Tunisie Telecom: Fostering Innovation to Improve Customer Service

Tunisie Telecom is the incumbent (and largest) telecommunications operator in Tunisia. Its shareholders include the Tunisian government and Emirates International Telecommunications. Tunisie Telecom has impressive infrastructure, with 15,000 km of optical fiber, 3 million copper lines, and more than 800 outlets. The operator provides GSM, WCDMA/HSPA+, xDSL, FTTH, cloud computing, and enterprise services. Cooperation between Tunisie Telecom and ZTE began in 2004 and extends to DSLAM, SMS, NG-SDH, CWDM, DWDM/OTN, support services, 3G USB modems, and RBT. ZTE Technologies interviewed Nizar Bouguila, CTO of Tunisie Telecom, who talked about management philosophy, cloud services, and the compromise between technology ambitions and expenditure.

Q: What is Tunisie Telecom’s main focus in 2014?

A: We’re mainly focusing on improving customer services, delivering the best customer experience, and creating new and interesting offers for our subscribers. These are the axes of our work. Of course, we try to be cost efficient in order to deliver our services at competitive prices.

Q: What is your management philosophy?

A: Our philosophy is built around teamwork. We encourage everybody to work together to identify the best strategic technical orientations, and we devise the right action plans to meet our business expectations. It’s important to involve everyone in both the strategic direction and day-to-day work of the company. We want our people to adhere to the company’s mission and demonstrate a high degree of motivation.

Q: A few years ago, you opened a technical lab to develop sample platforms for different technologies.  Do you plan to expand this R&D effort?

A: Actually, the technical lab has been completed, but we haven’t expanded it over the past few years. We recreated our network in miniature in the lab so that we can emulate how new products and services will perform before we put them into production. This ensures we provide the best possible operational and service quality. We also have an innovation unit that is working on customer experience benchmarking and introducing best practices and innovative solutions. We consider this as a step towards construction of a state-of-the-art R&D unit.

Q: How do you balance your technology ambitions with the need to minimize costs?

A: As engineers, we’re always eager to test and integrate new technologies, but we always have to be realistic from a business and strategic standpoint. We faced such dilemmas in the past when we had to choose between WCDMA and CDMA2000, and then between WCDMA and WiMAX. Despite certain technical temptations, we chose to put aside CDMA2000 and WiMAX and go for GSM/WCDMA/LTE. We can say today that we made the right decision. Going forward, we will use the same methodology to make similar decisions in the future. That is, we will focus on, select, and invest in one technology line per sector, regardless of whether it’s wireless or wired. All of our decisions are guided by business cases, so we invest according to the potential business that will arise from the adopted technology. Our passion for pure technology R&D is always there, but it is always twinned with profitability. 

Q: Do you think that fixed broadband can still compete with wireless broadband?

A: The future will be a mixture of both. Fixed broadband will be critical especially for the backhaul of small cells and MSANs. It will also continue to be critical for enterprise customers and IPTV. I also believe that wireless broadband will continue gaining in popularity. Yet, this will be thanks of the backhaul delivered by fixed and transmission networks. So the future will be a mixture of both.

Q: Have you taken any concrete steps to simplify fixed broadband so that it is as attractive as wireless broadband?

A: We’re working with the Ministry and regulator to set up a new delivery model so that fixed broadband is smoother and simpler for customers. The target is to have only one entity for fixed broadband service and support; otherwise, customers will migrate en masse to wireless broadband. We also believe that businesses and critical applications require fixed broadband because services can be delivered much quicker and easier and with higher quality. So we need to move in a direction where everyone has a suitable wireless or fixed solution.

Q: Some international operators charge OTT providers for the privilege of allowing their traffic on the network. Does this model solve the problem of not being able to profit from OTT traffic?

A: I can tell you this: Telcos cannot ignore OTTs and vice versa. We must both work together to ensure that the delivery model is stable and balanced. Both of us must achieve our interests while moving forward to deliver innovative solutions to end users. Regardless of whether a pay-for-carry model or some other models is used, what’s certain is that both OTTs and telcos have to include each other in the business model. There has to be a common-interest solution that is sustainable in the long term.

Q: Tunisian customers are still satisfied with 2–4 Mbps. Do telecom operators have to get involved in content production, sponsoring and distribution in order to push subscribers towards more bandwidth-hungry applications?

A: I think this is tightly related to content. I believe customers in Tunisia are similar to Europeans; they are eager to consume more (relevant) content. So the content-delivery model is a key factor that affects speed requirements. The current model must be re-worked and revised in terms of the way we deliver TV, the way we protect copyright, and the way we cooperate with content providers.

The average bit rate delivered to customers in Tunisia is the same as that in Europe. We’re eager to deliver more and more depending on the evolution. As for content production, we don’t have any plans to get involved in this. We think this is a different business entirely and requires different know-how. We are telecom professionals. Perhaps we are helping the production sector indirectly by delivering more of their content, especially local content. 

Q: Tunisie Telecom aggressively adopted multicarrier upgrades and HSPA+. Will you shift to LTE? 

A: This depends on how the technology for carrying mobile data evolves in terms of efficiency. We have invested in 3G and launched it only three years ago. Financially speaking, we’re looking to leverage what we have already done and will continue to upgrade our 3G equipment to meet customer needs. However, we’re looking closely at 4G. If this proves to be a better alternative in terms of efficiency and strategic ROI, we’ll go for it.

Q: Tunisie Telecom was the first to launch cloud services in Tunisia. Is the Tunisian market welcoming such kind of services? What about security and volatility concerns?

A: We built an operational data center a few years ago, and now we have prepared a brand new Tier III data center that complies with international standards. Our customers are showing huge interest in having cloud services, and we are trying to respond with valuable offers. Tunisie Telecom has hosting and SAAS services that we will enrich this year with IAAS, backup as a service (BaaS), and security as a service (SecaaS).

Q: Tunisie Telecom is far ahead of its competitors in terms of infrastructure. How do you intend to leverage this? 

A: Tunisie Telecom leverages its infrastructure to provide better coverage and network performance for customers. Indeed, more than 95% of our node-Bs are connected through fiber optics. This means we can handle existing traffic and expected traffic from mobile data growth better than our competitors. We are also leveraging this infrastructure through our wholesale division, which offers services to other operators and utility companies.

Q: The new amendments to the Telecom Law Code allow companies to act as telecom carriers. Several government-owned enterprises are deploying large-scale fiber and communication infrastructure. What do you think about this?

A: The networks of utility companies are designed to fit their own needs and therefore are not very competitive with operator networks. Such companies might complement Tunisie Telecom in some areas such as security and redundancy. This arrangement has worked very well recently.

Q: More and more countries have ambitious national broadband plans designed to guarantee high-speed broadband to all citizens. In Tunisia, the telecom industry is still betting on a purely commercial model. As the incumbent semi-public operator, can you foresee a partnership between Tunisie Telecom and the government in a publicly sponsored NBP? If not, do you think the involvement of STEG and SNCFT might be an alternative that could unbalance the market in the long run?

A: Tunisie Telecom welcomes such a plan, and we think that Tunisia has to build a national broadband network that will benefit GDP, employment, etc. Tunisie Telecom is willing to take responsibility and help implement this plan. We’re ready to partner with the state and other stakeholders, and we’re fully supporting the ministry and the regulator. 

Q: Are you outsourcing some of your network OAM and support?