt Ltd; Mr. Murray Ward, Head of Global Services for India Region, Nokia Siemens Networks; Mr. Devender Kumar, Executive Director (Delivery & Service), Huawei India; Ms. Damini Kumari, Senior Editor, ET NOW; Mr. Deven Buch, Senior Vice President, GTL

Limited; Mr. Sarvdeep Garg, Vice President - Services, Alcatel-Lucent India

It is absolutely critical to havethe backend sorted out, forwhich, managed services is

going to be the key.Technology will inevitablybe the prime differentiator

as we go forward.

You could havesimilar services

being offered by allmanaged services

vendors in the community, but what

will differentiatethem is the reach of

the network and the technology skills that

they have.

Managed network services enable value optimisationand sustainable business

practices at price andquality levels

favouring customers

Mr. Devender KumarExecutive Director (Delivery & Service)Huawei India

If we can providebetter services tooperators, we can

certainly give themsome revenue

benefits in the wholegame plan. The

concept of serviceR&D is to understand

the pain points ofthe customer-the

operator and bridgethat gap. And that

has dictated the evolution of the

new serviceparadigm also.

Mr. Murray Ward Head of Global Services India Region, Nokia Siemens Networks

Mr. Sarvdeep Garg Vice President - Services

Alcatel-Lucent India

Those who are savvy with themachinations of the telecomindustry as well as the rising

trend of users being drawn to betterphones are aware that the 'data bubble' is on its way.

What is still not known, howev-er, is how big it will be and howlong it will take to come. Yet, we doknow that the gainers in this mar-ket will be those who can managenetworks well for customers anddeliver a premium quality of serv-ice when that bubble hits.

There have been instances outside India where networks havestruggled to cope with the datachallenge. In essence, it is whatcame to be known as the 'smartphone challenge.' Managed servic-es vendors must be focused at gear-ing up to drive more value for the operator in the data space as ittransforms from a voice to a datamarket.

"Today, one thing that we need

to be really concerned about and Iam sure all operators and serviceproviders are struggling with thisas a challenge on the network side-how it is going to pump thatdata right up to the end customer.Most of it is related to the IP back-bone or the IP backhaul networkthat is required to pump that data,"opined Mr. Deven Buch, SeniorVice President, GTL Limited.

Further elaborating on the con-cerns faced by inadequate infra-structure, he said, "The challengeoperators face is that even thoughthere is a good amount of fibre onthe ground, there is not enough togo the last mile; and that is going tobe a impediment for delivering 3G.There is equipment and technolo-gy available, but there is no infra-structure that can act as a means to deliver this technology to the endcustomer; and if we do not solvethis challenge over the next fewmonths or the year at least, we can

talk about the data bubble but itwill not happen."

Balancing the debate withmuch-needed optimism, Mr. Mur-ray Ward, Head of Global Servicesfor India Region, Nokia Siemens Networks mulled, "The sheer scaleof what we do in India is remark-able. So, that piece of the infra-structure puzzle will come and newbusiness models will drive for-ward.”

Elucidating how future technologies can be supported ifthere is the will, he continued, "Ifyou look at where it went with fi-bre deployment that was doneeight-nine years ago by Tata andReliance, nobody would have be-lieved that so much fibre couldhave been deployed in that short atime, but that is where we built the2G capability. The same thing willhappen on the IP-based transmis-sion network and optical-basednetworks around the 3G and 4G sto-

ry." He opined that such a revolu-tion will return and that it wouldbe a great opportunity for everyonehere.

Mr. Sarvdeep Garg, Vice President-Services, Alcatel-LucentIndia corroborated, "Infrastruc-ture has a very big role to play-ifwe have proer infrastructure, tech-nological avancements will defi-nitely come. Two years back we didnot expect to leverage limited spec-trum for so many subscribers." Heinsisted that further technologicalprogress is also on the horizon andwould lea to sure improvement ofcustomer experience.

Given the nature ofenthusiasm this new data buzz hasgarnered, it may be hoped thatefforts to ease the technologicaland skill transformation in Indiabe made in time. This will ensurethat industry stakeholders canenjoy the ride on the next wave intelecom success.

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Mr. Fredrik Jejdling, Vice President, Ericsson India Pvt Ltd

With innovationsfrom the Indian

community in termsof applications and

software development, we are

going to see a newenvironment that is

really going to drivetraffic significantly.

What works in otherparts of the world willnot work in India—weare a differentmarket. No othercountry has 5,000base stations in oneparticular circle. Theball game here isdifferent, and so arethe volumes. Here,we need tooptimise ourdelivery models.

”

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What we are offering to operatorsin a managed service is not justcheaper operations.It is about bringingour knowledge ofnetworks from global markets andglobal experience,and making thatlimited amount ofspectrum do muchmore for them as anasset base.

“”

Engaged in a riveting exchange

Riding the Crest of the Wave: The ‘Data Bubble’is Arriving

THE ECONOMIC TIMES | MUMBAI | THURSDAY | 14 APRIL 2011

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