apr 2008 issue 40 - huawei€¦ · at&t will be 16 months behind verizon wireless in bringing...
TRANSCRIPT
APR
2008 ISSUE 40
APR 2008 ISSUE 40
Get ready for
convergent billing
Business Intelligence empowering your brain
NGIN breaking the IN bottleneck
Reshape your billing support system
Best Tonethe voice Google
At Huawei, we know that simple ideas can lead to big things. In much the same way a tiny acorn can grow into an oak tree, we strive to realize your
full potential through innovative products and solutions.
We devote 48% of our entire staff of over 68,000 people to R&D, which is just one o f the reasons w hy t he w orld’s t op telecom network operators choose us as their partner.
We are c ommitted t o looking after y our n eeds every step o f the way. B y putting you first, we grow your business to be as lasting and enduring as the
oak tree itself. That’s why at Huawei, we help you realize your potential from the simplest of ideas, to ultimate success.
Sponsor: Huawei COMMUNICATE
Editorial Board,
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Consultants: Hu Houkun, Xu Zhijun, Xu Wenwei
Tao Jingwen, Che Haiping, Huang Chaowen
Yu Xiangping, Zhan Linkun, Guo Yajun
Editor-in -Chief: Gao Xianrui ([email protected])
Editors: Xu Peng,Liu Zhonglin, Pan Tao
Xue Hua, Xu Ping, Chen Yuhong
Huang Zhuojian, Yao Haifei, Zhou Huajiao
Li Xuefeng, Zhou Shumin
Contributors:
Gao Zhihua, Mao Yumin, He Weijie
Lin Jie, Li Hua, Wang Yong, Guo Aiqin
Li Zicui, Long Huimin, Wang Wei, Chen Weiyong
Shan Mingjun, Xie Qingrui, Wang Ge, Tan Mao
Tel: +86 755 28780808
Fax: +86 755 28356180
Address: A10, Huawei Industrial Base,
Bantian, Longgang, Shenzhen,
China 518129
E-mail: [email protected]
Publication registration No.: Yue B No.10148
The information contained in this document is for reference purpose only, and is subject to change or withdrawal according to specific customer requirements and conditions.
Copyright © 2008 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.No part of this issue may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written consent of Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
The telecom industry changes on a daily basis. Voice and messaging services including short massages and multimedia messages, are being succeeded by new and rapidly growing infotainment services such as mobile Internet, streaming media, digital music, mobile newspapers and mobile TV. An environment that integrates Telecom, Internet, Media and Entertainment (TIME) will further promote convergence between the four, rendering an already competitive market even more complex.
The changing market requires that operators vary operations by delivering differentiated services and tariff packages more quickly to niche markets. Successful operations rest with a flexible and efficient charging mode. Separated charging systems used independently for a specific customer base, payment mode, and service are no longer keeping pace with development trends. They must transform into a customer-oriented convergent billing system. This is the direction that more operators are moving towards, which in turn brings challenges to equipment suppliers regarding their comprehensive capabilities.
For newly licensed operators such as Etisalat building their new subnetworks, convergent billing has emerged as their first choice during early networking. With the obsolescence of numerous products, major operators such as China Mobile and AIS have also been phasing in convergent billing systems based on their networks’ present circumstances and features. It is apparent that convergent billing is gaining an irreversible deployment momentum.
What are the advantages of convergent billing? There are four major aspects: 1) Flexible - configurable tariff packages help operators realize personalized marketing; 2) Speedy - compared with legacy packages that took months to develop and deploy, a new package can be designed and released in a few days or even as little as a few hours. The reduction in time-to-market assists operators open up new markets; 3) Real-time - value is added by providing real-time charging and customer care packages; 4) Unified - TCO can be reduced by integrating prepaid and postpaid service charging, and unified customer experiences can be achieved. These four features promote convergent billing as the best-choice marketing tool.
Huawei has been continuously investing in convergent billing over the past few years. To date, more than 3,000 engineers, six overseas’ research centers and 37 international patents have ensured Huawei’s position as the leader in this field. With core data table and dynamic rule engine technologies, Huawei’s billing systems currently serve over 450 million customers around the world. Huawei also took the lead in helping operators deploy the convergent billing system that supported more than 10 million customers.
Convergent billing provides a premium opportunity for operators and equipment suppliers to heighten their cooperation, enabling both parties to iron out competition. Unstinting R&D, continuous software service, end-to-end delivery, and open architecture form the key elements that measure whether a supplier is able to become a qualified partner.
Are you ready for convergent billing? Huawei is ready.
Ready for convergent billing yet?
Zhan Linkun
Director of Huawei A&S Technical Sales Dept.
Cover Story
11 Online changing, online charging
Get ready for convergent billingBy Wang Wei
The convergent billing solution breaks through the barriers of traditional vertical charging/billing systems and enables unified online charging for all subscribers and all services.
What’s inside:
P.11 P.35
Expert’s Forum
05 Enabling convergent billing via OCS
By Shan Mingjun
As a development trend for the operation support system, convergent billing has a broad scope that is not limited by a single standard. Its development may follow different directions. However, which is the best direction?
02 Verizon builds 18-city optical mesh
04 Huawei to provide multi-vendor managed
services for Mobily in the Middle East
Global Digest
01 TD-SCDMA launches in eight cities of China
09 OMA charging standardization and its prospectsBy Tero Lehtonen
Interview
21 Independent yet cooperative By Cynthia Leung
Main Topic
24 Business Intelligence empowering your brain
By Huang Hua
China Mobile has been using its business analysis support system (BASS) to explore the huge potential of Business Intelligence (BI) technology.
Get ready for convergent billing
P.24 P.15P.38
44 Reshape your billing support system
By Xie Qingrui
29 New direction for O&M outsourcingBy Wang Ge
Entangled in the global mesh of network and service transformation, telecom operators have been forced to focus on enhancing their core competitiveness. This has in turn driven operation and maintenance (O&M) outsourcing in a new direction.
27 Let’s accelerate the OCSBy Wang Wei
Let’s COMMUNICATE beyond technology and share understandings of the latest industry trends,
successful operational cases, leading technologies and more. Based on in-depth analysis of the
matters that lie close to your heart, we will help you stay on top in the competitive telecom industry.
How to Operate
32 Development and evolution of OSS By Wang Ziqing & Guo Zhongjie
35 Best Tone, the voice GoogleBy Cao Yiming & Cai Xiao
China Telecom is transforming to an integrated information service provider and has inspired many other operators by launching the Best Tone service.
38 BOSS boosts China Mobile Shandong
By Li Hui
Solution
41 NGIN breaking the IN bottleneckBy Ren Peijun & Zheng Yichu
Leading Edge
47 Mobile charging support system faces fresh challenges
By Gao Lei & Li Chun
The next-generation broadband mobile network has greatly enriched mobile data services and accelerated its integration with the Internet. While mobile operators are providing richer and more diversified services, mobile charging support system has been confronted with a range of new challenges.
GLOBAL DIGEST
APR 2008 . ISSUE 401
News
3 UK launches ad supported 3G mobile music video service
M o b i l e o p e r a t o r 3 U K
announced the launch of the
first ad supported, commercial
mobile music video service in
conjunction with Sony BMG Music
Entertainment (UK). The service,
powered by Rhythm New Media,
is available to all 3 UK customers
and is accessed through 3’s music
homepage. Customers can now
watch their favorite music videos
from artists on their mobile phones
anywhere and at any time.
The new Sony BMG video
collection is the latest addition to 3’s
existing free mobile video service. The
service is offered to customers with
no data charges and is supported by
short, targeted video ads. Rhythm
New Media sells and delivers a
targeted and personalized video
ad before the music video based
on demographic data collected.
This new service complements the
existing 3MusicStore, and will also
offer links to purchase products.
AT&T plans mobile TV launch in May
Though a couple of quarters later
than planned, AT&T said it would
launch broadcast mobile TV services
in May over Qualcomm’s MediaFLO
network. Its initial line-up includes
the same package of channels that
Verizon Wireless features on its V
Cast Mobile TV service, but AT&T
promised to unveil two exclusive
channels, though it did not reveal
what those channels would be.
Med iaFLO use s 700 MHz
spectrum to multicast high-power
digital TV signals to handheld
devices. While MediaFLO has a
regular line-up of channels, which
all of its customers will receive,
Qualcomm owns enough spectrum
to allow operators to strike their
own deals with content providers
and reserve specific channels on the
network.
AT&T will be 16 months behind
Verizon Wireless in bringing its
mobile TV service to market. The
company originally planned to
launch before the end of 2007, but
pushed its plans back. The delay
probably had little effect, though.
Mobile TV’s take-up in the U.S. has
been slow, and Qualcomm hasn’t
been able to launch service in all
of its markets due broadcasters still
occupying the spectrum.
SingTel eyes wireless network upgrade
SingTel will upgrade its broadband
networks in Singapore and six other
countries in a major move to make it
easier for users to write blogs, share
videos and stay connected on the go
with web 2.0 services, a report the
Straits Times, said.
The report said SingTel expects
to upgrade its wireless networks in
the next two to three years to offer
speeds of 40Mbps, or almost six
times faster than current speeds.
This will be fast enough for users
to view and share multimedia files
on the go, which can be difficult on
today's slower networks, the report
said.
The Straits Times report also
quoted SingTel Singapore CEO Allen
Lew as saying that users will not be
merely downloading files on the go
in future, they want speedy wireless
links to upload pictures and videos
to friends as well.
