Africell Group confirms Africell Angola launch

“Africell launches services with mandate to transform Angola’s digital landscape.”

7 April 2022, Africell Group.

The Africell Group announcement confirms the Africell Angola launch, and that commercial mobile services are now live.

We are pleased to re-share these extracts from Africell Group’s press release,

“Partnerships with blue-chip international technology vendors including Nokia, Oracle and Digis Squared, as well as with carefully selected local suppliers such as Angola Cables and MSTelcom, promise Africell Angola’s users an unprecedented level of service quality on a secure, trustworthy and resilient network.”

“Africell is building a mobile network in Angola that will soon be recognised as the best in the country.”

As announced in November 2021, Africell Angola awarded Digis Squared a multi-year contract to provide end to end Managed Services, covering Radio, Core, BSS, VAS and Field, for the new network in Angola, in addition to a second contract handling in-building coverage optimisation.

The Digis Squared Team celebrate the key network-launch milestone, and continue to focus their expertise and commitment on the success of the new network as we move into the next phase of the project.

Discover more

Digis Squared, enabling smarter networks.

We transform telecom networks, deploy new technologies, and manage vendors, for operators, service providers and regulators.

Apply our expertise, automated AI-led tools and processes to transform your technical and commercial capabilities. We work with agility, deep experience, and our in-house cognitive tools to optimise and manage multi-vendor networks across all technologies.

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Digis-One ◦ Unified Fault Management for multi-vendor, multi-technology networks

Why do telecom networks need a Unified Fault Management solution?

Digis-One is a Unified Fault Management (UFM) solution, delivering multi-vendor and multi-technology carrier-grade capability for telecom SOC (Service Operations Centres) and NOC (Network Operations Centres). But why is it needed?

Mobile networks today are a patchwork of systems, with solutions from multiple-vendors, becoming more complex as layers of IoT and 5G capability are added – the result of decades of commercial decisions, technology availability, and technical strategies. As the telecom sector is inherently defined by international standards, this mix-and-match approach should deliver a coherent system, but there are some critical elements which struggle to work together.

Network Operations Centre (NOC) engineers need to undertake fault and performance management activities, in addition to routine, repetitive tasks: fault detection, events enrichment, impact analysis and trouble ticketing creation – and all of this is undertaken manually.

A smart Unified Fault Management solution (UFM) is crucial to unify and automate all fault management activities.

Finding and resolving sub-optimal performance issues is often more complex than fault resolution. Improving performance in one system may create a knock-on consequence to another, which may not appear immediately, and may slowly creep before it triggers an alarm. When NOC teams have to log in to multiple, discrete NMS to view each component, it is impossible for them to assess the full picture.

“AI, 5G and automation are the key technologies driving digital transformation”

Source: EY (1)

Digis-One – UFM

A multi-vendor and multi-technology carrier-grade solution, used by Service or Network Operations Centers (SOC/NOC), focusing on fault management unification across all network and IT nodes.

The Digis Squared team have combined their knowledge of network failure occurrence mechanisms and resolution procedures, and our AI and automation skills, to develop Digis-One – a single consistent interface into all the Network and IT nodes in your network, with intelligent troubleshooting and optimisation.

“Digis-One intelligently assesses the data from all the Network and IT nodes it’s connected to. Using automated rules, root cause is identified against a library of recommended actions and troubleshooting steps, thereby overcoming native compatibility issues.”

Yasser ElSabrouty, Co-Founder, and Director of Sales & Business Development ME & Africa

See the full picture

Digis-One delivers,

  • One platform: rich, intuitive web interface, with a fully customisable single view.
  • Technology: all system components are Cloud Native Computing Foundation certified with a mesh of micro-services components.
  • Agility: setup can be changed on the fly, no loss of service with its static predefined load balancing rules.
  • Automation: fully-fledged library of “Generic / Vendor-specific” correlation and automation rules, network alarms, plus their recommended actions, and all troubleshooting steps pre-loaded. RPA ensures faults are consistently identified and swiftly resolved, minimising failure recovery time. Additionally, stable services outside standard working hours can be achieved by automating network operations and monitoring.
  • Cost efficiency: efficient system architecture and a single interface = simplified operations, administration and maintenance.  Efficiency also increases customer satisfaction due to prompt network failure response, which in turn helps retain customers and improve brand image.

