MTN Units Join TM Forum to Advance Digital Transformation

Two country divisions from the MTN Group are among the 30 organizations to have joined communications industry body TM Forum in recent weeks, with digital transformation at the heart of the decision to join.

The TM Forum is a long-standing, collaborative telecom industry association with more than 850 members worldwide and which has always focused on the supporting software (traditionally, OSS and BSS systems) that underpin telco operations and business processes. These days the Forum has evolved to engage in problem-solving and research in important areas of development such as open APIs, artificial intelligence (AI) and other capabilities that support the digital transformations that service providers and large enterprises are undertaking.

MTN Uganda and MTN South Sudan are among the Forum's roster of new members, as is Jamii Telecommunications, a competitive network operator in Kenya.

In a media statement about the Forum's new members, Oluseye Farodoye, Senior Manager of API Services at the MTN Group, said: "The TM Forum membership offers MTN Group and its operating companies the resources required to accelerate our digital transformation initiatives. From digitizing BSS and OSS, to Open APIs and microservices, network modernization and cloud strategies, we are able to collaborate with peers across industries to shape the digital future, adopt best practices and deliver delightful digital experiences and products to our customers."

Nik Willetts, President and CEO of TM Forum, said: "I am pleased to welcome the 30 new members of TM Forum. Each new member brings great potential to add value to the other Forum members and to the communication industry's digital transformation. In turn, TM Forum will contribute a wealth of actionable thought leadership, proven tools and frameworks, valuable how-to guides and unique training courses on contemporary skills."

Other companies among the 30 new members are Italian telco Wind Tre, Indian mobile applications developer Mahindra Comviva, UK satellite player OneWeb, the University of Tokyo and the Town of Austin in the US (which is developing smart city capabilities).

— The staff, Connecting Africa