TD-SCDMA launches in eight cities of China
China’s first commercial 3G
services were launched in the eight
Olympic cities. Officially dubbed
a trial, it is the first time TD-based
phones and services have gone
on sale to the public. The services
and phones are heavily subsidized
by China Mobile Communications
Group , the pa rent o f l i s ted
company China Mobile Ltd.
China Mobile is offering 20,000
free phones and 5000 free PC cards
to its trial customers. The 20,000
customers will be offered a subsidy
of 800 Yuan, or USD114 per month
for airtime and data fees, while
China Mobile will gather feedback
from them every two weeks.
For the commercial trial, 60,000
GSM/TD-SCDMA dual-mode phones
and 15,000 data cards are available
in China Mobile branches in the
eight cities, which include Beijing,
Shanghai and Guangzhou. In Beijing,
15,000 cards will be offered for both
trial and commercial users, with
priority given to Olympic-related
companies and staffers.
FCC approves mobile SMS emergency service
The U.S. Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) has approved
a plan to create a nationwide
emergency a lert system that
delivers text messages to mobile
phone users.
This voluntary program encourages
wireless carriers like AT&T and
Verizon Wireless to alert their
subscribers of emergency situations
via SMS. Local messages are targeted
at the county level.
“The ability to deliver accurate
and timely warnings and alerts
through cell phones and other
mobile services is an important next
step in our efforts to help ensure
that the American public has the
information they need to take
action to protect themselves and
their families prior to, and during,
disasters and other emergencies,”
commented FCC Chairman, Kevin J.
Martin, after the plan was approved.
The new legislation, which consists
mostly of technical standards, is
based on recommendations by an
advisory committee made up of
public safety officials and telecom
industry representatives.
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40 2
Data
12 millionThe number of mobile TV users in
India is predicted to reach 12 million
on the first year that the service will
be launched, a report from research
firm Springboard Research.
The research firm also said India's
market for mobile TV services will
reach USD360 million in 2008.
The Spr ingboard research
further said that in the first year of
operation, mobile TV could reach a
penetration level of 5% to 6% of the
total mobile subscriber base in India.
About 84% of mobile phone
users in the country are interested
in using mobile TV provided it is
commonly available and affordable,
the report added.
395 millionSK Telecom, South Korea's top
mobile operator, would invest 389.9
billion won (USD395 million) in
network facilities. SK said in a filing to
the Korea Exchange that it would make
the investment during the second half
of the year to improve the quality and
increase the capacity of its network.
Verizon builds 18-city optical mesh
Verizon Business will deploy
a combination of optical mesh
networking gear and reconfigurable
optical add/drop multiplexers
(ROADMs) across the US this year
that the carrier expects will radically
change its network provisioning
processes by allowing far more
automation and efficiency.
Having already deployed mesh
networks between continents, Verizon
will roll out a mesh-based architecture
in 18 US markets this year, pairing it
with ROADM deployment in at least
as many places. The move yields
greater efficiency because it routes
traffic based on where capacity is
available rather than reserving a
redundant parallel path for every link.
But it also allows for more of the
provisioning work to be done by the
network itself.
KDDI slashes operating profit forecast
Japan's No. 2 phone company
KDDI lowered its annual operating
profit forecast by 3.4%, citing
higher marketing costs due to
better-than-expected sales of its
mobile phones.
KDDI said it now expects an
operating profit of 400 billion yen
(USD3.9 billion) for the year ended
March, down from a January
forecast of 414 billion yen (USD4
billion).
In Japan's saturated market,
mobile carriers lure subscribers by
offering high incentives today in
hopes for profit tomorrow, and
better-than-expected sales can hurt
short-term profitability.
The mobi le carr ier, which
competes against NTT DoCoMo
and Softbank, said it had 30.1
million subscribers at the end of
March, beating its outlook for 30
million customers.
BT Conferencing acquires Wire One Holdings
BT Conferencing Inc., a business
unit of UK telecom giant, BT Group,
has agreed to purchase Denver,
Colorado-based videoconferencing
provider, Wire One Holdings Inc., the
two companies announced.
The value of the deal was not
disclosed except to say that the gross
assets of Wire One totaled USD90.5
million at the end of 2007. BT is
buying the company from Gores
Group LLC, a California-based private
equity firm.
Wire One describes itself as “one
of the leading providers in the U.S.
of easy to use, reliable, and cost-
effective video communication
so lu t ions .” I t p rov ides both
equipment and services to upwards
of 8,000 customers, and employs
over 350 professionals in the United
States and Europe.
BT Conferencing, meanwhile, is
a major global provider of audio,
v ideo and web col laborat ion
services, which is in the process
o f deve lop ing new sca lab le
conferencing products across its
global infrastructure.
38%Huawei estimates its 2008 contract
sales will rise 38%, with most of the
increase coming from abroad.
“We aim to make the total
sum more than USD22 billion,”
said Charlie Chen, president of
Huawei’s US division, told website
C114. Huawei’s sales reached
USD16 billion in 2007. Huawei
says 72% of revenue in 2007 came
from the international market. The
vendor began to shift its focus on
overseas market in 2006 and has
gained a 65% increase on its sales
deals, mainly from European and US
market.
49.7%After a decade as the dominant
p rov ide r, NTT DoCoMo can
no longer say it provides most
Japanese with their mobile phones,
with March figures showing that
smaller rivals are grabbing share in
a fierce fight ahead of the start of
the academic and business year.
DoCoMo held a 49.7% share
of Japan's total mobile phone
a n d p e r s o n a l h a n d y p h o n e
market at the end of March,
down from 50.2% in February,
the Telecommunications Carriers
Association said. DoCoMo said
it was the first time in about a
decade that its market share had
fallen below half.
GLOBAL DIGEST
APR 2008 . ISSUE 403
Huawei News
More than 100 HSPA/WCDMA contracts
China, 11 April 2008 Huawei
announced that it won 14 HSPA/
WCDMA contracts in Q1 2008, and
its total number of HSPA/WCDMA
contracts has exceeded 100 to
date.
In Q1 2008, Huawei won a
number of large HSPA/WCDMA
deals with operators in Europe,
Latin America and Asia Pacific. Its
GSM unit shipments increased by
20%.
Through the concept of "Green
Modernization", Huawei has helped
operators in Europe and Asia Pacific
realize total cost of ownership (TCO)
savings by reducing site power
consumption by 60%, site space by
40%-60%, and by increasing the
time-to-market by 30%.
Builds commercial FTTH network for Etisalat
UAE, 11 April 2008 Huawei
announced that it has been chosen
by Etisalat, the leading integrated
service provider in the Middle East
to build a large-scale commercial
Fiber to the Home (FTTH) network
in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The p l anned GPON FTTH
network by Etisalat would provide
ultra high speed connectivity for
families and businesses through the
use of optical line terminal (OLT)
and optical network terminal (ONT).
These terminals can accommodate
various application scenarios such
as commercial buildings, residential
apartments and villas. By the end of
2008, Etisalat expects its customer
base with direct access to FTTH to
be in the hundreds of thousands.
Etisalat has crafted an ALL IP
strategy to drive business and
network transformation, rolling out
last-mile connectivity using FTTH
to replace the current network
with fiber optical technology. With
Huawei's cutting edge GPON FTTH
solution, Etisalat can fully meet
the current and future demand
for ultra-high bandwidth access
while delivering a better service
experience for customers.
Huawei showcases at CTIA Wireless 2008
USA, 31 March 2008 Huawei
announced that it will showcase
a number of IP-based mobile
products and solutions, including
Mobile Network, Core Network,
Terminal and Technical Services, at
CTIA Wireless 2008, which is held
in Las Vegas, the U.S. on April 1-3.
With the theme of "Convergence,
Broadband, Green, and Evolution",
Huawei Mobile Network will be
demonstrating many customer-
focused solutions, including:
Fourth-generation BTS platform
which will bridge the gap between
cut overhead costs by at least 30%.
Huawei wil l also showcase
comprehensive strength in LTE in
the exhibition. In order to meet the
requirements of network update
and innovatively designed, Huawei's
fourth generation base station fully
supports LTE and inter-conversion
among various wireless technology
systems through software upgrade,
which helps protect customers'
investment.
Huawei Core Network wil l
showcase solutions featuring
new technologies and products,
including IMS-based FMC solutions,
Mobi le Softswitches, Mobi le
Broadband, Mobile Multimedia,
and Unified User Data Centers.
The company will also host a
demonstration of Advanced IMS
Live, the first hosted platform for
developing and demonstrating IMS
integrations with Web 2.0 services.
At present, Huawei mobile
broadband products have been sold
to 235 operators in 115 countries
and regions. Huawei will also
exhibit its latest series of mobile
broadband products.
different types of communication
standards to achieve the best
integration and performance.
IP bearer and multi-carrier
technologies which can help
operators save transmission costs,
improve their quality of service,
and speed up introduction of
broadband services.
Green site solution, which by
means of highly-efficient power
amplifiers, multi-carriers, distributed
architecture and temperature
controls, can help reduce carbon
dioxide emissions by over 60% and
Announces first-to-market 700 MHz spectrum solutionsUSA, 3 Apr i l 2008 Huawei
announced that the company's
first-to-market network solutions
for 700MHz spectrum wil l be
ava i l ab le in f i r s t quar te r o f
2009. Based on the unified base
transceiver station (BTS) platform
technology, Huawei will actively
p rov ide p rominent ne twork
so lut ions for the winners of
700MHz US auction.
