Inbox – Prod UAE

Support for Broadband Managed Services for USF

About Support for Broadband Managed Services for USF

Established by the Government of Pakistan, Universal Service Fund (USF) was created to spread the benefits of Pakistan’s extremely successful telecom deregulation to lesser served areas and increase the broadband penetration within. The organization is operated on a private sector model with professional management. Its contributions consist of (1.5% of adjusted revenues) by the Telecom Operators, with no government funding.

Solution:

PTCL, Pakistan’s largest fixed-line telecom operator, won the contract to bring broadband to 949 sites across Pakistan. While PTCL guaranteed to arrange land, premises and provide broadband, the sheer scale and complexity of the project was a challenge. Furthermore, the sites that were assigned to the project were designated Educational Broadband Centers (EBC)located in schools or Community Broadband Centers (CBC), and were situated in far-off areas, many of which did not even have paved roads leading to the premises.PTCL was in need of a reliable partner who could arrange computing equipment, provide operational support, perform appropriate civil works, manage customer service and ensure customer satisfaction. Essentially, they were looking for a partner who could provide managed services enabled by technology, and execute plans seamlessly, regardless of stringent timelines.

Solution:

Inbox Business Technologies was already dealing with far off areas in Pakistan, providing services and support for other clients. It had existing resources in Tier 2 urban areas that provided optimal geographical coverage. IBT had also just finished the Punjab IT labs project for 1100+ labs across Punjab successfully, which gave PTCL confidence that we could manage a complex project of this scale with all its challenges. To sum it up, Inbox Business Technologies was the perfect partner for this project.
A warm room was developed, comprising of project management, procurement, technical and operational resources. Each center needed approximately 5 computers, printers, UPS and a networking switch. While procurement arranged for the equipment, our project management team devised a highly efficient plan, enabling the execution of the project in exactly six months. Eight different service centers were established, that covered the 6 regions with all 949 sites using a hub spoke model. It was ensured that the service centers had on ground technical engineers that provided coverage on SLA agreed timelines. Monitoring tools covered proactive maintenance, and preventive maintenance was carried out via manual processes on a quarterly basis, which included a checklist for health of equipment.Complaints come to a Universal Access Number. A dedicated call center operating from 9 to 6,six days a week managing 30,000+ calls a year deals with complaints. A ticket is created and allocated automatically to the right service center. The call center uses latest technology from Avaya for telephony and call center management and is ITIL compliant for incident management.A call center was set up to receive complaints, which utilized the latest technology from Avaya for telephony and call center management and was ITIL compliant for incident management.The call center operated six days a week and was capable of managing 30,000+ calls a year. Complaints come to a Universal Access Number. A dedicated call center operating from 9 to 6, six days a week managing 30,000+ calls a year deals with complaints. A ticket is created and allocated automatically to the right service center. The call center uses latest technology from Avaya for telephony and call center management and is ITIL compliant for incident management. A call center was set up to receive complaints, which utilized the latest technology from Avaya for telephony and call center management and was ITIL compliant for incident management. The call center operated six days a week and was capable of managing 30,000+ calls a year.

Solution:

Via PTCL, USF achieved exactly what it aimed for, which was an SLA based relationship with a professional provider of managed services that could provide operational capability for almost a thousand geographically dispersed sites.A third party audit was conducted to ensure compliance to SLA and evaluate customer and user satisfaction. All audits (10+) were passed successfully. Since the project, there have been 5 contract renewals, simply because of the impeccable service that was provided by Inbox.

The registration cycle became significantly faster. Innovations such as barcoded number plates replaced the manual process. Continuous improvements within the facility prepared it to produce 20% more than expected capacity.

A critical aspect that was addressed was the adoption of ANPR (automatic number plate recognition and readable) number plates, which enabled a wide range of security capabilities, from proactive monitoring to root cause analysis of security incidents.

Throughout the project, the Government of Punjab received excellent service and supply, as per the service level agreements. The facility experienced no on-floor health and safety incidents, a final wastage of less than 1%, and no plates went missing. This was all due to the innovative, technology-based approach that Inbox implemented.

Impact:

Via PTCL, USF achieved exactly what it aimed for, which was an SLA based relationship with a professional provider of managed services that could provide operational capability for almost a thousand geographically dispersed sites.A third party audit was conducted to ensure compliance to SLA and evaluate customer and user satisfaction. All audits (10+) were passed successfully. Since the project, there have been 5 contract renewals, simply because of the impeccable service that was provided by Inbox.