You have an impressive booth at MWC, how has the show been for you?

It has been very good for us. We have put out some recent announcements about agreements we have signed and that has helped to generate increased interest in Qvantel and our solutions.

Can you tell us a little about the agreement you signed with Telecom Namibia?

We just announced this and we’re supplying our Flex BSS business support systems which encompasses areas such as customer onboarding, sales, product catalogue, order management, CRM, billing, etc.  This is for all their customers, so B2B, B2C for fixed and mobile services. Telecom Namibia will use our BSS to help them grow the business as they can more effectively bundle convergence offers with value-added digital services which helps digital transformation and increases digital inclusion in Namibia.

The digital transformation that is happening in Namibia is happening in many other countries. In many countries data is a commodity so telcos are now expanding and selling a wider range of services and equipment. This could be selling third party content services and equipment ranging from IoT devices to gaming consoles.

Telecom Namibia is just one new customer and we have also just signed an agreement with Etisalat Misr by e& in Egypt. They are very diligent in who they work with and we spent some time with them going through how Qvantel solution works and what we can offer operators such as this. We had the signing ceremony with Etisalat at MWC.

Can you tell us more about Flex BSS then and the benefits it offers?

Many BSS systems have similar functionality: customer onboarding, sales, product catalogue, order management, CRM, billing, etc. Where we are seeing the big differences is in our Flex BSS engine. This uses a no/low code approach so if you want or need to make a business process change, you can do it yourself, so we provide the tools and training to enable them to do this.

Now if you make it too complicated for operators to make these changes, then from a timing viewpoint, they may as well get us to make the changes they require, so we need to ensure that the changes that they are looking to make, can be made quickly and effectively. If you only have one person in the whole organisation, say using Telecom Namibia as an example that can make these changes then that becomes the bottleneck. We had to make Flex BSS engine simple enough that a number of people in the organisation could make these changes, therefore removing a potential bottleneck. We give them the tools to make these changes and they can then do it. That’s one of the main benefits of a no/low code approach to BSS.

This has started to make a difference as the operators can see they can save money and reduce timescales on implementing changes they need to make and this gives them an opportunity in the market. They are seen as quick, efficient and flexible. Where data and telecoms services have effectively become a commodity, this gives them a significant advantage. If you have enabled them to improve their CRM and customer experience then that significantly helps them as no one wants to spend time on the phone to a call centre or having to use a chat bot, so if you can deal with them quickly and provide a better and pleasant experience it adds value.

We have also integrated our CRM system with GenAI. This has several benefits – it can use things like sentiment and language analysis that can help identify the type of customer and their problem that is incoming, so it knows who to route them to for the best overall support. So we have what’s called Qvantel Flex Customer Care Copilot It’s not replacing that customer agent, it’s providing them with additional tools so they can enhance the overall service level that is offered and gives them a competitive advantage.

This is obviously giving Qvantel an advantage. How do you build on that, do you have people on the ground across the world?

We do have a global sales team in place. What we find though is having partners and partnerships in place really helps and makes a difference. If the partner you’re working with knows Qvantel solution and is used to it, then they act as the local SI and represent us with the operator, so we end up working closely with the local SI as well as the local operator.

Local partnerships are important to ensure that we deliver. And then it really is capitalising on the success that we are having as with success you become a lot more visible. That also gives you a lot more credibility, especially when dealing with global operators.

Many of these operators want to be more than just a telco. They want to be able to offer a wide range of beyond connectivity services themselves and with Flex BSS as the base, they can quickly develop, launch and monetize a whole raft of new services. Examples could be digital health, education, entertainment and so on. This offers up new revenue opportunities for the operators. However, many operators are restricted by their legacy systems, where it just takes too long and can cost too much money to launch new services. The solution that Qvantel offers, and its no/low approach enables telcos to act much quicker and be able to offer an increased range of services.

Are you seeing significant opportunity in Africa with all the infrastructure changes that have happened and are taking place?

Africa tends to skip what we see as traditional infrastructure and mobile is very important. Telecom Namibia has gone about it the right way and the services they offer are taking advantage of the infrastructure that is there and in place. As more users have handsets and 4G becomes used in greater numbers, with 5G potentially as well as satellite broadband, then this just adds to the need for Telco’s to offer all these new services.

This all sounds really good and clearly is working for you. Given you’ve recently announced I believe three new wins, are there more coming and where do you see Qvantel in a year’s time?

We will be achieving good steady growth and with the customers we have recently announced, it increases our visibility, which means others will look at what we can do and offer and hopefully will want to work with us.

We do have more customer wins coming, we just can’t announce them just yet, but they will happen and there are some more in Africa.