Based on i t s 3900 se r i e s
base station platform, Huawei
wi l l prov ide mobi le network
solutions for UMTS, CDMA and
LTE technologies operating in the
700 MHz spectrum band newly
licensed in the USA. Multi-band
operation will be supported with
concurrent operation in the 700
MHz, 850 MHz, AWS and 1900
MHz spectrum bands in the USA.
Using software defined radios,
the base station portfolio will
support dual mode operation
for “CDMA + LTE” and “UMTS +
LTE” technologies. This capability
will enable operators to carry out
smooth network evolution from
UMTS or CDMA to LTE.
Huawei’s base station portfolio
includes solutions for green-field
and overlay deployment scenarios,
including zero footprint distributed
base station, integrated indoor
base stat ion, and integrated
outdoor base station. This set
of solutions provides customers
the capability to address most
deployment scenarios with a
time-to-market and total cost of
ownership (TCO) advantage.
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40 4
Provides managed services to MobilyChina, 4 April 2008 Huawei
announced that i t has been
selected by Mobily, a leading mobile
operator in Saudi Arabia, as its
managed services partner under a
three-year multi-vendor agreement.
This managed services agreement
wil l enable Mobily to reduce
operations costs through the better
use of capital and resources.
Under the agreement, Huawei
will be responsible for network
operat ion, back off ice, f ie ld
operation, network optimization and
spare part management. Additionally,
Huawei will maintain multi-vendor
telecom equipment and act on
behalf of Mobily to manage multi-
vendor spare parts and 3rd level
support. Huawei's contract sales for
managed service projects around the
world grew by 355% in 2007.
H u a w e i i s c o m m i t t e d t o
supporting its existing customers
by developing the latest service
solutions and growing its managed
services business to reduce the total
cost of ownership for operators.
Joins 3G boardUSA, 2 April 2008 3G Americas
announced that Huawei becomes
the newest member of its Board
of Governors, effective March
2008. Huawei joins a distinguished
board, currently comprised of
sixteen leading operators and
manufacturers, working together
to develop the expansive wireless
ecosystem of networks, devices, and
applications enabled by the GSM
family of technologies including LTE.
Chris Pearson, President of 3G
Americas, welcomed Huawei to the
3G Americas Board and explained
their election. "Huawei currently
provides infrastructure solutions to
3G Americas members Telefónica
Móviles and Telcel/América Móvil
and continues to expand their reach
in the Americas region. Huawei’s
market success combined with
their expertise in mobile and IP
networks as well as forthcoming
technologies such as LTE will create
a mutually beneficial relationship
with the member companies of 3G
Americas."
Awarded the most admired telecom MNCIndia, 26 March 2008 Huawei
Telecommunications India Pvt Ltd
was awarded as this year’s best
multinational telecommunication
company by Amity University. The
award was announced at a two day
telecom seminar on "Future of Indian
Telecom Revolution", organized by
Amity Institute of Telecom Technology
and Management (AITTM).
The prestigious award has been
conferred to Huawei after a careful
and rigorous audit of existing Indian
and International telecom vendors
by the esteemed jury of AITTM led
by Lt. Gen. P. D. Bhargava.
Mr. Max Yang, CEO of Huawei
India said, "We are extremely proud
and happy to receive this award
as this will reinforce Huawei’s
leadership in the telecom segment in
India. We endeavor to bring the best
technologies into Indian through
innovation. The award strengthens
our commitment towards providing
the best network value to our
customer."
On the occasion, Dr. Ashok K
Chauhan, Founder President of
Amity University said, "Huawei is
an epitome of high quality and
customer focused solutions, and it
has established itself as a reliable
partner/vendor to the leading
operators in the fastest growing
telecom market."
Huawei demonstrates latest GSM-R solutions at UIC HIGHSPEED 2008
Huawei has showcased its latest
GSM-R solutions at the 6th World
Congress & Trade Exhibition on
High Speed Rail, organized by the
International Union of Railways (UIC)
in Amsterdam.
A number of Huawei's innovative
GSM-R solutions were on show at
the event, including the only end-
to-end solution in the world that
is verified to support high speed of
430km/h, as well as the industry's
first distributed base station solution
for GSM-R systems.
High-speed rail transportation
requires a communications system
with a high-level of security and
stability. Huawei provides three
designs which safeguard the
Huawei completed the world's
first GSM-R test at a high speed of
430 km/h on the Shanghai Maglev
Railway in 2006. At the beginning
of 2008, Huawei was selected to
construct the communications system
for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong
Kong Express Rail Link. With a top
speed of 350 km/h, the Guangzhou-
Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail
Link is one of the fastest passenger
transport railway lines in the world.
reliability of GSM-R systems under
high-speed, spanning the core
network and the access network.
Firstly, Huawei's GSM-R system uses
dual-plane, resource pool and N+1
backup.
Second ly, Huawe i adopts
network-level mechanisms such as
MSC dual-homing, double coverage,
TRX redundancy and enhanced
ring networking to ensure the
reliability of core networks and to
realize double-coverage of access
networks. Thirdly, Huawei provides
unique advanced access restriction
technologies including multi-level
traffic control and automatic alarm
systems to enhance the security of
GSM-R networks.
EXPERT’S FORUM
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40
he telecom industry is witnessing the migration of both networks and voice services to comprehensive information service provision. Network technologies
are integrating. Both service models and the industry chain are transforming due to the ongoing fixed mobile convergence (FMC) and the combination of IPTV, telephony and Internet networks.
With its roots in a convergence environment, convergent billing is not a nascent concept. It existed before the online charging system (OCS) came into being, although the two are now growing together and supplementing each other. Based on the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) and defined by 3GPP TS32.296, the OCS has gradually emerged as the basic charging infrastructure for the bearer, sub-system, and application layers.
As a development trend for the operation support system, convergent billing has a broad scope that is not limited by a single standard. Its development may follow different directions. However, which is the best direction? The answer lies in the analysis of OCS development within the 3GPP framework, coupled with an evaluation of the driving factors and key capabilities required by convergent billing.
The evolution of OCS
3GPP Release 5 saw OCS in its infancy stage. It was framed to perform credit control and charging for IMS and packet transport networks. The OCS supported entities such as the serving-call session control function (S-CSCF), application server, media resource function controller (MRFC), and GPRS support node (SGSN) accessed through the CAP interface.
OCS was released and more ful ly defined in 3GPP Release 6 . Based on core network development, its functional entities were extended to support bearer layer charging, event-based charging, rating function, and account balance management.
As a result of network evolution, network elements (NEs) accessed the OCS for charging included the traffic plane function (TPF) and wireless local area network (WLAN), as well as S-CSCF, IMS gateway function, and media resource function controller (MRFC). Based on IETF DIAMETER, Release 6 also supported the accesses of the multimedia messaging service server, gateway mobile location center (GMLC), and multimedia
Enabling convergent billing via OCS
By Shan Mingjun
5
T
Shan Mingjun, a senior expert in the charging field. Currently he is the Vice Chairman of 3GPP SA5-Charging Group and leads major charging activities related to OCS, IMS and EPC. In addition, he has been serving as Vice Chairman of OMA MCC for two terms since August 2005.
EXPERT’S FORUM
As a development trend for the operation support system, convergent billing has a broad scope that is
not limited by a single standard. Its development may follow different directions. However, which is the
best direction?
Huawei Technologies
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40 6
broadcast and multicast service (MBMS).Charging for prepaid voice services
was integrated into the online charging system in Release 6. The OCS supported CAP access to realize the charging for prepaid voice services. In other words, the intelligent network (IN) can be regarded as the OCS’s voice processing component.
Release 7 opt imized the OCS by supporting online charging control for open mobile alliance (OMA) enablers, under which OMA applications were faci l i tated by 3GPP infrastructures to implement both online and offline charging.
The major change in Release 8 is to enable correlated online charging among the bearer, subsystem and service application layers during the service processing. It ensures the integrity of charging data to facilitate reasonable charging modes. In addition, 3GPP and 3GPP2 will adopt a common set of IMS architecture, enabling organizations such as 3GPP2 and TISPAN to use OCS more conveniently. The OCS will also support wider access to richer network scenarios.
As one of the major protocols to access
IN, CAMEL has been playing a crucial role in terms of prepaid voice services. OCS was speci f ied to support CAP access since Release 6. Differing from the DIAMETER-based Ro protocol, CAMEL is implemented independently from the OCS as a charging access protocol. CAMEL’s development in 3GPP began in 1997 and its original version was embodied in Release 99. CAMEL 4 was defined in Release 5 and maintained in Releases 6 and 7.
Convergent billing’s drivers and capabilities
Driving factors
The development of convergent billing goes along with the changes in both telecom network architecture and new service development. As a focus in the telecom charging field, convergent billing is driven by the following core factors:
ALL IP ne twork deve lopment : As circuit switched (CS) based or IN based services are shifting to ALL IP
based, charging systems should offer support accordingly. Service based on the session initiation protocol (SIP) cannot be effectively implemented without a convergent billing system. SIP-based IMS forms the direct technical driver.
Expanding new services: A robust charging system is necessary for the quick deployment of new applications and combination of new services. Prepaid and postpaid charging convergence coupled with flexible charging modes can benefit operators by providing a range of combined services for customers, which accelerates the service provision and effectively tailors services to suit individual needs.