Additional Digis-One benefits include,

  • Rapid integration, and elastic scalability: as components continue to be added to your network, the additional NMS they come with can be easily integrated into Digis-One.
  • Alarm grouping and pivoting
  • AutoPilot: the first step towards zero-touch operation
  • Commercially deployed: now.

Ensuring your network works

As mobile networks are enhanced with IoT, edge-computing and 5G, the ever-increasing complexity of fault management, demands that AI and automation are used to swiftly help your teams identify and resolve faults, and optimise network performance. Now more than ever, ensure your network works.

Digis Squared, independent telecoms expertise.

This blog post is also available as a stand-alone white paper.

To discuss how Digis-One can help your business, please use this link or email sales@DigisSquared.com to arrange a convenient time for an informal conversation.

Keep up to speed with company updates, product launches and our quarterly newsletter, sign up here.

Sources,

Abbreviations

  • CSP: Communications Service Providers
  • IoT: Internet of Things
  • NOC: Network Operations Centre
  • NMS: Network Management System
  • SOC: Service Operations Centre
  • UFM: Unified Fault Management

Image credits: Nathan Bang (patchwork), Jackson David (telecoms tower)

Capacity management ◦ Now more than ever, as staff return to offices, handle unpredictable demand with agility

As network capacity and demand flex again, Communications Service Providers (CSPs) and Mobile Network Operators need to adapt to shifts in office use and working patterns – how can AI help?

As the initial phases of the pandemic swept around the world, communication providers and network operators worked hard to reconfigure their networks to address the unpredictable changes in demand, and keep communities connected. Now, as staff return to offices in increasing numbers, the networks need to be reconfigured again, and be ready to continue to adapt, as changes in society and working patterns rapidly evolve. But predicting how to adjust capacity is complex – some businesses are encouraging the continuation of home-working, others are rotating teams with one week in and the next at home, or splitting teams by day of the week. And all of these changes in office use, and the retail and social spaces they support, are fluidly adapting to the ebb and flow of local lockdowns. Can AI help CSPs and MNOs to manage their network capacity to address this lack of pattern and constant change?

In our blog on Capacity Management in May, we shared stats illustrating the big shift in communication demands,

“The five largest operators in Spain reported a 40% increase in overall IP traffic, a 25% increase in mobile traffic and a 50% increase in mobile voice traffic since the start of the outbreak.”

Analysys Mason (1)

Home working, with its heavy use of video conferencing and collaboration, combined with a surge in demand for digital entertainment, home studying and intensive use of multiple devices simultaneously, led to a previously unimaginable surge in demand for capacity on both fixed and mobile networks. The changes in mobile network demand highlighted difficult to predict anomalies – in many cities, as people stayed at home, significant demand was off-loaded to home wifi networks (Deloitte (2): “some telcos say they have seen a 300% increase in the use of these voice-over-WiFi services.”), in contrast with rural areas and other poorly served broadband-black-spots, mobile data demand has soared.

“…the way to consider a crisis of this magnitude is to identify three phases: Respond, Recover and Thrive.”

Deloitte (2)

Now that the initial rush to support business employees working from home has passed, more countries are slowly re-opening business premises – with staggered start times, and changes in working practice. The need to maintain agility in capacity management is vital, as lockdowns will be enforced dynamically over the months and years ahead.

Planning ahead

Short-term challenges addressed earlier in the pandemic,

  • After the initial dynamic changes in customer behaviour, and the lack of revenue from roaming charges, many operators continue to experience significant pressure on operating expenses, and have taken quick business decisions to remove costs
  • Capital expenditure plans have been rapidly re-assessed to ensure re-prioritisation to meet the new revenue and business continuity needs
  • Re-assessment of supply chains, equipment procurement issues, safe social distancing in the workplace, and staff absence levels
  • Rapid revenue and cash management, as economies globally continue to experience a massive downturn.

