Posts Tagged ‘telecom’

22 Feb

Wish List: My Telecom Service Provider Needs

Posted by ssmusoke in internet, mobile computing, technology. Tagged: , , , .

Looks like the economy is back in the open, but the lingering effects of the COVID19 pandemic have driven a more digital focus on life and work. Looks like our local service providers have not really made any moves over the last 2 years

Here is my checklist based on my exposure across the places I have lived

  1. Having a buffet of services that are paid off at a regular cadence (rythmn)
    • Voice minutes for on-network and off-network – removes the need for multiple simcards
    • Data – mobile data and broadband data
    • SMS messages (yes I still use them)
  2. Family plan to help me manage my household telecom needs (I have teenagers who are due to get their own phones and numbers)
    • Ability to add and remove numbers to a plan, I would be happy to pay for batches of 5 numbers
    • Happy to pay a service fee for each number added to the plan – I already do this when gifting airtime and data
    • Shared pool of minutes across the plan both on and off network
  3. Tax invoices as they are required by URA for tax purposes and/or clients for reimbursements
  4. Weekly/Monthly plan options since this helps manage cash flows and cater for usage pattern changes like school and holidays
  5. Ability to measure usage by different members – who is using the services the most, this is by the default account on the plan. Better if it is an online dashboard so that I can check it regularly and adjust accordingly
  6. Unlimited Internet access in the suburbs outside the CBD with fairly high FUP (350GB and above per month)

What are your telecom service needs – what are they doing right or not?

23 Apr

Agile driven requirements wishlist for Integrated Telcom Service Provider Packages

Posted by ssmusoke in alternative approach, mobile computing, musings, productivity, technology. Tagged: , , .

I am constantly frustrated by having to remember voice, data and SMS bundles not only for my own use but for my family and dependants, and I am envious of family data plans in the rest of the world.

Being an agile practioner here is my user story

As a telecom service customer I would like to purchase and track a single package for the users in my household and dependants

Acceptance Criteria

  1. The package includes the following services at a minimum
    • On-net voice calls
    • Off-net voice calls (same country)
    • SMS messages
    • Internet access
  2. All phone numbers on the package use the services transparently
  3. The package is paid for monthly, with the ability to purchase additional optional services as need
  4. Ability to add and/or remove numbers at will
  5. Ability to pay for additional batches of numbers e.g., 5 numbers – the service fee helps the telecom cover losses due to the service discounts
  6. Weekly and monthly payment options – to help manage cash flows
  7. Generation of tax invoices for the service payments
  8. Web/app based monitoring of service usage broken down to a daily usage
  9. Ability to set usage thresholds for all user at least 2 levels – I know individual thresholds may be difficult so nice to have
  10. Reminders to pay for services before they expire

What do you have on your wishlist for your telecom provider?

22 Apr

A Frugal Innovation Approach to Simcard Verification 2019 Edition – Design & High-level Architecture

Posted by ssmusoke in frugal innovation, mobile technology usage, software delivery, software development lifecycle, styx technology group, tips and tricks. Tagged: , , , .

Happy Easter Monday to you all, and I hope that the rains on Sunday night completed the cleansing process from the festivities, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and from the feast of the Goddess Ester (depending on which side you lean)… I am one who embraces all religious doctrines an faiths.

So over the last few days I have started receiving a message from MTN Uganda, to physcially visit a service center to verify my sim card registration, well this is only the 3rd cycle for selected customers whose details were screwed up during cycle 2, and I guess I am one of the lucky few with time to waste.

This is a followup to the 2013 recommendations for Simcard Registration https://ssmusoke.com/2013/03/12/uganda-simcard-registration-alternate-approach/ which apparently were not providing sufficient value 😉

Anyway after having to make 10 calls this morning, the reminder message, a hardcoded IVR message, has left me frustrated, but also wondering, why do I have to physically visit the service center, it is 2019!