Unified service provision: In the early stage of service development only postpaid customers can access some services due to a high credit rating requirement. GPRS provides an example of such a service for which prepaid customers had to wait a considerable length of time. Convergent billing will mitigate this problem by facilitating unified services for both prepaid and postpaid customers.
In add i t i on , conve rgen t b i l l i ng
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Enabling convergent billing via OCS
Fig. 1 Charging logic of prepaid and postpaid services
Postpaid based on online charging
Prepaid basedon online charging
Postpaid basedon offline charging
architecture enables the charging of services provided by third parties, such as SPs, while customer loyalty can be enhanced through flexible tariff packages.
Four fundamental capabilities
As detailed above, the catalysts for convergent billing mainly derive from changes in network architecture, new services , and customer needs . Four fundamental capabilities are required for the successful operation of a convergent billing system:
Real-time charging. This applies to charging for convergent networks and services. Charging lays the foundation for telecom operations. The essence of the charging is to meter network usage and statistics of service requests. Billing is over charging.
One of the essential parts of charging is to redefine charging elements, and then redefine the structure for network and service control. This simplifies charging methods. Charging now observes service use logic instead of service use quantities. This also presents a challenge in attempting to define the interoperation between the charging system and the network.
Bundled service charging. This seeks to satisfy the mixed subscription of voice, message, and data services. A new difficulty has emerged concerning charging based on ad-hoc scenarios, which has arisen due to greater freedom requested by customers. While this increases the challenges face by operators and equipment suppliers, it potentially yields higher customer returns.
In C h i n a , t h e n u m b e r o f f i x e d b r o a d b a n d c u s t o m e r s h a s g r o w n explosively since 2002, having increased on average by over 50% each year. On the other hand, Chinese fixed network operators have witnessed decreased monthly tariff and reduced revenues, although the quantity of broadband access has increased. This illustrates that simple tariff models cannot help increase ARPU or implement flexible pricing for niche markets. Moreover, improvements will not be derived from increased bandwidth or Internet services.
Converged rating engine. Service variety embodies a major development
driver for operators and SPs under which a flexible and open rating engine greatly assists new business mode development.
A rating engine should be able to charge any event and combined services. Some believe that the rating engine can exist independently from the charging system and provide open interfaces. Whether the rating engine is independent or internally integrated, the key capabilities of the convergent billing should include open and unified interfaces, as well as a holistic service charging mechanism.
Customer-centric data organization. Great variations occur in prepaid and postpaid user experience during different charging stages, and this is largely related to deployed technologies.
With customer service upgrades, the distinction between prepaid and postpaid services is increasingly blurred. From a technological standpoint, convergent billing should facilitate the switching between customer groups, allowing a customer to select prepaid charging for some services, while postpaid charging for other services to enhance usage flexibility.
OCS is the best direction
As demonstrated in its development, OCS can deliver a flexible, swift and real-time charging function. It solves the problem of prepaid and postpaid service shifts, and enables operators to quickly assess customer needs in order to more accurately plan the launch of new services and convergent schemes.
As 3G packe t ne tworks increa se demands on online charging systems, OCS will be gradually deployed worldwide following the conclusion of its current and ongoing optimization under the 3GPP framework. Analyses attest that OCS indeed forms the best framework for convergent billing implementation.
Ensuring compatibility
The 3GPP OCS is heading toward multiple charging access provision for networks bearing different services. To meet network evolution demands, the OCS’s internal components are further
As 3G packet networks increase demands on online charging systems, OCS will be gradually deployed worldwide following the conclusion of its current and ongoing optimization under the 3GPP framework. Analyses attest that OCS indeed forms the best framework for convergent billing implementation.
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Editor: Huang Zhuojian [email protected]
real time and real time – can be seamlessly mirrored to network-based concepts such as online and offline charging.
The bill-based, postpaid BOSS and the independent prepaid IN charging system are evolving into a convergent billing system. The OCS can develop by expanding itself in the context of account balance management. The OCS can also develop by integrating BOSS and IN, under which OCS serves as a core for them both. These define shortcuts for the development of a convergent billing system. Data organized in this mode in the convergent billing system provides enhanced support for various customer types and user-oriented services.
From charging system to charging network
In the convergent billing, charging technologies are going to resemble a “charging network” as opposed to a “charging system”. The charging network recognizes that charging is neither a separated nor afterward event. The charging system originally forms part of the support network and can be regarded as a supporting platform for networks or
abstracted and modularized, and the Rc and Re reference points are optimized.
In Release 7, charging data elements are designed to support charging based on data over cable service interface specifications (DOCSIS) in order to enable seamless access to DOCSIS networks. Charging elements for OMA enablers have been redesigned in line with the original 3GPP charging architecture.
Currently Release 8 is enhanced to support further convergence of fixed and mobile networks. Organizations such as TISPAN and 3GPP2 regard 3GPP as the best basis for integration, and this further ratifies the compatibility of 3GPP OCS during network convergence.
Fulfilling convergent billing needs
A logical foundation is laid for service convergence since the OCS embraces event-based charging and session-based charging. This meets the charging criteria for both voice and data services, and for the bearing, subsystem, and application layers.
The charging network is evolving from postpaid BOSS or prepaid IN to convergent billing. The OCS rating engine comprises the cornerstone of this process, while Re reference points facilitate rating engine deployment and fulfill new service development requirements.
The convergent billing system plays a key role in data organization and coordination, and forms the largest customer database. The OCS yields best practice with respect to organizing billing data of all customers and services, which is essential given that the online charging data describes one of the most complex data streams. Fig. 1 illustrates charging logic for various scenarios: online and offline, post and prepaid. Several charging modes and their combinations are possible, including near real-time charging for postpaid or prepaid services, and charging for prepaid service.
Online charging (based on Ro and CAP interfaces) and offline charging (based on the Rf interface) describe the interaction between NEs and charging systems. Postpaid and prepaid indicate the interaction between account balance and user payment. As a result, user experience-based concepts – prepaid, postpaid, near
The charging system’s architecture must be designed according to network and service development, and network architecture should in turn adapt to the charging system. This is one of numerous concepts underpinning core network layout, although conjoining the charging system and the network is not an absolute must.
services. In a converged environment, the charging system is unable to complete the entire charging process. Many network evolutions, however, are stimulated by changes in charging requirements.
The charging system’s architecture must be designed according to network and service development, and network architecture should in turn adapt to the charging system. This is one of numerous concepts underpinning core network layout, although conjoining the charging system and the network is not an absolute must. In fact, independent networking of the charging system is more desirable for network architecture.
3GPP delivers an apposite example of “charging network” appl icat ion. En c o u r a g i n g r e s u l t s i n c l u d e T P F introduced in Release 6, and, in Release 7, implementing the policy and charging enforcement funct ion (PCEF), and achieving deep IP packet detect ion and parsing of content-based charging. Furthermore, IMS supports the generation and delivery of charging IDs, which can identify the relation of charging information generated at each node, facilitate the correlation of charging information, and ensure the integrity of charging data.
C o m m e r c i a l r e q u i r e m e n t s a r e constantly emerging and new charging technologies are arising to keep pace with market needs. It has been a challenge for operators to implement content and policy charging, as well as flexible volume based charging. International organizations such as 3GPP and TMF have been working continually to reach solutions based on commercial requirements and suppliers’ proposals. Operators as the users of the technology, however, broadly shed doubt on suppliers’ solutions.
Nowadays, technologies no longer form an obstacle in terms of service promotion. Deep IP packet detection technology has satisfied the requirements for content or volume based charging, and as such has achieved a goal that was once regarded as impossible. Furthermore, other leading technologies, such as online correlated billing, are heading confidently into the arena of maturity.
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Tero Lehtonen, the Chairman of OMA MCC (Mobile Commerce and Charging), has been heading up the main activi-ties of application charging since April 2006. Tero joined TeliaSonera in 2000, an advanced telecom operator in North Europe and Baltic Sea area, and has been quite active in GSM Association, GSM Europe, and Mobile Payment Forum.
EXPERT’S FORUM
OMA MCC
n foreseeing a requirement for a uniform service environment for Open Mobile Al l iance (OMA) service enablers and a requirement
for supporting versatile capabilities for mobile commerce, the Mobile Commerce and Charging (MCC) working group of OMA was established in September 2003 along with the birth of OMA. The purpose of the MCC working group is to bring the industry players together and create a more coordinated approach to mobile commerce and charging, and to form a universal, flexible framework for global mobile commerce.
During its past five busy years, the OMA MCC has been working on a series of charging specifications which aim at creating standardized interfaces and behavior for information exchange to enable OMA service enablers, applications and other resources to generate and transport charging information for further processing.
Based on requirements from network carriers, end-users, service providers,
financial institutions and other related industry fora, such as Mobey Forum, Mobile Payment Forum, PayCircle , ETSI etc, the OMA MCC has created charging specifications for OMA and maintains an active dialogue with 3GPP, 3GPP2 and IETF to ensure consistency of implementations and to avoid overlaps.
OMA is currently specifying a number of service enablers that utilize the charging enabler, and therefore it can be expected that rea l i za t ions of OMA charg ing technologies will start emerging soon.
