How Virgin Media Ireland launched a wholesale fiber network

For Virgin Media Ireland, providing reliable, high-speed connectivity that’s always one step ahead of demand is a must. They were looking to upgrade broadband infrastructure in Ireland from coax cable to fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) connectivity and next generation XGS PON technology, with a goal of bringing ultrafast fiber connectivity to over 1 million homes by the end of 2025.

Snapshot

VMIE’s partnership with ZIRA saw the first technical go-live achieved within just one year, demonstrating the easy integration and advanced capabilities of the ZIRA solution. Virgin Media Ireland also secured wholesale deals with multiple national RSPs, and with more agreements in the pipeline.

Challenge

To roll out a superfast fiber broadband network and open it up to wholesale partners (in addition to upgrading the physical network infrastructure), Virgin Media Ireland needed to ensure the IT systems were in place to manage the inherent complexities: — Fiber requires a specific IT stack to accommodate the different processes needed for monetization. — The requirements for retail and wholesale fiber business models vary. To fully capitalize on wholesale fiber opportunities, VMIE decided to use a dedicated IT stack for wholesale. Upgrading the physical network is a CAPEX-intensive process, so the IT transformation had to be costeffective and deliver fast ROI. To deliver XGS-PON to the market quickly, the IT overhaul needed to happen within a very tight timeframe.

Solution

To introduce and manage the new wholesale fiber arm of the business, Virgin Media Ireland implemented ZIRA’s All-in-One Fiber BSS Platform. This included ready-to-use processes, workflows, catalog data models, and best practices to manage a wholesale fiber network.

ZIRA also implemented a full suite of BSS Lead-to-Cash capabilities to provide fiber to partners in a B2B2X model, including:

Product catalog

Customer and partner management

Order capture

Order and service fulfillment

Agreement management

Trouble ticketing

Billing

Partner self-service portal

Partner API gateway

External applications of the IT ecosystem were introduced and seamlessly integrated in parallel to the transformation across areas such as workforce management, service fulfilment, GIS and incident management.

A unique extensions framework was introduced to adapt to each partner’s process, adjust to the operator’s custom requirements, and integrate with the rest of their landscape.

Results and benefits

ZIRA established easy access for partners, either via a customized self service partner portal or TM Forum standard APIs for partners to plug into directly. This helped deliver seamless functionality and digital partner enablement for wholesale partners.

The 4 key pillars of ZIRA’s successful fiber strategy

• End-to-end support for fiber processes
• Capabilities to simplify wholesale fiber complexity
• Easy integration and adaptability
• Scalability for business evolution