Rather than complain all the time, I focused my anger with support from my trusted colleagues at Styx Technology Group (http://styxte.ch) we got to protoyping a quick and dirty solution to this mess. What MTN and the regulator need are my National ID details, since they will scan the ID or take a photo of it, take a photo of me then I will have to wait 2-3 days,

A frugal innovation can be:

  1. Mobile App front end to capture data that is needed
  2. A backend system – doesn’t matter what it is – can even reuse the exisiting simcard registration database they have with processes to complete the verification flow, and link into the audit process that triggered this verification
  3. A verification process, which can be done by the app automatically, or using a backup USSD channel. This follows 2FA (two factor authentication to prevent mis-use)
  4. A notification that the verificatio process has been completed and *197# can be leveraged to check status.

This method is not for everyone, but provides a solution for those of us who may not be able to line up and waste 2-3 hours in line to do just this…

Some mobile screenshots from the design team

 

NIN Details

National ID Details

Phone Numbers

Phone Numbers

Confirmation

Confirmation

Thoughts and additions are welcome!!!

UPDATE 1: One of the team members asked me, so does this solve your problem? How do you know which numbers are listed on your NIN that has been provided? Leading to iteration 2 of the Phone Numbers screen allowing the display of existing numbers with functionality to remove currently registered numbers…

Phone Numbers - v2

11 Feb

MTN Uganda, Mobile Money and Operations Issues

Posted by ssmusoke in database, devops, internet, opensource, software development lifecycle. Tagged: , , , , , .

I am not one to rant and rave but I seem to have been pushed over the edge this morning, but a large Telco service which leaves a lot to be desired yet despite being innovative seem to be leading more and more wastage in terms of time which would be used for more productive pursuits.

The service is Mobile Money, currently being hailed as Africa’s savior in terms of providing financial services to the millions of unbanked populace. Everybody knows that mobile telcom services in Africa have been very successful and are growing by leaps and bounds due to the infrastructure issues associated with fixed line laying, operation and maintenance. Couple the cost of handsets, $10 Nokias are available with a battery that can last 5 to 7 days, oh yes, coupled with SMS has lead to mHeath, mEducation initiatives being developed.

Mobile money has been a core driver of mobile service usage in the last few years coz it makes it easy to move money without the hassles of banks (line up, service fees) and with the licensing of thousands of agents (there are now more agents than bars and supermarkets and groceries combined), means that getting access to money is as easy as moving to your local grocery store.

However MTN Uganda (http://mtn.co.ug/) is a market leader in Uganda and currently holds the market leadership position, I would put it at over 70% but I can be corrected, with the greatest reach within the country. The service is estimated to transact about UGX 5bn ($2.2m at current rates) per day which is quite high considering averge transaction values are in the $10 – $100 range.

Anyway their success is maybe their undoing, because despite the phenominal growth, the service is even worse the electrictity availabiltity with the platform having an average uptime of 50% during normal working hours, after a 45 day downtime during November 1, 2011 – December 15, 2011 (which started as an upgrade then later turned into an outage).

From my software engineering background I am still baffled at why this continuously happens to one of the largest telco providers due to the established DevOps (http://devops.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DevOps) practices: what are the possible solutions or approaches:

  1. High Transaction Volumes
    • Hardware – buy more hardware throw more power at the problem
    • Software – not scalable then run a cluster of boxes across the switches, load balance the sessions this problem is available even with HTTP
  2. Interface Operations – In database speak we usually state separate writes from reads. Separate balance checking (reads) from  withdrawals and deposits (writes) into separate distinct applications behind the interface. Use Queues, Gearman to ensure that the transactions are completed. Have the reads, balance checks run off slaves in the clusters …
  3. Notifications – SMS  Messages are good, for delivery but ensure they are sent and delivered. Queue the notifications so that they are always sent
  4. Provide options to execute transactions – provide a web interface for clients and agents. This opens up new revenue and agent opportunities since Internet cafe owners can also provide services from their interfaces. This is just an alternate way to access the service
  5. Be open to the public to lower the expectations – provide updates on service outages so that users do not just keep trying and only finding out from many failed trials. Failed transactions have been identified a known cause of application load spikes
  6. Reduce the number of available services and offload some services to other channels
  7. Use opensource software it has been proven to scale – or maybe some newer versions of your software applications
  8. New – Provide APIs so that developers can provide custom solutions to offload processing off your core system (switchboard)

These are just quick thoughts but they should be sufficient to start the discussion … not only rant and rave but also provide some concrete solutions