Fig. 1 Structure of OMA charging specifications
OMA MCC Charging Specifications
Basic Charging Specifications Service-Specific Charging Specifications
PoC Charging Specification
DCD Charging Specification
IM Charging Specification
BCAST Charging Specification
Offline Charging Specification
Online Charging Specification
OMA charging standardization and its prospects
By Tero Lehtonen
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ICurrent charging specifications
The delivery of OMA MCC includes basic charging specifications for an offline charging interface and an online charging interface, and service-specific charging specifications to cover service flow and data elements that are specific for the individual enablers. The basic charging specifications include an online charging specification and an offline charging specification, which
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mainly provide the basic charging functions, such as online charging, offline charging, customer accounts management, advice of charge (AoC), refund operation, and error handling.
O M A s e r v i c e - s p e c i f i c c h a r g i n g specifications are related to the individual s e r v i c e e n a b l e r s a n d p r ov i d e t h e description of collecting service-specific charging parameters according to the service flow. It can realize accurate charging for services to underpin an operator’s business. OMA service-specific documents released so far include: broadcast service (BCAST) charging specification, instant messaging (IM) charging specification, dynamic content delivery (DCD) charging specification (In collaboration with 3GPP SA5), and push-to-talk over cellular (PoC) charging specification. Fig.1 illustrates the structure of these specifications.
As illustrated in Fig.1, OMA MCC service-specific charging specifications a re s epa r a t ed f rom ba s i c cha rg ing specifications. This model makes the charging for services more flexible and well adaptive, and it can be constantly renewed with the development of services.
Future prospects
Charging innovation driven by convergence of services
In order to enhance the user experience of messaging services, OMA launched
its specification work for converged IP messaging (CPM). The OMA CPM Enabler aims at harmonizing the user experience of currently separate messaging services, such as IM, PoC, mobile e-mail (MEM), SMS and MMS, and other supporting enablers, as the presence enabler, the converged address book (CAB) enabler, the message & media storage enabler, and the user preference enabler, in order to realize inter working among multiple services and to offer convenient service capabilities.
As the trend of convergent messaging s e r v i c e s g a i n s m o re we i g h t , m o re requirements for convergent charging are expressed. The industry is increasingly interested in revenue from convergent messaging services. The CPM enabler intends to break the silo thinking of current messaging enablers and will also address convergent charging aspects. Imagining a scenario in the future, whichever messaging service you are using, IM, PoC, or MEM, charging information is triggered only at one point and processed centrally by the charging enabler.
Innovative services, innovative charging
The swift growth of specification activities in OMA has brought forth a g r ow i n g n u m b e r o f i n t e r e s t i n g service enablers into the OMA service envi ronment . For example , mobi le a d v e r t i s e m e n t a n d m o b i l e s o c i a l
community enablers are increasingly in the focus. These new enabling technologies come with their unique characteristics and will hence bring new innovations to charging technologies.
Development work for the OMA charging enabler started in December 2003, and the first candidate version was available in September 2006. After interoperability verification and the OMA Board’s ratification, it was released as an approved enabler in September 2007. Work for Charging Version 1.1 started in June 2007 and it is in the technical specification stage now in February 2008. In order to keep pace with the rapid development of the mobile applications value chain, new functions are being introduced to the charging enabler V1.1, including third-party charging, charges split, AoC, and a new charging interface protocol binding for the PARLAY X Payment API. These additions to the basic charging specifications will hopefully boost the progress of new and innovative mobile services.
Meanwhile, many advanced charging technologies are still under development, for example, corre lat ion for onl ine charging, dynamic content-based charging, convergent charging & billing. These technologies will give new perspectives for developing the charging enabler of OMA, and they are expected to facilitate the deployment of new mobile services more effectively and with shorter time to market.
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Editor: Zhou Huajiao [email protected]
COVER STORY
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COVER STORY
APR 2008 . ISSUE 4011
Get ready for convergent billing
Get ready for convergent billingBy Wang Wei
Online changing, online charging
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Huawei Technologies
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he fast-changing telecom industry has recently seen countless new services and user experiences come onto the scene. Operators worldwide are trying to keep
up with continuously emerging services and booming subscriber numbers that pose unprecedented challenges to network charging systems.
Finding answers to the fo l lowing two-par t question may very well determine their future market competitiveness. What’s the best way to implement powerful real-time charging for a variety of new services? How to build a convergent billing system for future network support of personalized tariff packages and multi-service convergence?
The traditional prepaid intelligent network (IN) systems and post-paid billing systems, for many telecom operators, have been treading turbulent waters due to the significant changes in billing, diversified and personalized subscriber requirements and red-hot competition in the marketplace. In such a fierce environment, the introduction of a convergent billing solution can turn the tables in the operator’s favor.
The convergent billing solution breaks through the barriers of traditional vertical charging/billing systems and enables unified online charging for all subscribers and all services. Operators can then quickly provide services and win greater market shares. Increasingly more operators have started reconstructing their existing charging systems with the online charging system (OCS). It has gradually become the core of the convergent billing revolution, and opened the floodgates to a rising tide of construction worldwide.
Traditional IN stepped downMany operators may have came across this situation:
The marketing staff has proposed some innovative promotional offers, especially for prepaid market, yet they are disappointed by the technical team because the existing charging system does not support these schemes, and the equipment vendor must be found for software development or reconstruction.
Then after the technical task is completed, the ephemeral market opportunity has evaporated. Marketing strategies are almost always restricted by the limited capabilities of the existing charging systems.
When a telecom market is in its early phase, operators should focus on rapid expansion of the user base. Major efforts are needed to ensure correct and timely charging, system stability, and system interoperability. At the time, the intelligent network (IN) is a core system for operators to serve prepaid subscribers, owing to its design philosophy highlighting the separation of services and switching, standard
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interface specifications, and carrier-class network reliability. The traditional IN encounters more and more challenges in the ever-changing market environment as the market constantly grows.
Unable to support all-service charging
The IN was introduced at a time when voice services exclusively dominated the market. As a result, IN specifications did not cover many new services that appeared later. To support the charging interface for the new services, IN vendors normally adopt proprietary protocols in their existing systems, giving little thought to creating any unified industrial specifications. This makes it difficult for the IN to interconnect with other systems. The IN can neither be used to charge for new services with ease, nor meet the operational requirements for unified online charging for all services, especially in network environments with multiple service platforms from different vendors.
Complicated and closed service development mode
The early market environment featured simple service types and simple classification o f s u b s c r i b e r g ro u p s , a n d s e r v i c e requirements were also relatively simple and independent. Now they are substantially more complicated and interdependent.
Since early hardware platforms were expensive and enabled only l imited performance, the IN adopted the hard coding mode to solidify numerous service processes and improve system performance. As service requirements become more and more diversified, constant software modifications are needed, which makes the service innovation quite complex.
Moreover, the marketing staff cannot use IN capabilities to directly cater to customer needs in face of the technical complexity, leading to a markedly more intensified contradiction between closed system capabilities and exponentially growing charging requirements.
Slow TTM
Based on the ha rd cod ing mode
o r i en t ed to s e r v i c e p roc e s s e s , t h e traditional IN observes the version period and online processes of the network system and always at most, releases two or three new versions each year.
Currently in the telecom market, new products have much shorter lifecycles and target more specific and niche subscriber groups. An operator might have to work out a new marketing plan each month, or even each week, and under these conditions, the traditional IN can barely keep up with the changes.
In the particular historical phases of market development, the traditional prepaid IN played an important role in real-time charging. In the new subscriber-oriented market model with diversified requirements , the tradit ional IN is restricted by its network equipment-based service development and system management modes.
The post-paid billing system is also struggling to overcome hurdles similar to the traditional IN. Although efforts have been made to improve system flexibility and shorten the charging processing duration, the post-paid billing system can hardly effectively handle ever-growing real-time charging requirements.
OCS answers the call
The convergent billing system is a next-generation, whole-network billing solution and has gradually become a major trend in technical evolution and market development. The core of the convergent billing system is the OCS.
The OCS specifications from the 3GPP define the positions and functions of the OCS, as well as the external interfaces of the OCS with the core network and service network elements (NEs).
However, the OCS specification covers only the system function framework and interconnections, excluding the internal platform architecture, technique realization mechanism, and specific capabilities of the system.
A system meeting only OCS specifications can hardly become a real next-generation solution. To address the future challenges, OCS should meet the following three
objectives:
Unified charging engine for all services
The traditional IN provides real-time charging capabilities only to prepaid subscr ibers . The tradit ional bi l l ing system is always offline based on CDR file processing. It handles non real-time charging requirements, and its charging execution process is not directly involved in service application control. The OCS is oriented to all subscriber types and service types, offers unified online charging and online control capabilities and can be used as a unified charging engine for all network services, making it a core basis for convergent billing in the network.
Rapidly boosted marketing capabilities
Both the traditional IN and the billing system are somewhat passive support systems for market promotion with the limited charging capabilities.
The OCS o f f e r s unpre c eden t ed f lexibi l i ty and extendibi l i ty, or you could say, gives the ball to the marketing department to run with it. With the OCS, the marketing department can really explore network resource potentials and the desires of subscribers, to create personalized and feasible promotion s t ra teg ie s that meet the market ing objectives.
Versatile system infrastructure
The OCS has abstracted major objects of all charging processes as the pillars of its infrastructure and adopts customer-oriented design ideas. It is based on a model that separates subscribers from accounts as well as features an off-the-shelf product management mode. It completely breaks away from the traditional offline hard coding development mode based on service flow. This leads to a stable but versatile system infrastructure, which enables online tari f f configurations through rule-driven engine technology, and the product launch period is greatly shortened.