Now, plans are being made to manage the “next new normal”, as changes in society and working patterns continue to evolve, and staff return to offices. At Digis Squared we believe this next phase is even harder, as “Business As Usual” will mean a constant need for agility and flexing to meet demand. But the good news is that we can help MNOs and CSPs address the exceptional levels of uncertainty and dynamic change, and AI is part of the mix,

  • Accelerate digital transformation: use AI and RPA to manage higher customer service call volumes to support remote working, and handle mundane repetitive tasks and digital self-service via automation
  • Revise Business Continuity Plans: review assumptions, re-plan and re-scale
  • Accelerate 5G deployment and integration to better handle high demand dynamically
  • Implement autonomous capacity management, to ensure that your mobile networks work efficiently.

Whilst many short terms solutions have been rapidly implemented, now is the time to ensure they are robust and resilient enough to continue to handle the longer term, and to re-assess Business Continuity Plans.

AI-led autonomous capacity management

We can help communications services providers and mobile network operators to achieve more with your network resources: absorb new traffic demands, and optimize the expansions you need by using Digis Squared’s vendor-agnostic, off-the-shelf solutions.

Use our expertise to dynamically assist your teams

Our areas of focus are,

  • Vendor agnostic AI-led capacity modelling for all network technologies (2G/3G/4G/5G)
  • Machine learning algorithms using network data enriched with multiple data feeds from radio access network, Customer Experience Management (CEM), geolocation systems and crowdsourced data
  • Predictive traffic growth based on AI-power algorithms followed by degradation preventive actions and expansions prediction
  • Action-centric benchmarking (BM) reports including KPIs, KQIs and Customers QOEs
  • ROI calculations for network investments.

Many of our clients use modular capacity management modules developed by Digis Squared team, with bespoke adaptations if needed, to,

  • Balance the traffic between cells & technologies
  • Recommend soft actions needed
  • Activate & reshuffle sites licenses
  • Capacity enhancement feature recommendations
  • Physical changes
  • Network expansions and reshuffling required.

Our teams can use these capabilities to deliver value to service providers and mobile network operators,

  • Start the smart CAPEX journey, and identify pathways to OPEX saving
  • Maximize network investment ROI and help operators make well-informed, data-centred investment decisions
  • Speed-up network capacity plans through our automated-predictive solution.

We can assist you right now with our ready-to-go, adaptive-modular capacity management modules, developed by the Digis Squared team to,

  • Balance the traffic between cells & technologies
  • Recommend soft actions needed
  • Activate & reshuffle sites licenses
  • Capacity enhancement feature recommendations
  • Physical changes
  • Network expansions and reshuffling required.

Discover more about our Digis-Capacity, AI & ML capabilities.

Now more than ever, capacity management ensures you can handle unpredictable demand with agility.

To discuss how our capacity management expertise can help your business, please use this link or email sales@DigisSquared.com to arrange an informal chat.

Keep up to speed with company updates, product launches and our quarterly newsletter, sign up here.

“In the words of one the telecom operator we spoke to: ‘ideally we never go back to the way we operated before this crisis’.”

Source: Deloitte (2)

Sources,

Image credit: Daniel Von Appen

INOS ◦ Now more than ever, know your network strengths, and weaknesses

Understand what has changed, then invest

As work patterns continue to change, operators struggle to model their network capacity and investment plans. Understanding current network coverage, performance and quality of experience, and that of competitors, is vital before investment decisions are made.

Our cloud-controlled INOS automated testing platform delivers both drive testing, and in building data, enabling operators and service providers to efficiently obtain the insights needed for key upgrade decisions. [Our tools need just one person in the vehicle or building – no engineers are needed on-site, ensuring that they can do their work safely and together we can keep our communities connected.]

Know your strengths, and weaknesses. Now more than ever, ensure you know the capability, performance, quality of experience and coverage of your voice and data networks, and that of your competitors, before you invest. Discover more about how INOS can help you, here.

Now more than ever, use INOS to benchmark coverage, performance & QoE.

To discuss how our network benchmarking expertise can help your business, please use this link or email sales@DigisSquared.com to arrange a convenient time for an informal conversation.

Keep up to speed with company updates, product launches and our quarterly newsletter, sign up here.

Digis Squared, independent telecoms expertise.

Image credit: Klavs Taimins

5G ◦ Now more than ever, deliver the robust capability you need

5G in 2020: the time to build is now

In the last quarter of 2019, the number of 5G subscriptions had more than quadrupled to reach at least 17.73 million (1), and the GSMA was forecasting that “…2020 is set to prove the year for mass-market adoption around the world” (2).  Although forecasts have changed, 2020 is still the year to build 5G, its capacity and robustness is needed now more than ever.

