Smartfren: Migrating for a Better Future

Smart Telecom is an Indonesian cellular telecommunication provider that uses CDMA 2000 1X, EV-DO Rev A, and Rev B to service retail and corporate customers. Faced with increasing competition, Smart Telecom decided to join hands with Mobile 8 under a new brand, “Smartfren.” This merger required two platforms to be unified, and a converged business support system (BSS) and value added service (VAS) solution was used for this purpose. Replacing the old system and migrating existing Smart Telecom and M8 subscribers into a new platform was not an easy task.

Close cooperation between ZTE and Smartfren ensured the original Smart Telecom system was migrated in only four months, and the Mobile 8 system was migrated in the following two months. ZSmart BSS and VAS system operates well, and the number of Smartfren data users is increasing quickly. The project has been such a success that 14 operators, including France Telecom and Vodafone, came to see the Smartfren system in operation. What were the biggest challenges in the project? What benefits have been brought to Smartfren? ZTE Technologies interviewed Gunadjaya Likito, Smartfren’s chief information officer and purchasing manager for the BSS and VAS platform project, on January 10 in his Jakarta office.  

Journalist: In 2010, Smartfren converged two networks owned by two operators. What were the biggest challenges and risks? How did Smartfren overcome them?  

Gunadjaya Likito: Since we began this project in June 2010, we have encountered many challenges and risks. First, there are distinct differences between the features and workflows of Smart Telecom and M8. There was much work involved in ensuring that all the features of the old platforms were seamlessly migrated and that the migration was transparent and did not affect user experience. Any missing feature could have adversely affected the work of users and degraded service quality. We consulted end users of our platform to ensure all existing and desired features had been maintained. From the beginning, we made sure the ZTE team clearly understood the features of our platform.  

     Second, there was no support from the legacy vendor. This lack of support makes the project very difficult and risky because the old system might not work properly in the case of a roll back. Fortunately, Smart Telecom and M8 personnel had very good knowledge of the old platform, and this knowledge was crucial when planning and implementing the migration. Consequently, there was no need for a roll back for either Smart Telecom or M8.  

     Last, the deadline was very tight. Smart Telecom was under pressure to migrate the platform no later than by the end of October 2010. M8 also had little support from its network and platform provider. A delay in the migration could have caused Smart Telecom to come under undue pressure from its old vendors. The project was very tightly managed, from management down to working team. All Smart Telecom, M8 and ZTE personnel spent long work hours maximizing productivity and ensuring each target date was met.

Journalist: What are the technological highlights of ZSmart BSS and VAS system?

Gunadjaya Likito: ZSmart BSS and VAS system is a converged charging and billing platform for voice, data and VAS. The platform supports converged billing for both prepaid and postpaid, and this enables us to flexibly switch between prepaid and postpaid payment methods. The new system provides unified customer view, and tariff and business data management. The system also is powerful for analyzing customer use and charging, so we can monitor ongoing business from different angles. The system is also highly available. We deployed the ZSmart BSS and VAS system at three sites, two of which are redundant. This unique design ensures the stability and continuity of service.

Journalist: What benefit has the converged platform brought to Smartfren? How has ZTE strengthened Smartfren’s competitive edge?

Gunadjaya Likito: By converging two platforms, system capacity is used more efficiently. There is no need to provide twice the redundancy or spare capacity. This is a more cost-effective solution than having two separate platforms. It is easier to operate and maintain a single platform, and there is no need to have separate teams maintaining the old platforms. The teams can be merged, and this enables more focused operation and management of the platform. Furthermore, by unifying Smart Telecom and M8 services and features, a single brand can be easily realized. We can conveniently design merged products and cross offers. Merging leads to stronger Smartfren brand recognition and loyalty. 

Journalist: How are your value-added services developing?

Gunadjaya Likito: Existing VASs have been enhanced by the new platform. We have greater flexibility in product offering. It’s easy for us to design cross selling and up selling. Thus, the customer experience is enhanced. The platform is also open to new services, and we rely on ZTE to present to us new VAS innovations that can be used by Smartfren to widen our offerings and increase our competitive edge. 

Journalist: How do you rate ZTE’s project team? Can you give us a specific example that highlights strength of ZTE’s project team?  

Gunadjaya Likito: Overall my rating for the project team is good. The ZTE team is generally very willing to learn and is open to suggestions from the customer. This leads to a more harmonious working relationship between Smartfren and ZTE. Most of the ZTE project team exhibited a high level of commitment to meet the deadlines, and on many occasions, they worked very long hours. They are very flexible and supportive of any changes prompted by changing strategy and market conditions. 

Afterword

Gunadjaya Likito has many years of experience in IT operation. He works in the IT center in BSD City, which is an hour from Jakarta. He shows the rigor of a technical manager when he explained the network figures to us in detail. In a project that was full of technical challenges and needed to be completed in such a short timeframe, both parties spared no effort. He was impressed with ZTE’s 200 strong team, who were sent to Jakarta for the implementation and worked throughout the holiday. From June to December 2010, ZTE and Smartfren had daily and weekly meetings to assess the project’s progress. Any problem that couldn’t be solved in these meetings was brought before the top management of Smartfren. Gunadjaya Likito himself usually works from 8 am in the morning to 8 pm at night. He told us that the window for maintenance is usually between 1 am to 2 am in the early morning, so he had to work very late. “But it is fine,” he said, as if he had become used to such hard work. He stayed overnight in the IT center when the old system was cut over to the new one. A successful project requires a good solution, but also hard work and thorough communication. In 2012, Gunadjaya Likito wants to strengthen operational monitoring to optimize workflow.