Get ready for convergent billing
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Seizing earlier market opportunities
Innovating tariff policies is much easier, simpler and more effective than innovating service functions. Suppose that end users receive SMSs from the mobile operator, informing them that since they have used the network for 300 days, their recharge value on that day would be doubled as a bonus, and they would be entitled to new discounts on each 100th day thereafter. Most likely they would be happy to keep the subscription and tell their friends what a great deal it is.
Although various bells and whistles influence some customers, price is usually the most important considerations when subscribers make their final choices.
Ma n y o p e r a t o r s s h ow f a r m o re enthusiasm towards new services than towards tariff policies when choosing from the two core parts of communications products, namely services (including tangible applications and intangible customer care) and pricing. As a matter of fact, to satisfy the value perceptions of different subscribers, it is faster and more cost-effective for operators to adjust tariff policies than to modify product functions and services.
The communications market might be the most complicated and flexible in product pricing among all the consumable industries. Its billing system can offer superb flexibility and a much wider billing space, as to be detailed below.
Based on real applications
Due to the deve lopment o f new communications technologies, wide-range penetration of the Internet, and explosive growth of service innovations, telecom product pricing is much more diversified. In addit ion to the tradit ional bas ic elements, such as call duration, frequency and traffic, there are a variety of new elements including: location, bearer type, access channel, multi-service association, contents, and revenue distribution in the value chain, etc.
Based on customer segmentation
As market competition heats up, end users can be segmented not only according to their ages, occupations and income, but also according to cultures, nationalities and behavioral patterns and so on. The operator can then accurately work out differentiated pricing policies based on customer segmentation.
Based on various occasions
Promotion offers can also be implemented from periodic holidays for whole customer base, to some particular local events for a group of users, or even to the status of a single user. For example, a subscriber can be charged according to how long he/she has used the service, or accumulation of usage, even based on his/her birthday.
By flexibly using these widely ranged factors and source materials, the operator can create differentiated pricing policies that meet market needs while increasing customer satisfaction and generating word-of-mouth advertising. In this way, operators can be proactive in the battle with changing market environments, and interwork with subscribers in real time, to achieve the marketing targets, while improving subscriber experiences.
Worldwide commercial successes
Pre s e n t l y, t h e O C S s o l u t i o n i s quite technically mature. It has helped many operators to accumulate valuable experience, strengthen competitiveness and win in their respective markets.
Successful operat ions remain the biggest concern for operators. “What we need is not a new technology, but a practical scheme that can be integrated into the existing network environment,” said Shane Logan, the Director of Service Architecture, Telus, Canada.
A couple of years ago, operators were wondering whether or not they needed the OCS, but now many of them are busy figuring out how they could implement the OCS in their existing networks.
In different network environments, different measures should be taken to
implement the OCS. A new operator can construct the
OCS or even a comprehensive convergent billing network directly.
If their existing charging systems possess strong technical capabilities and market performance, some operators can reconstruct their existing networks to make the networks evolve to the OCS. Other operators might need to adopt a new OCS to replace the existing systems if they will not support evolution.
China Mobile Guangdong, in Southern China has constructed the world’s largest mobile IN. To realize convergent billing, China Mobile Guangdong planned to gradually integrate existing prepaid and post-paid systems into the new solution.
I n A p r i l 2 0 0 7 , C h i n a Mo b i l e Guangdong completed reconstructing the existing IN and deployed the first commercial OCS in the world which meets 3GPP specifications and paved the way towards large-scale evolution for existing INs. Their efforts were soon rewarded. By offering more flexible tariff policies, China Mobile Guangdong has won a bigger market share and provides outstanding service to more than 80 million subscribers.
Etisalat, the largest multinational mobile operator in the Middle East, adopted a unified convergent billing system with the OCS as the core while constructing a new network in Nigeria. The system is able to cover the charging and billing requirements for all subscribers and services. According to experts in the telecom industry, new networks have for the most part discarded the traditional mode of constructing the IN and the billing system separately, and adopted the convergent billing scheme with the OCS as the core. As a result, these new operators can provide network services quickly and lower the TCO greatly.
To date, the telecom industry has witnessed overwhelming success through commercial applications of the OCS. Operators f rom more than a dozen countries in Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa are integrating the OCS in their networks, and increasingly more are welcoming their debut.
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China Mobile’s money spinnerBy Chen Weiyong & Zhang Dongsheng
t C h i n a M o b i l e ’s 2 0 0 7 Scientific & Technological Achievement and Serv ice I n n ov a t i o n Aw a rd s t h i s
January, China Mobile Guangdong’s online charging system (OCS) project c a m e s e c o n d i n t h e S c i e n t i f i c & Technological Achievement category. Among China Mobile’s subsidiaries, China Mobile Guangdong has proved exemplary as a pioneer in service innovation and brand building. The company currently serves 80 million subscribers who, in 2007, stimulated revenues exceeding RMB60 billion (USD8.45 billion).
IN’s early market successAs one of China’s most developed
regions, Guangdong has long formed a competitive hub attracting mobile operators.
Though China Mobile Guangdong enjoys an advantageous competitive position, its elevated status has been hard won and reflects many years of strenuous effort. In 1999, the General Manager of China Mobile Guangdong led a team to Europe to learn from European operators. In Italy, the team was amazed at Telecom Italia Mobile’s (TIM) runaway success in the prepaid service field. At the time, TIM was supporting nearly 13 million prepaid subscribers - 77% of its total subscriber base. In comparison, China Mobile Guangdong was supporting 5.9 million subscribers, all of whom were under subscription terms. As this subscription mode set a threshold that was too high for many people, it served to hinder the scale increase in subscriber numbers.
During their trip, the team found that the prepaid mode best catered to Guangdong. Detai led subscriber information and monthly rental were not
required under prepaid terms. Subscribers simply joined the network via an advance payment. This reduced time spent waiting to arrange services, afforded individuals greater financial management control, and facilitated nation-wide roaming. These characteristics nicely satisfied the requirements of many for temporary and confidential services, and were particularly suited to Guangdong, given the province’s high proportion of migrant and transient workers.
Soon after its European trip, China Mobile Guangdong began researching prepaid service technology and initiated cooperation with Huawei to develop an intelligent network (IN)-based prepaid service. Shortly afterwards, China Mobile Guangdong launched Easyown, its first prepaid service brand. This was followed by M-zone and Easyown Public Card, which became household names almost overnight, and garnered enormous market success. Since then, the number of prepaid subscribers has been increasing at an explosive speed.
The IN prepaid sys tem has been i n s t r u m e n t a l t o C h i n a M o b i l e Guangdong’s extraordinary development over the past few years, and has helped secure its leading position in China’s telecom operation’s field. Of its four major brands - GoTone, Easyown, Easyown Public Card and M-zone - three are IN-based prepaid services. At present, China Mobile Guangdong supports 70 million prepaid subscribers, and this level of success confirms that the IN has emerged as a valuable money-spinner for China Mobile Guangdong.
The world’s first OCS Ti m e h a s g r e a t l y c h a n g e d t h e
circumstances of the IN. Financial risks and challenges have increased with the development of data services such as short message services (SMS), wireless a p p l i c a t i o n p ro t o c o l ( WA P ) , a n d multimedia messaging services (MMS). Although the IN system offers mature real-time charging capabilities in terms of voice
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Get ready for convergent billing
Huawei Technologies
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services, it is broadly unable to support the real-time charging of data services.
In China Mobi le Guangdong’s ex i s t ing network, the post-paid charging capability is supported through the charging system, while the prepaid capability is enabled through the IN. Quick service development, however, has rendered this different system support mode insufficient to meet market requirements, especially when subscribers transfer between brands. Unified operations and management should be implemented for prepaid and post-paid subscribers across the network.
Consequently, China Mobile Guangdong decided to construct an OCS system and selected its Jiangmen branch to initiate an OCS trial in November 2006. With its renowned pioneering spirit, China Mobile Guangdong began to enter the operation support arena.
The OCS completely inherits real-time service experiences for IN prepaid subscribers and provides richer services and functions. These include cross-brand number portability (NP), real-time MMS charge collection, real-time charging for diversified combinations of data services, and expense deduction and recharging through banks. The OCS supports flexible marketing schemes, and aligns a unified subscriber-oriented service operation support system and a unified support mode with services for GoTone, Easyown and M-zone.
In April 2007, the world’s first OCS began operating in Jiangmen of Guangdong, China. A total of 3.9 million subscribers who were using Easyown, Easyown Public Card or M-zone, were transferred from the IN to the OCS. The new system has been running stably since the cutover. Afterwards, other branches of China Mobile Guangdong, such as Yangjiang Branch, Maoming Branch, and Zhanjiang Branch, successively moved their Easyown and M-zone services to the OCS and realized commercial use. So far, the OCS subscriber base of China Mobile Guangdong has exceeded 10 million. Subsidiaries in Dongguan, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen are going to complete their OCS system cutover and go-live in 2008. China Mobile Guangdong is anticipated to see another peak in the OCS development. The OSC has taken its place as a new money-spinner after the IN prepaid system.
The smooth implementation of the OCS trial further increased China Mobile Guangdong’s confidence. Since then, the operator has been promoting and transferr ing more prepaid subscribers to its OCS. The successful commercial application of the world’s first OCS by China Mobile Guangdong has attracted the attention of other operators throughout the world.
Mobile-8 embraced convergent billing
ndonesia is famous both for its island composition and, in telecom terms, for its extremely competitive mobile communications market. Mobile-8, an Indonesian CDMA operator, found that the development of its
existing network’s charging system could no longer keep pace with the market needs.