Covid-19 & 5G rollout

At the start of the Covid-19 crisis, as workers and students rapidly adjusted to working from home where they could, mobile data demand shifted rapidly and operators worked hard to keep pace. Some demand was displaced to fixed broadband and fibre connections, whilst others used mobile data to deal with competing demands of online gaming and video calls within the same household.

Even at the start of the crisis, a European IT Buyer Sentiment Survey conducted by IDC revealed that “58% of spending on 5G technology will be increased or will remain the same”, (3).

Now, as the pandemic continues to disrupt lives and society globally, with staff and students continuing to work and study from home, high speed, reliable connectivity has become essential. Home broadband has often struggled to meet demand, and 5G can often provide a better, more reliable and stable solution. As mobile network capacity has flexed to try and address the unpredictable demand, end customers have been very aware of which powerful, flexible and stable networks have adapted to meet their needs. 5G’s ultra-low latency and high-reliability has ensured that those customer’s with the ability to access it, have benefited from an excellent customer experience.

5G will play a critical role in the digital economy for decades to come. This new era of intelligent connectivity offers the chance to recast customer value propositions, accelerate industrial transformation, and reinvigorate the digital society.” 

Source: EY (6)

In the initial stage of the pandemic, many mobile network operators and service providers put their investment plans on hold, realigning resources to meet the immediate needs of network re-dimensioning. Now, as the world starts to address mid to long term strategies, mobile operators and service providers are re-considering their 5G plans. As IDC portray in their graphic below (3), as we move forward through the different economic phases ahead of us, business focus changes.

Today, as business confidence slowly rebuilds, and commercial activity picks up pace, adjusted 5G strategies and rollout plans are progressing. As this GSMA map illustrates, as of June 2020, there are now 79 commercial launches globally.

Digis Squared, independent telecoms expertise

In the months ahead, as we move through the cycles IDC  identifies, our experienced, independent and multi-vendor team at Digis Squared can help and guide your teams as they,

  • Reassess and revise technical and commercial network strategies, and budgets
  • Reconsider network vendor selection options commercially and technically
  • Review and revise rollout plans to address changes in working patterns, shifts in geographical demands and deliver extra flexibility for the future
  • Re-test and optimise existing network infrastructure, to ensure your existing investments are working as effectively as possible.

Perhaps, Communications Service Providers (CSPs) or Mobile Network Operator, you are considering whether to roll out 5G at all, and want to better understand how you can utilise your existing technologies for longer. We can help you assess this, and dimension your legacy infrastructure and licenses to optimise their use for a longer than originally anticipated lifespan.

Other businesses are experiencing supply chain disruption and bottlenecks in raw material access, production, and distribution. These, in turn, may cause you to re-assess commercial contracts and technical options – our teams can help you understand options and impacts, and ensure you have the flexibility and capability to be as ready as possible for whatever happens next.

As 5G rollout plans change and flex in ways we never envisaged, now more than ever, work with flexible partners to support your changing needs and deliver robust 5g capability.

Digis Squared, independent telecoms expertise.

Now more than ever, deliver the robust capability you need with 5G

To discuss how our 5G expertise can help your business, please use this link or email sales@DigisSquared.com to arrange a convenient time for an informal conversation.

Keep up to speed with company updates, product launches and our quarterly newsletter, sign up here.

Sources,

Image credit: Piotr Chrobot, Dubai sunrise

Capacity management ◦ Now more than ever, handle unpredictable demand with agility

Across the globe Communications Service Providers (CSPs) and Mobile Network Operators have faced enormous, dynamic changes in capacity and demand this year.

“In this “new normal,” CSPs are leading the effort for remote working, online learning and social distancing.”

Source: Forbes (1)

Home working, with its heavy use of video conferencing and collaboration, combined with a surge in demand for digital entertainment, home studying and intensive use of multiple devices simultaneously, has led to a previously unimaginable surge in demand for capacity on both fixed and mobile networks. The changes in mobile network demand have highlighted difficult to predict anomalies – in many cities, as people stayed at home, significant demand was off-loaded to home wifi networks (Deloitte (2): “some telcos say they have seen a 300% increase in the use of these voice-over-WiFi services.”), in contrast with rural areas and other poorly served broadband-black-spots, mobile data demand has soared.

