US Telecom Giant Achieves 3x Faster Releases and 350% Cost Savings Through DevOps Optimization

Industry: Communications, Media, and Entertainment | Services: Digital CX, Business Process as a Service, Sutherland Sentinel AI®

Client Overview

Our client is a leading US prepaid, no-contract mobile operator and part of a global telecommunications conglomerate. Operating as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), the company serves nearly 23 million subscribers across multiple brands, offering reliable wireless services through partnerships with major national networks.

The Challenge

Eliminating Inefficiencies for Faster Delivery

The client’s DevOps framework was slowing down product delivery. Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) systems lacked efficiency and automation, resulting in manual deployments and frequent bottlenecks.

Without proper artifact management, development teams were forced to rely heavily on other departments, limiting agility. Limited system observability, unclear approval workflows, and a lack of Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) practices further compounded delays. To stay competitive in the fast-paced telecom market, the company needed an agile, scalable DevOps environment that could support faster, error-free releases and lower operational costs.

Sutherland Solution

Modernizing DevOps with Automation and Infrastructure-as-Code

Sutherland partnered with the client to redesign its DevOps ecosystem, focusing on automation, scalability, and transparency. The transformation centered on three key initiatives:

1. Optimized CI/CD and Artifact Management:
   Sutherland deployed Jenkins to improve testing and deployment efficiency and integrated an artifact repository (Artifactory) to streamline build and deployment lifecycles, ensuring reliable and repeatable releases.
   
2. Refined Release Management:
   A modern approval workflow was introduced, enabling development teams to self-deploy and accelerate delivery cycles while maintaining compliance and oversight.
3. Infrastructure-as-Code and Enhanced Observability:
   Sutherland implemented an IaC approach to automate infrastructure provisioning and improve scalability. Enhanced observability tools were added, enabling integrated log analysis and actionable insights across the environment.

The Outcome

Accelerated Releases and Measurable Cost Efficiencies

The DevOps transformation delivered measurable results. Release cycles were reduced from several weeks to just one week, enabling the client to achieve 3x faster deployments. By migrating 350+ microservices to Amazon EKS, the company realized 350% cost savings through optimized cloud utilization and improved resource management.

In addition, seamless integration across 80 platforms improved collaboration between development and operations teams, while real-time visibility into system performance helped maintain high-quality releases.

Today, the client operates with a fully modernized DevOps framework that supports continuous innovation, faster go-to-market capabilities, and long-term scalability.