Equipment in Mobile-8’s network had been supplied by multiple vendors. For this reason, the existing network’s charging network was neither standard nor could it adopt the industry’s nascent charging interface. It was difficult to extend the charging function through private interfaces, and some new services were implemented through patch modules. As a result, Mobile-8 was unable to quickly release new tariff policies and as a result failed to exploit numerous market opportunities.
The complicated architecture of Mobile-8’s existing network was highly expensive in terms of manpower. For example, IN equipment was maintained by the IN maintenance department; billing equipment by the charging department; SMS/WAP/GRPS online charging by the VAS department, and so on. Faced with such complexity and the corresponding problems, Mobile-8 became anxious for an end-to-end charging solution that could enable its prepaid subscribers to use all post-paid services and offered swift and efficient marketing support.
After a number of comparisons and much reasoning, Mobile-8 elected convergent billing as the necessary and inevitable charging system solution to facilitate new service provision. Having chosen to replace the overall subscriber charging system, Mobile-8 and Huawei signed a five-year agreement on December 20, 2006 covering delivery and the technical support for a convergent billing solution. Given
By Zhao Yao
I
Mobile 8’s total investment has already been recouped
and, based on its convergent billing platform, the company
remains determined to achieve even greater future market
success.
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40
COVER STORY
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40
market conditions, Mobile-8 stipulated that Huawei must supply the solution for commercial application within 6 months, half the usual lead time for similar projects.
Unlike traditional IN or charging schemes, a convergent billing project involves a multitude of technologies and numerous customer-oriented departments. It is hugely demanding in terms of specifications, scheme design and project delivery. In order to meet the tight deadline, engineers from both companies worked round the clock.
A precondition for high-quality delivery is clear specifications. To ensure that Mobile-8’s requirements were accurately understood, Huawei dispatched five R&D liaison teams to facilitate direct communication. More than 20 experts from both companies attended two large-scale seminars, thus demonstrating the importance each attached to the project.
Mobile 8’s exist ing charging system was highly complicated, adopting 13 standard protocols, 12 private protocols, and 8 external bill interconnection requirements. Based on the mastery of various protocols and the openness of Huawei’s convergent billing solution, the company’s specialists quickly completed a field survey spanning protocols, data sampling and version development. In only a month, Huawei developed components for primary cutover of the existing IN, the recharging platform, the billing, customer relationship management (CRM), the contact center, the IP charging gateway, content management, and the data warehouse. Moreover, interconnections with 20 components in the existing network were simultaneously undertaken and completed.
On January 24, 2007, the interoperability test (IOT) was carried out, and on May 8, internal subscriber cutover was implemented. Each pre-cutover resembled a triathlon: project staff began preparations between 7 and 8 p.m., cutover was achieved at midnight, and testing took place at 4 a.m..
After continued practice over many sleepless nights, the system was finally cut over. On June 27, 2007, the new charging system was formally deployed, and over 4 million prepaid and post-paid subscribers transferred to the new system. With the new system’s sustained subscriber experience, stable operation and enhanced key performance indicator (KPI), Mobile-8 has fulfilled actual charging system convergence.
Doing so has strengthened Mobile-8’s marketing activities. The continual release of new tariff packages and promotions has attracted increasing number of subscribers. Within the first month after deployment, it attracted nearly 800,000 new subscribers, followed by nearly 1 million more in the second month. By late December 2007, Mobile-8’s total subscriber base had already exceeded 7 million, and it has continued to grow ever since.
Mobile 8’s total investment has already been recouped and, based on its convergent billing platform, the company remains determined to achieve even greater future market success.
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Get ready for convergent billing
Huawei Technologies
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40 18
Link
Dec 19, 2007Huawei Technology Co., LtdC/O PT. Huawei Tech InvestmentBRJ II Building, 20th Floor, Suite 2005JI. Jend. Sudirman Kav. 44-46Jakarta 10210, Indonesia
Dear Huawei IN&CCBS Team:
We would like to thank ALL members of Huawei IN&CCBS who have supported and continue to support Mobile-8 IN&CCBS.
We wish to convey our deep appreciation to Huawei for having carried out the IN&CCBS Implementation and Migration, and supporting us in our operations.
Again, I wish to say a big “THANK YOU” as, during the implementation phase, the Huawei team worked very hard towards achieving the target set by this challenging project. I can attest to the many sleepless nights that the Huawei and Mobile-8 teams experienced in order to carry out Phase 1 of this project - they worked, ate and slept in the Mobile-8 work area.
This and many other instances since then have demonstrated the close co-operation and sense of camaraderie that exist between the Mobile-8 and Huawei teams; and have proven that both parties can work together as an excellent team.
We believe that Huawei is a trustworthy partner and we are looking forward to a long, continuous, and mutually beneficial relationship with Huawei, as they continue to offer the extensive support that they have provided to date.
Keep up the good work!
Yours sincerely,Somanathan MenonChief Information Officer
A Thank-You letter from the CIO of Mobile-8
COVER STORY
APR 2008 . ISSUE 4019
hurdles fire and ice By Yan Huiyan
hile not made of ice per se , Iceland s i ts in the nor th of the At lant ic c l o s e t o t h e A r c t i c
Circle. It offers a magical mixture of fire and ice via the many glaciers, volcanoes, waterfalls, fountains and deserts that dot this relatively small territory.
With a population of only 300,000 and the highest mobile penetration rate in Europe at 80%, Iceland used to be the battleground for just two mobile operators, Vodafone and Siminn. Using Nova as its market brand, Novator entered Iceland as its third mobile operator in late 2006, holding the first 3G license issued by the nation.
In a country with an almost saturated mobile penetration rate, the mobile market is as harsh as its arctic glaciers. Being new to this market, Novator encountered a host of difficulties.
To successfully penetrate the market, Nova to r h ad t o an swe r numerou s questions: How can Novator swiftly catch its competitors? What is the most effective way to build up and prepare an operational environment in the shortest possible timeframe? How can Novator’s differentiated capabilities be effectively showcased in the market? What are the most effective methods to launch
competitive and attractive tariff packages that rapidly attract subscribers? What is the best way to quickly provide new services and reduce launch durations? Given Iceland’s expensive labor costs, how can an end-to-end service support capability be set up that maximally decreases operation and maintenance (O&M) costs, and improves operational efficiency and benefits?
Novator soon found its way. “For telecom consumers, consumption in Iceland is very high, and new services are launched slowly,” stated Tomas Hansson, a department head for Novator. Based on this analysis, Novator’s major marketing strategy was to offer innovative 3G services and competitive tariff policies.
In order to quickly provide 3G services and tariff schemes oriented to various subscriber groups, Novator had to adopt a charging system that quickly responded to market needs. For Novator, both the traditional prepaid IN and post-paid billing systems were deficient in technical architecture and service support. Moreover, the simultaneous construction of two systems would necessitate huge investment, a long lead time, high future O&M costs, and difficulty in achieving unified operations. Being a new operator unburdened by an existing network, Novator decided to
undertake network construction using the latest and most reliable solution: convergent charging. Oriented to every network service, the solution charged all subscribers online through the OCS, coupled with a unified business system to realize whole-process operations.
In early 2007, Novator selected Huawei as its end-to-end 3G integrated solution provider. In the subsequent 10 months, Huawei helped Novator complete service and network planning, service platform construction, and the network convergent billing system.
December 1, 2007 marked the formal commercia l izat ion of Novator’s 3G network. The NOVA brand network provides a rich collection of mobile services spanning voice, SMS, MMS, general packet radio service (GPRS), video, and mobile Internet. With competitive tariff packages, NOVA quickly attracted many new subscribers, among whom one third were number portability (NP) subscribers from other networks. With the success of NOVA, Novator finally made a key breakthrough in Iceland’s mobile communications market.
The OCS can be described as the major accelerating force for NOVA from the very beginning.
NOVA
COVER STORY
W
Huawei Technologies
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40 20
’s new account bookBy Zhang Hui
IS is Thailand’s largest mobile operator with more than 23 million subscribers, 90% of whom use prepaid services.
During the company’s development, the intelligent network (IN) solution significantly contributed to improving bus ines s opera t ions and a t t rac t ing subscribers.
Wishing to quickly expand its market share, AIS adopted Huawei’s mobile IN (MIN) solution in late 2000. Since then, the system’s capacity has been expanded eight times to cater for traffic increases, and now supports 23 million subscribers, up from just 1 million in 2000. Regarding IN to AIS support, Chaiwat Suttenon, AIS’s IN department Director stated: “Huawei’s IN system is stable, reliable, and quick in its response.”
Technological development has increased both new services and competition among operators. To respond to the fiercely competitive market, the charging system must flexibly and quickly support new services, while ensuring system stability and reliability. Faced with an array of new challenges, AIS has been optimizing its traditional IN and adding new functions. However, functional optimization cannot completely solve existing problems, and
the IN platform architecture is unable to fur ther adapt to the new market environment.
AIS’s existing network comprises an IN system for pre-paid voice services, a billing system for post-paid services, and a value-added service control point (VSCP) system for data services. Whenever AIS’s marketing department intended to release a marketing or promotion plan oriented to all subscribers, modifications had to be made in all three systems before release due to the different charging capabilities of each. As a result, the process was difficult and slow, which hindered AIS achieve timely market gains.
