Irish BSS vendor Openet has persuaded Philippines operator Globe Telecom to use its Digital Business Platform for its data services.

With much of the pre-5G talk focusing boosting the capacity and agility of the network, often overlooked is the question of what’s in it for operators and their customers. There are approximately zero mobile subscribers currently complaining that networks aren’t agile enough and Openet CEO Niall Norton has, for a while, been telling anyone who’ll listen that BSS vendors are doing a rubbish job of doing what they’re supposed to do.

“I have said very recently, and very publicly that the relationship many vendors have with operators is broken and needs fixing,” Norton told Telecoms.com. “Long term service contracts, packed full of unnecessary costs and expensive licenses, are tying operators to technology and systems that are no longer fit for purpose.”

As you would expect, Norton reckons Openet is different and the hero product put forward to demonstrate its novel approach to BSS is the Digital Business Platform. One of the ways in which it aims to buck the ‘vendor lock-in’ trend is to offer a more flexible, modular, bespoke approach, which presumably involves forgoing some up-front revenue in favour of a better long-term customer experience.

“New technology is redefining this relationship and putting the operator firmly back in control,” said Norton. “We have a range of new solutions, including the digital service platform that we are deploying for Globe that prove the case for an alternative approach. Our deal with Globe shows Openet walking the walk, not just talking the talk. We’re confident that this is just the beginning as the global operator community realise the significant benefits that a different approach to service delivery and monetisation can bring.

“Users in the Philippines have consistently exhibited intense social media usage and engagement,” said Globe CTIO Gil B. Genio. “In addition, Globe has seen dramatic smartphone adoption, take up of data plans, and exponential growth in mobile data, to the point that we now carry two thirds of consumer mobile internet.

“With this new platform, we can be more creative in developing and monetizing new services and offers, even as we make personalization a key differentiator of our services. Our partnership with Openet will give us the speed and agility that we need to grow our business to compete and win in the new digital market.”

There’s that term ‘agility’ again, but this time applied to the operator/subscriber relationship, rather than the network itself. Openet’s strategy seems sensible enough – after all the SaaS model has been accepted wisdom for years now – but it still begs the question of what operators are going to do with all this lovely agility. Perhaps we should check back in with Globe in a year or so to see what, if any, business benefits it has experienced.