KCOM picks Amdocs to enhance network transition

KCOM, the incumbent telecoms and broadband provider in Humberside and East Yorkshire, is to use Amdocs’ service delivery platform to support its transition to a next-generation network infrastructure.

KCOM is currently rolling out fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) broadband services to 150,000 properties across its operational area, representing about 75% of addressable premises at the time of writing.

It is also migrating landline customers from traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN) services to voice over IP (VoIP), and has plans to deliver new products and services to its users built on network functions virtualisation (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN) technology.

It will initially use Amdocs’ service delivery and orchestration platform to support a new zero-touch customer service portal, enabling it to select bandwidth on-demand, time-bound bandwidth and SD-WAN (software-defined wide area network) options.

Meanwhile, software management capabilities will enable KCOM’s new voice service to be delivered online by automating the fulfilment process, hopefully without affecting the service received by consumers.

“We want to improve the services we deliver to our customers and the experience we offer them,” said Sean Royce, KCOM’s EVP of technology, service and operations. “We are starting with our voice services, so need a platform that can deliver this phase and then be deployed more widely across our business as the basis for other services.

“By working with Amdocs, we are gaining a partner that shares KCOM’s ambitions and can grow with us.”

Gary Miles, chief marketing officer at Amdocs, added: “KCOM is fully embracing the transition to virtualised networks, which will see it transform its business and offer exceptional network performance to its customers.

“This will allow KCOM to provide service order management capabilities that can be expanded to other services and customer segments as it grows, and to stay competitive by improving network speed, capabilities and customer engagement.”