Fifthnet, a joint venture between Circet, BESIX Unitec, and Verbraeken, is one of Belgium’s leading contractors for fiber (to-the-home) projects. The largest telecom provider in Belgium, selected Fifthnet to help them achieve a target of 4.2 million fiber connections by 2028.

Fifthnet wanted to quickly optimize network design to connect targeted 4 million homes to fiber by 2028. The challenges ahead of them were:

High cycle time: Design led to a high cycle time as there were multiple iterations. The field survey teams compounded the problem by giving out different information, thus impacting design speed and quality.

Scalability: Aggressive rollout targets for 2021 and 2022 meant that the team needed to scale up majorly. Year on year, the target was increased by 150%.

Complexity in network rollout: The involvement of multiple partners and stakeholders made it challenging to manage the program. The rollout across various cities in Belgium involving different construction teams and city managers added to the complexity. Each team had additional local and legal requirements to execute the civil work.

TCS’ network design factory helped Fifthnet achieve scalability and quality in design work.

TCS worked with Fifthnet to develop an outcome-based model to reduce risk while ensuring required efficiency. We developed a scalable and an innovative fit-for-the-purpose solution by creating a demand-data-led resource pool with fiber design capabilities and network process excellence.

other vital aspects of the solution were:

• Demand-data-led resource pool with fiber design capabilities (FTTx)
• Critical to Quality (CTQ)-based robust quality framework to ensure the right-first-time design
• Governance model with 360-degree program control and monitoring
• Digitization of the methods and procedures (SOP) documentation

With TCS’ support, Fifthnet connected 137k homes in 2022. 

TCS’ CTQ framework helped conduct a root cause analysis to reduce design defects by 95%. The governance model also included 360-degree program control and monitoring, ensuring seamless collaboration and weekly cadence planning between relevant stakeholders.