Transformed network operations to a predictive, autonomous operations model by deploying Ericsson Operations Engine, compliant with TM Forum’s Business Process Framework (eTOM) and Open APIs as the basis for a service-centric operations model focused on data-driven business outcomes

Outcomes

Doubled the amount of automation in its network;

69%

of alarms fully automated;

Reduced mean time to repair (MTTR) by

29%

Reduced network unavailability by

47%

resulting in a

26%

improvement in customer experience

Randeep Sekhon, Airtel

CTO

"Airtel is a multivendor 2G/4G network environment carrying 112 petabytes of traffic per day. We have 220,000 towers across India with typically 12 radios per base site. Airtel needs a skilled workforce across large geographical areas, including remote regions, to operate our growing network. Upskilling field teams in remote locations proved challenging and resulted in high attrition rates. This is a paradigm shift in that Airtel and Ericsson have changed the way we approached the uptime concept, shifting from measuring network uptime to measuring service uptime. Predictive is where we really want to be paired with closed-loop automation– then you’re really handing off."

Airtel found that its traditional, reactive approach to network operations was people and OpEx-heavy and not up to the task of maintaining and improving the customer expectations of its 340 million subscribers. Together with Ericsson, Airtel embarked on a transformation journey to shift its network operations to a predictive, autonomous operations model. The results of that shift on Airtel’s service uptime and service fulfilment metrics have been dramatic, to say the least. Airtel says it has doubled the amount of automation in its network and has reduced work orders per nod, MTTR and network unavailability – all of which has produced a considerable and measurable improvement in customer experience. When planning their automation journey with Ericsson, Airtel pinned down three key challenges it would have to overcome; sheer scale of the project; complexity of legacy processes; and upskilling the field teams. Airtel tackled these challenges with the Ericsson Operations Engine (EOE), a data-driven technology-agnostic operations solution that supports multi-vendor environments and leverages AI, automation and data analytics-based capabilities to handle the growing complexity and scale of Airtel’s network operations. Airtel’s CTO says the new operations model is based on a half dozen business principles that can generally be summed up as being AI and automation-driven, ruled by data and advanced predictive analytics for actionable insights across domains, and a strategy based on KPIs focused on service, business processes and performance – all running on common global processes to reduce complexity and increase scale. Airtel has more than doubled the amount of automation in its network, with 69% of all alarms automatically correlated and resolved without human intervention. On the network performance front, Airtel says it has reduced MTTR by 29% and network unavailability by 47%. The analytics and automation built into operations has also enabled Airtel to keep up with the needed pace of continuously growing its network to stay competitive.

TM Forum assets used

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