Original article Total Telecom:Read More
Interview
Upcoming anniversaries are always a time for reflection. This is certainly the case for Bosnian BSS innovator ZIRA Group, which is looking to celebrate its 30th anniversary next year not only with a raft of new products, but also an entirely new brand.
Founded in the wake of the Bosnian War by electrical engineer Zijah Rašidagić, ZIRA Group (then simply ZIRA) started life as a small IT company with dreams of international expansion.
“Our founder wanted to produce software products that could be exported globally. He wanted to create a company that could support innovation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite the challenging environment, and share that innovation worldwide,” explained ZIRA Group’s CEO Emir Bukvić. “I’m happy to say that his vision has definitely been fulfilled.”
Today, nearly 30 years on, ZIRA is a major player in the global BSS market, boasting offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Netherlands, Croatia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. As such, at the start of the year, the company undertook a major rebrand to better reflect the scope of its global ambitions and its expanded international footprint, becoming ZIRA Group.
“We’ve grown well beyond our roots,” said Bukvić. “We cover FibreCos, NetCos, TowerCos, SatCos — all over the world. With the rebrand, we are aligning our identity with a broader, more dynamic portfolio.”
In support of its strategic rebrand, ZIRA Group launched its new AI Telco Platform, leveraging AI to help telcos better understand their BSS data and become more efficient. By combining predictive AI for accurate forecasting with a generative AI agent that provides actionable insights, the platform can quickly synthesise solutions for telco problems in real-time.
“You need to evolve to meet the needs of your customers,” said Bukvić. “As AI and machine learning tools become bigger parts of telco networks, we need to provide a suitable solution for the BSS layer. Most analytics tools struggle with complex network and billing data – our goal is to make that data useful and help customers do more with less.”
Flexibility is a must when it comes to BSS
Key to ZIRA’s BSS offering is the concept of modularity, allowing them to tailor their solutions to meet their customers’ specific needs. The company’s All-in-One BSS platform is built on open APIs, providing seamless integration with existing telco systems, and allowing operators to pick-and-choose the parts they need.
“Every customer is different and has unique set of requirements. They shouldn’t have to pay for features they’ll never use,” said Bukvić. “Our modular BSS approach means flexibility, whether we’re supporting Tier 1 operators or smaller players. Each can choose exactly what they need to streamline their operations and boost revenues.”
“That’s also why we’re increasingly transitioning towards a SaaS approach,” he added.
The platform’s scalable ‘Pay-as-You-Grow’ model reflects this philosophy. Smaller customers can roll out what they need today and defer costs until they’re ready to scale, giving them room to grow without financial strain.
Effective partnerships the key to monetisation
Scaling up, however, can be a major challenge for modern telcos. Building and operating networks is an expensive business, particularly at a time when the global economy is shaky and traditional revenues are stagnating. Against this backdrop, telcos are increasingly looking to embrace new monetisation models and revenue opportunities, developing new use cases with emerging technologies and building tailored offerings for verticals outside their traditional markets.
But as telcos expand their scope, they’re relying on a growing and increasingly complex partner ecosystem, from data centers and interconnect players to MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) and OTT (Over-the-Top) service players.
“Effective partnerships are at the heart of sustainable growth for telcos but managing them efficiently can be expensive and time consuming,” explained Bukvić. “Implementation of products takes time, billing and revenue sharing can be complex, and transparency is not always guaranteed.”
To support this shift, ZIRA Group has developed a Partner Management approach for operators breaking away from legacy stacks, making it easier to build strong, scalable relationships with ecosystem partners from day one.
“This platform decouples partner activities from the core BSS stack, making operations more modular and flexible,” Bukvić explained. “It’s a unified space, designed with faster onboarding, greater visibility, and deeper insight in mind. It’s a major advantage to telcos looking to innovate and capture new revenue streams.”
Regional differences in agility
But are telcos actually moving as fast as they should be to embrace new partners and new business models? According to Bukvić, some markets are leaning into disruption, while others remain cautious.
“We’ve learned a lot from our expansion internationally. The Middle East, for example, is very eager to innovate,” he said. “They want to be on top of new technologies and really take advantage – they want to be first. In Europe, on the other hand, things are more cautious. That’s partly because of the scale of their legacy operations, but also a mindset challenge.”
ZIRA Group recently onboarded a client in Africa and is looking to expand into Southeast Asia over the next 12 months – two markets where telcos highly value operational agility.
“These markets move faster. They tend to have younger populations that are mobile-first, so telcos can have a huge impact to society very quickly. It’s a great environment to innovate and take risks in.”
The Future: SaaS, modularity, and global expansion
With these new markets firmly in its sights, ZIRA Group is looking to continue to expand globally over the coming years. The company is transforming its All-in-one BSS platform to a SaaS model, making it easier for telecom providers to get started, and giving them the freedom to tailor the system to their needs, without the heavy upfront burden. Modular by design, it fits both end-to-end telcos and infrastructure units ready to go solo.
As it celebrates three decades of growth, innovation, and resilience, ZIRA Group’s transformation from a regional IT company into a global BSS powerhouse signals the vital role agile software platforms play in the evolving telecom landscape.
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