UFF's Richard Jeffares discusses the company's phenomenal growth
16 Dec 2016
UFF's Richard Jeffares discusses the company's phenomenal growth
At TM Forum Live! Asia earlier this month, Richard Jeffares, Chief Operating Officer, Ultrafast Fibre (UFF) discussed the phenomenal growth the company is experiencing as one of four local fiber operators building out New Zealand’s Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) network – UFF is experiencing a 35 percent adoption penetration rate that continues to grow.
In 2010 the Government of New Zealand embarked on a $2 billion effort to deliver better, faster internet to the island nation. Today all schools, hospitals and 90 percent of businesses are connected to the network, and by 2022 at least 80 percent of New Zealanders will be able to access the internet using UFB.
UFF is one of four local fiber companies that have partnered with Crown Fibre Holdings to build and provide wholesale access to fiber for delivering UFB across New Zealand. UFF’s 3,000km fiber network represents about 13 percent of UFB, and the company supports about 50,000 broadband customers through retail service provider (RSP) partners, with a total addressable market of more than 200,000 residential and business end users.
He adds: “We’re seeing the flight of resources out of Auckland and Wellington to the regions where we’ve deployed fiber... Foot traffic is moving out of those capital city areas into the regions, and they can do that now due to high-speed fiber broadband access.”
Earlier this year UFF began transforming its order-to-activate business processes and operational support systems in an effort to improve customer experience for its retail service providers and their end customers. The initial phase has enabled omnichannel customer management, partner integration capabilities and automated flow-through to the network.
UFF selected Telflow, DGIT’s Service Delivery Platform, which is certified as conformant to TM Forum’s Frameworx suite of standards-based tools and best practices. For more about UFF’s use of Telflow, check out this case study, which was published recently as part of our Case Study Handbook.
So far the transformation is paying off. “The cost savings have been superb for the business both in terms of reduction of headcount for service desk and customer experience personnel through to installation, reduction in tooling, reduction in delays, reductions to notification to both the customer and our retail service provider,” Jeffares says.
Watch the full interview with Jeffares below:
Watch all the video interviews from TM Forum Live! Asia, including speakers, Catalysts and more:
In 2010 the Government of New Zealand embarked on a $2 billion effort to deliver better, faster internet to the island nation. Today all schools, hospitals and 90 percent of businesses are connected to the network, and by 2022 at least 80 percent of New Zealanders will be able to access the internet using UFB.
UFF is one of four local fiber companies that have partnered with Crown Fibre Holdings to build and provide wholesale access to fiber for delivering UFB across New Zealand. UFF’s 3,000km fiber network represents about 13 percent of UFB, and the company supports about 50,000 broadband customers through retail service provider (RSP) partners, with a total addressable market of more than 200,000 residential and business end users.
“We’re experiencing growth rates that have never been seen before in the local telecoms market,” Jeffares says. “Adoption rates are at a 35 percent penetration rate, growing at about 1.2 to 1.5 percent month on month, and we’re operating across eight regional cities.”
He adds: “We’re seeing the flight of resources out of Auckland and Wellington to the regions where we’ve deployed fiber... Foot traffic is moving out of those capital city areas into the regions, and they can do that now due to high-speed fiber broadband access.”
Transforming order-to-activate
Earlier this year UFF began transforming its order-to-activate business processes and operational support systems in an effort to improve customer experience for its retail service providers and their end customers. The initial phase has enabled omnichannel customer management, partner integration capabilities and automated flow-through to the network.
UFF selected Telflow, DGIT’s Service Delivery Platform, which is certified as conformant to TM Forum’s Frameworx suite of standards-based tools and best practices. For more about UFF’s use of Telflow, check out this case study, which was published recently as part of our Case Study Handbook.
So far the transformation is paying off. “The cost savings have been superb for the business both in terms of reduction of headcount for service desk and customer experience personnel through to installation, reduction in tooling, reduction in delays, reductions to notification to both the customer and our retail service provider,” Jeffares says.
“The days to connect is the most frustrating metric for our end customer – how long is it going to take for me to get fiber from the point of order to the point of successful installation of service?” he explains. “Those days to connect are coming down every month, and we are aspiring for a ten-day connection experience from the point of order to the point of installation.”
Watch the full interview with Jeffares below:
Watch all the video interviews from TM Forum Live! Asia, including speakers, Catalysts and more: