m:tel Taps Alepo to launch cellular offload, public WiFi plans in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Leading telecommunications operator in Bosnia and Herzegovina, joint stock company Mtel a.d. Banja Luka, trading as m:tel, is set to roll out a new range of free and paid WiFi plans in December 2018. To enable the new capabilities, m:tel is upgrading their WiFi core with network and software solutions provider Alepo’s WiFi Service Management Platform (SMP).

Casual users will benefit from new ways of connecting to m:tel’s WiFi hotspots, including free options. Paid offerings will also be available with the addition of voucher-based offers and subscriptions. M:tel’s prepaid users will be able to use their mobile balance to purchase WiFi offers, while post-paid users will see it reflected in their monthly invoices.

Alepo’s solution will support a growing number of locations, affiliates, and additional monetization capabilities as well as offering offload for 3G/LTE subscribers. An integrated analytics tool will provide customizable granular reports for specific locations and usage patterns.

The Alepo WiFi SMP will give m:tel the ability to create captive portals and location-based offers, while extending the same capability to affiliates, who will also be able to create their own hotspots with flexible revenue-share arrangements. Affiliates can, for instance, create video advertisements and compensate m:tel based on the number of views.

Further, offloading 3G/LTE customers to the WiFi network will help improve mobile capacity and coverage. As part of the solution, Alepo’s convergent and flexible AAA affords a seamless experience to subscribers, who do not need to manually authenticate on the WiFi network.

“We chose Alepo because their software and services ticks all the boxes. As a tier-1 carrier, the security, robustness, and integration capabilities they offer are essential to us. They also provide the reliability we were after, while still giving us the flexibility to decide how we can best leverage our growing WiFi network,” said Srđan Bundalo, Head ICT at m:tel.

“Successful WiFi monetization by operators requires a multi-pronged approach. ROI can’t be just about charging for access, it relies on organic growth via affiliates, cross-promotion with traditional mobile plans, and data monetization. Our solution has the necessary characteristics of a carrier solution, while also offering enough flexibility to support m:tel’s use cases,” says Vishal Mathur, VP-Solution Integration of Alepo.

Alepo has a growing list of successful WiFi deployments across the world, joining the already established list of its BSS deployments globally.

As the leading telecom operator in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Joint Stock Company Mtel a.d. Banja Luka (www.mtel.ba) offers unique communication solutions unified under the m:tel corporate brand.
In the more and more dynamic BiH market, m:tel offers the latest telecommunication services in the field of telephony, landline network, internet, data and IPTV.

Mtel has achieved outstanding business results, evidenced by a record number of over 1 600 000 friends and users of all services.