Cincinnati Bell Telephone has a storied history dating back to 1873. Its legacy of transformation continues to make it one of the most well-respected service providers in the nation. For the past seven years, ETI Software has supported CBT on their mission to provide innovative solutions to their customers. From triple-play billing to Over-The-Top (OTT) platform expansion, ETI has been chosen time and time again for having proven solutions and personalized service.
When CBT started offering fiber-optic communication services in 2009, they identified the need for automation due to technical complexities associated with activating the Optical Network Terminal (ONT) and maintaining billing integrity. The answer was automated flow-through provisioning of voice, video and data on the ONT ports using ETI’s business-level XML API.
“These direct interfaces to service routers, set-top boxes, VOD, telephone gateways and VOIP provisioning allowed Cincinnati Bell to improve the installation, activation, service and billing of all fiber products,” recalled Darrick Zucco, Fioptics Vice President and General Manager. “We selected ETI because they had a proven solution.”
By 2013, there was a record-high number of Fioptics activations and CBT soon began offering Gigabit Internet speed and OTT services. They again turned to ETI to create a real-time B/OSS integration to their cloud-based authentication platform so that CBT customers could quickly and securely be validated to stream content directly to set-tops, TVs and mobile devices.
Based on this success, ETI and CBT entered a long-term agreement to provide a host of solutions through 2017, including a complex migration of commercial subscribers from T1 copper to fiber.
“ETI already provides automated provisioning for our fiber network that enables Fioptics Internet and entertainment service availability at 454,000 addresses in our footprint,” said Ron Beerman, Vice President of Network Operations at Cincinnati Bell. “ETI’s software solutions will now manage a growing portion of the commercial side as well.”
The T1 circuit management module allows Cincinnati Bell to automatically re-provision T1 copper records to its existing FTTH technologies. This ‘design and assign’ functionality gives Cincinnati Bell the power to provision and manage its inventory in a simple yet powerful manner.
ETI was able to deliver this multi-faceted solution in a short time frame and within scope due in part to its solid relationship with Cincinnati Bell and the intimate knowledge of Cincinnati Bell’s network structure and needs.
“We are gaining market share because we have invested in the technology and support that we need to offer leading-edge products to both our commercial and residential customers,” said Beerman. “In fact, 2016 saw large gains in Internet subscribers and Fioptics is now available to 454,000 addresses within Greater Cincinnati.”
In addition to IP-based provisioning and support, ETI will also deliver prepaid television capabilities and expand Cincinnati Bell’s OTT platform. An extended technical support and subscriber license agreement was also completed.
“Our history of success is why we continue to turn to ETI Software,” said Beerman.
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