BH Telecom is not only the biggest operator in the Bosnia and Herzegovina market of about 3.8 million inhabitants; they are also the first to offer video services to their clients.
 

Grga Mrkonjić, solution manager, Systems Integration at Ericsson Nikola Tesla in Croatia, is responsible for the project.
 

"BH Telecom is one of the operators that are aware of the competition from GAMEY (Google, AOL, Microsoft, eBay and Yahoo), players emerging from the internet industry that are coming in fast and aiming to take a big piece of the revenues that telecom operators have been hoping to get," Mrkonjić says.
 

BH Telecom started to build its service-layer network in 2004, a process that has now moved on to the implementation of Ericsson's Mobile TV & Video solution (ECDS 3.0). This step makes BH Telecom one of the first operators in the region ready to offer video content and mobile TV to its customers. This is despite the fact BH Telecom is yet to implement 3G in its network.
 

His colleague Ivan Lupić, Ericsson Mobility World manager for Market Unit Central Europe and section manager, IMS in the mobile TV project for BH Telecom, says: "This is a very good example of how to do things in the right order. Starting with this now allows the customer to be up and running the day they get 3G fully implemented in their network. A big mistake many companies have made is to first build the pipe, then waste a lot of time looking for services to put in it."
 

In the near future, BH Telecom will be able to offer its customers, both within their digital and circuit-switched networks, the option to watch TV programs and video clips. The next step could be video games and other services. And BH Telecom has already begun to open its network to new business collaborations with external content and application providers.
 

Mrkonjić says: "They have also implemented Ericsson's service delivery platform solution and integrating that with ECDS 3.0 enables them to start experimenting with new content and video services.
 

"Starting with the streaming of video services at an early stage and on a small scale is also a good way to try out different business models, to build up experience and knowledge within the company and continue exploring how the multimedia market can be developed in their region. Because they are the first operator in the country to offer video services, this also puts them ahead of their competitors."
 

If in the future BH Telecom chooses to go with IMS, the technology, business systems and many of the functions from the 3G upgrade can be reused.
 
Lupić says: "To become more than just a provider of voice and a pipe for data traffic will take some time. A whole new ecosystem of companies from different industries has to be created, starting with contacts and collaborations within the media and entertainment industries. The sooner an operator starts working in this new ecosystem, the sooner they will start making money from new services on the market."