France’s second largest operator also extends contract with iBASIS for voice and international mobile in time for the Paris Summer Olympics
SFR, France’s second largest telecom provider, is to deploy Celonis’ Process Intelligence platform to improve customers’ processes around fibre connections. SFR, part of Altice France, gained 69,000 fibre subscribers in Q1 of this year, taking the total to almost 5 million.
The platform uses object-centric process mining and AI, and is already used by “many” global telecom players.
It supports end-to-end visualisation of business processes and the identification of gaps in those processes that can lead to higher costs and customer dissatisfaction.
Celonis will optimise processes and increase automation: its solution integrates data from multiple systems to create a rounded view of business operations, enabling operators to identify and address inefficiencies. It offers an end-to-end view of the subscriber’s journey.
Eric Pradeau, EVP, Consumer Goods at SFR said, “SFR has always been on the lookout for innovative technologies that ensure the quality of our services. This quality is a priority for us, and the technology provided by Celonis supports SFR’s teams in achieving operational excellence.”
Voice and mobile
SFR has also announced a four-year extension of its contract with iBASIS. The operator will continue to use iBASIS’s platform to carry international voice and mobile services securely. SFR’s mobile business is not having the best of times, losing almost 0.5 million subscribers in Q1 and almost 702,000 subscribers over the last year if you leave 4G dongles out of it.
The loss was not unexpected after price rises and the end of discounted offers passed the cost of inflation onto customers.
On the upside, SFR was one of the first adopters of iBASIS’s FraudLock which has “significantly” mitigated fraudulent attacks, improving security and avoiding revenue loss.
The timing is not a coincidence: more than 15 million visitors are expected to travel to Paris during the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. iBASIS will support SFR with the expected surge in voice traffic and roaming.
“iBASIS … quality commitment and the dedication of the team have fostered a fruitful collaboration across both companies,” said Mehdi Boudah, EVP, Wholesale Division, SFR. “We are extremely pleased to extend the partnership by four years and continue to leverage iBASIS’ robust and flexible platform in carrying international voice and mobile services securely.”
SFR is part of billionaire Patrick Drahi’s embattled Altice Group, which is striving to pay of its monumental debts of more than €24 billion by selling off assets, while dealing with an accounting scandal in Portugal. Last autumn he also reportedly approached rivals Free (part of the Iliad Group owned by another French billionaire, Xavier Niel) and Bouygues about a possible deal with SFR.