13 December 2024
In June 2013, BLU was one of three Ghanaian-owned companies to receive a Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) license to launch a new 4G LTE network. Despite Ghana’s already saturated mobile market, the BWA licenses were only made available to companies that were 100% owned and operated in Ghana.
The license came with a strict deadline to launch LTE services within 18 months of the award date. BLU’s leadership knew that they would face fierce competition from the other LTE license holders, and that it would not simply suffice to be the first to enter the new market; new customers and their loyalty would be won on service differentiation, network speed and reliability, and affordability.
A proven, easy-to-install solution that would not only meet their ambitious deadlines, but that would also enable them to capture the greatest market share early on by delivering the most compelling service offerings, a fast, reliable network, and a sophisticated customer experience, was required. BLU also wanted assurance in the investment of a long-term core network solution that could readily adapt and evolve in a fast-changing market.
LTE in a box
BLU chose Alepo to provide a pre-integrated core network and IT solution for LTE and WiFi, along with Alepo’s expert professional services to connect the solution smoothly into BLU’s multi-vendor network environment. Alepo already offered proven integration with BLU’s LTE RAN vendor (Huawei) and WiFi Hotspots vendor (Airspan) in production environments, which contributed to a faster and smoother deployment.
“With our tight deployment deadlines, it was imperative that we choose a solutions provider like Alepo, whose proven, market-ready solutions meet our immediate goals today while also being able to flex and adapt to our ever-evolving network and business,” said Ekow Thomson, COO at BLU.
Alepo delivered to BLU a complete ‘LTE in a Box’ solution that offered a rapid deployment time for advanced LTE and WiFi Hotspot data services. Being tested and proven pre-integration enabled a faster deployment time – in most cases, 90 days or less from contract signing to launch.
The solution combined Alepo’s high-performance Evolved Packet Core, including advanced policy and charging control (PCRF, OCS), Alepo’s BSS/OSS suite, Service Enabler, and Alepo’s Carrier AAA infrastructure together on a single, pre-integrated platform. The end-to-end solution gave BLU full support for the delivery, monetisation, and customer experience of multi-play LTE and WiFi hotspot services.
Indeed, BLU can now launch the most advanced and differentiated LTE and WiFi hotspot data services, including Zero-Rated apps; time and volume-based data plan; holiday-specific rates and charging; data gifting and sharing across accounts; WiFi Hotspot access with LTE subscription; WiFi Hotspot pass for new or casual users; tiered Video on Demand and content packages; group and family plans; turbo boost – bandwidth on demand; and rollover unused time or volume.
As part of the complete, pre-integrated solution delivered to BLU, Alepo also implemented its customer selfcare tools: a web portal and a mobile app for Androids and iPhones. Here, BLU subscribers can register for services, purchase new or additional packages, access BLU’s Video on Demand portal, top up or pay invoices, and fully manage their accounts in a completely convenient and independent way, whether on LTE or WiFi.
Day one monetisation
Alepo’s ‘LTE in a Box’ gives operators everything they need to deliver and monetise data services, so that they can make their networks profitable from day one. Alepo works in a truly agile development environment so that operators can launch quickly without being blocked by customisations, which are rolled out according to an established timetable.
As part of its competitive differentiation, BLU wanted to launch with Video on Demand services over LTE. To do this, BLU deployed a full video content delivery system from GorillaBox, which required provisioning, as well as advanced policy and charging to ensure accurate delivery and monetisation of the services. Alepo provided interoperability testing and integration with GorillaBox to create ‘BluBox.’ Subscribers can purchase different packages of IPTV services through the Alepo Registration
Portal in conjunction with their LTE data services, all of which can be managed through the Alepo Web Self-Care portal. BLU customers can also access limited free content in BluBox before purchasing an IPTV package.
With the ‘LTE in a Box,’ BLU was assured in its immediate needs and long-term investment; and was able to launch ahead of its regulatory deadline with the most advanced 4G data plans, including video on demand, tiered bandwidth speeds, app bundles, and more.
