Danish integrated network operator TDC is on a journey to maintain its top spot in all market segments by streamlining its networks and processing, including swapping out legacy systems and changing corporate culture.

The company, which operates nationwide fibre, DSL, cable-TV and mobile networks, is focused on improving its connectivity, but is also working at simplifying its business model, said Peter Trier Schleidt (pictured), its COO, at Operations Transformation Forum 2016.

“This is a huge task, like every other incumbent, because we have so many legacy systems. We have many different platforms and are consolidating and simplifying them. On the commercial side we have a huge amount of legacy products that we’re still selling and want to get rid of.”

It offers too many different discount schemes and is working to simply this, he said. It is also looking to consolidate many of its services, including cable-TV, under the YouSee brand used for mobile and internet services.

He admitted its processes are far too complex. “Most of our sales, and we are in 2016, don’t come from our online channels, they come from call centres and retail shops, because we haven’t made it convenient enough to buy our services online.”

When a customer buys a service like a TV package online, would they expect the set-top box to be delivered and installed five days later? he asked. “Probably not. I would expect when I sign up to start using it right away on my phone and computer, and go down to the shop and pick up the box so I can use it on the big screen later in the afternoon.”

That is the direction TDC is moving in, but it’s a major transformation. “Actually, it’s not the IT part that is the toughest, it’s the culture, because we need everyone in the company to think like this.”

Results based
Leroy Blimegger Jr, President of the assurance managed services business at Huawei, said in working with TDC it focuses on value creation and not just total cost of ownership.

“As part of the managed services deal, we of course look at opex reduction, but we look at giving their end-users a better experience to have an impact on the topline as well.”

Schleidt said its managed services deal with Huawei is output based, with the agreement that TDC will be number one in customer satisfaction in all segments as seen from the customers’ perspective.

“We’re driving around the country testing voice and YouTube speeds, and we have to be number one in every region. And if we’re not number one, Huawei will upgrade our network until we are number one again.”

The executive said it is important to maintain that position. “Pricing is one thing, but when people perceive that we have the best network, then we’re in the right place because people will pay more to be with us.”

Carsten Bryder Rasmussen, TDC’s CTO, noted that the traditional way telcos and equipment makers have cooperated, which involved selling boxes and software, doesn’t create joint targets or incentives.

“It starts with thinking about what should be the joint targets and perspective of a cooperation. It all comes down to one thing – customer satisfaction. If our customers aren’t satisfied with our service, they won’t pay us.”

This has to be agreed as the main goal of any partnership. “Once you get that perspective right, you can start being creative in how you cooperate. That’s how we started with our managed services journey with Huawei in 2013.”

Network upgrades
TDC’s nationwide 4G network delivers speeds up to 1Gb/s using tri-band carrier aggregation. It is also testing four-carrier aggregation.

The operator, which connects about half of all homes with its cable-TV, aims to give more than 50 per cent 1Gb/s access speeds by the end of next June. He said 70 per cent of its customers already have access to 100Mb/s service and everyone in the country has at least 10Mb/s.

Schleidt said it was the first in the world to deploy gigabit DOCSIS 3.1, which already covers 10 per cent of the country, with the goal of covering it all by the end of next year.

He said it had a lot of costs maintaining its old DOCSIS network and the quality was not so good, and as with many other cable-TV networks it was built over decades. “We’re taking all that out.”

It is swapping out 2.7 million network components with new technology. “It’s a huge task. We’re very careful as we’re interacting with people’s TVs and that is serious business,” said Rasmussen.

It is also decentralising its cable network architecture to bring the network equipment closer to customers, which increases speeds. It also expects to have lower maintenance cost with the new network.

Schleidt sees a strong opportunity with NB-IoT to develop smart home services and will roll that out as soon as the devices are ready. “We have so much data, how can we commercialise that? We are rolling out some solutions in the business sector for retailers so they can benefit from additional data from their customers.”