“The five largest operators in Spain reported a 40% increase in overall IP traffic, a 25% increase in mobile traffic and a 50% increase in mobile voice traffic since the start of the outbreak.”

Analysys Mason (3)

Now that the initial rush to support business employees working from home has passed, more countries are starting to consider slowly re-opening business premises – with staggered start times, and changes in working practice, this will bring with it a new set of behaviours and capacity requirements. But the need to maintain agility in capacity is vital, as countries anticipate lockdowns will be enforced dynamically over the months and years ahead.

Planning ahead

In the short term, service providers are addressing four key challenges,

  • With dynamic changes in customer behaviour, and the lack of revenue from roaming charges, many are experiencing significant pressure on operating expenses, and taking quick business decisions to remove costs
  • Capital expenditure plans are being rapidly re-assessed to ensure they are re-prioritised to meet the new revenue and business continuity needs
  • Re-assessing supply chains, in terms of equipment procurement issues, safe social distancing in the workplace, and staff absence levels
  • Rapidly addressing revenue and cash management, as economies global experience a massive downturn

In the longer term, plans need to be made to manage the “next new normal”, as changes in society and working patterns continue to evolve. At Digis Squared we believe this next phase is even harder, as “Business As Usual” will mean a constant need for agility and flexing to meet demand,

  • Accelerate digital transformation: use AI and RPA to manage higher customer service call volumes to support remote working, and handle mundane repetitive tasks and digital self-service via automation
  • Revise Business Continuity Plans: review assumptions, re-plan and re-scale
  • Accelerate 5G deployment and integration to better handle high demand dynamically
  • Implement autonomous capacity management, to ensure that your mobile networks work efficiently.

“…the way to consider a crisis of this magnitude is to identify three phases: Respond, Recover and Thrive.”

Deloitte (2)

Whilst many short terms solutions have been rapidly implemented, now is the time to ensure they are robust and resilient enough to continue to handle the longer term, and to re-assess Business Continuity Plans.

Autonomous capacity management

We can help communications services providers and mobile network operators to achieve more with your network resources: absorb new traffic demands, and optimize the expansions you need by using Digis Squared’s vendor-agnostic, off-the-shelf solutions.

Use our expertise to dynamically assist your teams

Our areas of focus are,

  • Vendor agnostic capacity modeling for all network technologies (2G/3G/4G/5G)
  • Machine learning algorithms on network data enriched with multiple data feeds from radio access network, Customer Experience Management (CEM), geolocation systems and crowdsourced data
  • Predictive traffic growth based on AI-power algorithms followed by degradation preventive actions and expansions prediction
  • Action-Centric BM reports including KPIs, KQIs and Customers QOEs
  • ROI calculations for network investments

Many of our clients use modular capacity management modules developed by Digis Squared team, with bespoke adaptations if needed, to,

  • Balance the traffic between cells & technologies
  • Recommend soft actions needed
  • Activate & reshuffle sites licenses
  • Capacity enhancement feature recommendations
  • Physical changes
  • Network expansions and reshuffling required

Our teams can use these capabilities to deliver value to service providers and mobile network operators,

  • Start the smart CAPEX journey, and identify pathways to OPEX saving
  • Maximize network investment ROI and help operators make well-informed, data-centred investment decisions
  • Speed-up network capacity plans through our automated-predictive solution

We can assist you right now with our ready-to-go, adaptive-modular capacity management modules, developed by the Digis Squared team to,

  • Balance the traffic between cells & technologies
  • Recommend soft actions needed
  • Activate & reshuffle sites licenses
  • Capacity enhancement feature recommendations
  • Physical changes
  • Network expansions and reshuffling required

Discover more about our Digis-Capacity, AI & ML capabilities.

Now more than ever, capacity management ensures you can handle unpredictable demand with agility.

To discuss how our capacity management expertise can help your business, please use this link or email sales@DigisSquared.com to arrange an informal conversation.

Keep up to speed with company updates, product launches and our quarterly newsletter, sign up here.

“In the words of one the telecom operator we spoke to: ‘ideally we never go back to the way we operated before this crisis’.”

Source: Deloitte (2)

Sources

Image credit: Mike Kononov