Operators should avoid blindly implementing off-the-shelf automation solutions if they want to see significant reductions in their Operational Expense (OpEx), Iskratel’s CTO has warned.

According to Damjan Slapar, operators looking to virtualise their networks can increase savings by up to 70% by working with vendors to create and deploy tailor-made solutions which not only keep ongoing costs to a minimum, but also future-proof infrastructures against rising consumer demand.

Slapar highlighted leading French wireless internet provider Ozone SAS as an example of where a customised solution brought additional benefits and savings. When Ozone’s customer base rapidly rose, its Customer Premises Equipment became incompatible with its existing provisioning system, leading to manual and time-consuming activation and provisioning.

Iskratel’s designed a software solution to seamlessly integrate Ozone’s third-party Customer Premises Equipment into its provisioning system, streamlining its operations with reduced activation and response times – which brought significant operational savings of up to 70%.