Business Intelligence and KPIs for Fiber Network Operators

Understanding and measuring your fiber network business is crucial for success. Business Intelligence (BI) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) help fiber operators track performance, optimize operations, and make data-driven decisions. This guide explores essential KPIs for wholesale and retail fiber network operators and how to implement effective BI strategies.

Measuring Your Fiber Business: The Foundation of Success

How should you measure your business if you are a fiber operator? One effective approach is to define a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and track them over time. Whether you operate a wholesale or retail business model significantly impacts which KPIs are most relevant, though some metrics remain universally important.

The key is to focus on KPIs that measure aspects you genuinely want to improve and that are critical to your operations. While it's possible to measure countless metrics, doing so requires substantial resources, and tracking too many KPIs can make it difficult to identify which ones truly matter for your business.

We've observed that different markets have emphasized various KPIs during different time periods. In the UK, for example, there was initially a strong focus on land grab and homes passed. However, when inflation surged and interest rates increased, the priority shifted toward quickly acquiring customers and connecting them to the network to generate revenue.

Essential KPIs for All Fiber Operators

Regardless of your business model, several KPIs are fundamental for fiber operators. Here are some examples of critical metrics to track:

• Network Build-out Progress (NBOP) - Indicates the progress of network construction. Measures the number of addresses per build-out status over time.
• Network Utilization Rate (NUR) - Addresses aggregated and counted based on installation status.
• Homes Passed (HP) - A metric showing the total number of homes passed by your network.
• Subscriptions per Product (SPP) - A metric showing the number of subscriptions for each product offering.
• Time to Ready for Service (RFS) - How quickly the network becomes ready for service activation after buildout or order. Impacts both customer satisfaction and partner onboarding efficiency.
• Mean Time To Resolution/Recovery (MTTR) - Measures how quickly issues are resolved.
• Device KPIs - Uptime per Site Area and Connection Type.
• Ticketing KPIs - Tickets per Priority, Tickets per Department, Time to Resolve, Time to Assign, Time to Response and Time per Ticket and External Resource.
• Revisits - Measures how often technicians need to revisit a site to resolve issues.
• Customer Acquisition Cost - The cost associated with acquiring each new customer.

Wholesale-Specific KPIs

If you operate a wholesale business model, these KPIs are particularly relevant:

• Take-Rate Per Area (TRPA) - The proportion of households or premises connected through any service provider. Important for measuring the financial viability of the network in each area.
• Addresses/Subscribers per Service Provider - The number of addresses that have subscriptions from each service provider.
• Average Revenue Per Connection (ARPC) - Gross revenue per connected premise from wholesale fees. Critical for calculating ROI and the long-term business model.

Retail-Specific KPIs

For retail fiber operators, these KPIs deserve special attention:

• Take-rate (TR) at end customer level - The share of passed households that actually subscribe to services from the operator. Directly linked to revenue and profitability.
• Churn Rate - The percentage of customers leaving over a given period. Critical for long-term customer value and retention strategy development.
• Customer Acquisition (CA) - The number of acquired customers over a given period. The direct opposite of churn.
• Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) - Monthly average revenue per customer. A fundamental metric for business modeling and revenue forecasting.

TM Forum: A Valuable Resource for Measurement Frameworks

Can we find industry standards for measuring business performance? Yes, TM Forum offers various measurement frameworks and has developed interesting KPIs that indicate how well your digital transformation journey is progressing.

• TMF439 - 30 Strategic KPIs for Digital Transformation - This resource provides 30 interesting KPIs for your digital transformation journey, including: Digital User Journeys (DUJ), Time to Market (TTM), Average Response Time (ART), Churn Rate (CHR) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC).
• GB988 TM Forum Metrics Definition - Contains over 1,000 KPIs relevant for telecom operators.

At Netadmin, we've leveraged TM Forum's framework to develop meaningful KPIs that can enhance your business intelligence efforts.

Netadmin's Approach to Business Intelligence

What is Netadmin doing in this area? Previously, we primarily created reports within Netadmin or allowed customers to connect to our database (or a copy of it) with their BI tools. However, we recognized that this approach wasn't flexible enough and that our data model wasn't always easy to understand.

As a result, we've initiated a project to create a dedicated data warehouse. This data warehouse features simplified relationships between tables and table names that align with what appears in the Netadmin interface, making it more intuitive for users.

We've connected this data warehouse to a BI tool called Metabase. Within Metabase, we've started defining important KPIs and will continue expanding the solution as we incorporate more data. This approach makes it easy to modify the metrics we've built and extend them with custom filters and additional data points that are important for your specific business.

Getting Started with KPI Measurement: A Practical Approach

So how should you actually approach this area? Our recommendation is to start with just a few metrics and learn the process. Expand gradually and learn iteratively. Most importantly, make sure to actually learn from your KPIs and take action based on what they tell you!

Effective business measurement isn't just about collecting data—it's about making that data actionable and using it to drive continuous improvement in your fiber network operations. By focusing on the right KPIs for your business model and gradually building your measurement capabilities, you can gain valuable insights that lead to better business decisions and improved performance.

Remember that the ultimate goal of measuring KPIs is to improve your business. Start small, learn as you go, and always make data-driven decisions based on what your metrics are telling you.