%20(1).png)
When disaster strikes, a telecommunications operator's response is measured in hours, not weeks. Digitel is a major telecommunications operator in Venezuela and the recent earthquakes required Digitel to quickly implement emergency response operations to ensure communications and continuity of operations.
When the major earthquakes struck Venezuela, it affected communities across a wide area and placed immediate pressure on every part of the country's infrastructure including its telecommunications operators. Digitel's response illustrates two things that matter deeply in a crisis: the ability to act fast for the people affected, and the confidence that comes from knowing your business systems are resilient due to having disaster recovery systems in place.
In the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster, a telecommunications operator faces a decision that sits at the intersection of commercial responsibility and human need. Do you continue operating as normal or do you use the capabilities of your business to do something more?
For Digitel, the answer was clear. As one of Venezuela's leading operators, with millions of subscribers across the country, the company moved quickly to configure and launch free services for people in the earthquake-affected areas. At a time when families were trying to locate one another and communities were coordinating their response, Digitel ensured that communication remained accessible to those who needed it most.
"This earthquake has been a deeply painful experience for Venezuela, and our thoughts remain with everyone affected,” said Luis Bernardo Pérez, CEO, Digitel. “As a telecommunications operator, our responsibility in moments like this is clear, people need to be able to communicate, and we must do everything we can to support that. Because our charging systems remained fully operational, we were able to act quickly by configuring and launching free services for people in the affected areas without delay."
Digitel's Qvantel charging platform is hosted in Valencia, a city that was not directly affected by the earthquake. As a result, core business systems remained fully operational from the outset and business operations all continued without interruption throughout the crisis period.
Operational stability during this earthquake was a fortunate outcome of geography. But Digitel is not an operator that relies on fortune. Alongside its primary Qvantel deployment in Valencia, Digitel has implemented a dedicated Qvantel Disaster Recovery environment which provides a fully configured contingency that ensures business continuity can be maintained regardless of what happens to the primary site.
Gabriel Díaz Campión CIO / CISO of Digitel stressed the importance of disaster recovery, "We continue to demonstrate that a resilience-driven architecture sets the highest standards in operational security against disaster scenarios, while ensuring the sustained availability of digital channels for the critical and high-value traffic of our users."
The disaster recovery implementation means that should a future event affect Valencia directly Digitel's operations can be restored rapidly, within agreed recovery time objectives, with no dependency on the primary infrastructure.
Digitel’s charging platform performed without interruption throughout the crisis. With systems stable, the company was able to turn their attention to what mattered most operationally and rapidly configured free service offerings for subscribers in the affected areas. In addition, by having the disaster recovery environment in place as a further contingency also gave the Digitel teams’ confidence that they are prepared for any eventuality.
The disaster recovery implementation means that should a future event affect Valencia directly Digitel's BSS operations can be restored rapidly, within agreed recovery time objectives, with no dependency on the primary infrastructure. This dual-layer approach of stable primary operations, backed by a tested recovery environment is what genuine operational resilience looks like for a major operator. It is not built in response to a crisis, but it is built before one arrives.
"What Digitel demonstrated here is exactly what a modern charging platform should enable. This goes beyond day-to-day operations and provides the agility to rapidly respond when circumstances demand it,” said Rubén López, CEO LATAM, Qvantel. “We are proud that the Qvantel platform allowed Digitel to deliver free services to communities in need, quickly and without disruption to their wider operations. Combined with the disaster recovery solution Digitel has in place, this reflects the kind of long-term, resilience-focused partnership we aim to build with every operator we work with."
Jose Medina
Director, Qvantel LATAM