AIS decided to reconstruct its existing charg ing sys tem’s a rch i tec ture and operation mode. It began researching and trialing convergent billing. An analysis of recent years’ revenues revealed that to AIS that its income from data services had been increasing yearly. The implementation of real-time data service-charging in order to minimize losses became an urgent task. Moreover, AIS were keen to bundle voice and data services into a package and rapidly launch corresponding tariff packages.
After considerable research and trials, AIS determined that the online charging
system (OCS) was a necessary stage in IN development, and that the IN must evolve to the OCS in order to support continuous and rapid service development. The OCS can support charging for voice, data and combined voice/data services in various scenarios. It is also able to implement real-time control over call fees and credit, and support future service development.
The OCS can also real ize pricing and charging for real-time messages and offline bills. Its high flexibility enables the launch of a new marketing plan in days or weeks rather than months. The stability, reliability and openness of the OCS allow it to be conveniently integrated into third-party and IT systems. It enables a subscriber to use various payment modes, for example, time segment, service type or credit.
After careful preparation, AIS began constructing its OCS in early 2007, and selected Huawei to construct its OCS to facilitate IN to OCS evolution, after evaluating the functions, performance, flexibility, openness and reliability of the Huawei solution. The system is currently being trialed internally and is expected to be formally commercialized in June 2008.
AIS
Editor: Xu Peng [email protected]
A
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40
Independent yet cooperative
riven by telecom, Internet and media convergence, Huawei’s Application & Software Product Line has
transformed into Huawei Software Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Software). Underpinned by a history
that focuses on value added services (VASs), what is Huawei Software’s mission? What are the new features
embodied in its business scope, business model and organization structure? To answer these questions, Cynthia Leung, a
senior analyst at Ovum, interviewed two key members, Dr. Che Haiping, Head of Huawei Software, and Guo Yajun, Head
of Marketing.
By Cynthia Leung from Ovum
D
21
Responding to transformation
Cynthia: What is Huawei’s current situation regarding VAS and telecom software?
Che Haiping: The pace of telecom, Internet and media convergence is accelerating while basic telecom service development is slowing down, such as the voice service. Even with a vast variety of VAS
opportunities, premium services remain underdeveloped and have limited availability. Telecom
operators are now facing great challenges in terms of service development, i n c l u d i n g h o w t o effectively exploit new
market and transform their services.
As reflected by our network and service so lut ions , H u a w e i h a s l o n g sought to r e s p o n d to telecom
operators by fully understanding their needs and challenges. In light of the industry convergence trend, we must focus on individual, household and enterprise users and collate information regarding their communication needs. This will stimulate innovation in both applications and business models, enriching the service experience as a whole.
The strategic mission of Huawei Software is to assist operators successfully transform their commercial operations. To achieve this, Huawei has designed Huawei Software with a relatively independent and flexible business operation approach. This allows us to proactively explore service convergence so as to produce better results for operators and their future transformation.
Huawei Software is dedicated to R&D in the areas of VASs and operation support systems. We’ve deployed products in 126 countries for 354 operators, and have established strategic partnerships with seven of the world’s top ten operators. We now serve 28 of the world’s top 50 operators.
Close cooperation between operators and Huawei can help both parties meet the challenges brought about by industry convergence. Innovations in services and business models can be jointly made to realize business transformation. For example, with respect to contact center-based information services and mobile ads, Huawei Software has
INTERVIEW
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40
Dr. Che Haiping, Head of Huawei Software: Our key objective is to construct a life-style infrastructure for the future society. This involves assisting operators put together the architecture capable of restructuring people’s life and work styles, and so we’re determined to become a major partnership driving force.
In addit ion, European operators such as Vodafone and Telefonica are increasingly focusing on VAS and have been cooperating with us in this field since 2007. Both are keen to introduce into Europe the VASs that are common in the Asia-Pacific region, as European VAS revenues still constitute a small percentage of total income.
Transformation in today’s convergence climate is inevitable. This is why Huawei h a s f a c i l i t a t ed Huawe i So f twa re’s independent operation structure. It also forms a strategic transformation direction into which further investment will flow.
Cooperation in the multi-vendor environment
Cynthia: Does Huawei Software form any alliance with partners in the industry? Some vendors such as Alcatel-Lucent have a multi-vendor strategy. The trend is also to separate the service layer and the network layer. What is Huawei’s view on this phenomenon?
Che Haiping: My understanding is that operators are shifting towards a multi-vendor environment by separating the service layer and the network layer. This means the network provider and the service provider may belong to two independent companies. Recent years has also seen Huawei moving in the multi-vendor direction. Many of our services
including intelligent network (IN), short message service center (SMSC) and ring back tone (RBT) system are interoperable and compatible with different vendors’ core networks.
Cynthia: If the backend of a service platform requires connection to other vendors’ BSS and OSS, do you have any other partners?
Che Haiping: Huawei Software’s equipment is able to interconnect with the core networks of Huawei, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia-Siemens, and more. The IT industry provides a fully open cooperative environment in which major IT vendors such as SIEBEL, Convergys, IBM, and HP are our partners.
Cynthia: The interoperability just mentioned no longer belongs to the software development domain. Instead, it’s a professional service. Is Huawei Software capable of system integration? I’ve learned recently that Huawei has a professional service division. Is this a business organization within Huawei Software, or another business unit of Huawei?
Che Haiping: Huawei Software is capable of system integration. We need to deliver this alongside system engineering, interconnectivity with the network and backend IT systems. In this way, with our service layer solutions, we can help operators to provide end-to-end services.
The department you mentioned forms
22
adopted a creative business model that includes innovative platform partnerships with operators, customized iterative development, and auxiliary operations. This shortens the time-to-market for new services, and reduces operators’ investment risks.
Cynthia: Is investing more in software service and spinning out the software division an operational model that forms a current industry trend?
Che Haiping: Yes. We’ve noticed the emergence of various concepts and acquisitions by vendors such as Ericsson and Nokia. We’ve also expressed similar views regarding the convergence of telecom, Internet and media, and have noticed that companies including Microsoft and Google are actively entering into the telecom field. They have already set up relatively independent or total ly independent business units responsible for exploring and carrying out convergent services trials.
Guo Yajun: VASs a re becoming increasingly important for operators’ further development. For example, China Mobile has attached great importance to its overall VAS strategy. It has emerged as the leader in various VAS fields, including mobile newspaper subscriber numbers, SMS services and their revenue, as well as color ring back tone (CRBT) penetration rate and its corresponding revenue. Incorporating message, music and media, these new services now account for 25.7% of China Mobile’s revenue.
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40
another business unit of Huawei and is named Huawei Technical Service Co., Ltd. (Huawei Service), which was originally called the Global Technical Support (GTS) division. Besides providing basic services such as engineering installation and daily maintenance, Huawei Service also explores new services and business models as part of its transformation process. Huawei Service’s focus embodies managed services for the network.
Cynthia: That means Huawei Service provides services at the network plane, for example switch installation and professional services on the network layer. Does Huawei Software provide services at the service layer?
Che Haiping: Yes, we do, and also at the operation support layer. Huawei Service and Huawei Software are two independent business units that closely collaborate on many projects. For instance, in some turnkey projects for operators with new licenses, Huawei provides solutions for transport layer, access layer, service layer, core network, as well as operation support systems. Huawei Software, meanwhile , provides the end-to-end system integrated solutions.
Guo Yajun: Hong Kong’s PCCW is a typical example. In this case, Huawei Software and Huawei Service jointly deliver fully integrated 3G services on the PCCW network.
Constructing TELEWEB 2.0 architecture
Cynthia: I’d like to learn about your views on WEB 2.0. Some independent software vendors are devoted to helping operators develop applications. The WEB 2.0 concept suggests that the more developers, the better, as this will increase application development resources. For a large company such as Huawei, an expedient model may be to utilize large numbers of small-scale developers. What’s your view?
Che Haiping: My opinion about WEB 2.0 mirrors what you just said. We’re now in a convergent telecom, Internet and media environment. China Mobile, for instance, refers to mobile phones as a “fifth media”, and has restructured its network to become a media network rather than remaining to be a simple communications network.
Across the industry, people give different names to WEB 2.0, including TELCO 2.0 and COMMUNICATE 2.0. The core implication is that Internet and telecom services have emerged as integral parts of people’s daily lives. On this basis, both life and
work-style architectures need to be established, and these differ from operators’ existing network structure. Specifically, I’m referring to a technology framework that may affect and change an individual’s way of life, work and communication. After an open technology framework is constructed, many small application developers can freely use it to create services that enrich people’s personal and professional lives, as well as means of communication.
Operators such as BT and China Mobile are implementing initiatives to transform to TELCO 2.0. This, combined with WEB 2.0, creates TELEWEB 2.0. TELEWEB 2.0 requires partners to jointly build an open architecture. Just as today’s Internet architecture is open, TELEWEB 2.0 is capable of providing mash-up, user generated content/service (UGC/UGS) and social networking service (SNS). Telecom networks have some inherent advantages, but they are insuff ic ient ly open for fur ther exploration. This is why operators are focusing upon industry convergence.
In the current business environment, Huawei is prepared to help operators build TELEWEB 2.0 architecture. Via TELEWEB 2.0, we can provide some of our own services and applications. More importantly, we will encourage our partners to provide a rich variety of services and applications on this open service platform.
Cynthia: Who are Huawei Software’s current business partners?
Che Haiping: We began our inTouch partnership program in 2004, and to date we have over 300 domestic and overseas partners, including CPs and SPs. One partner is Hong Kong’s Wireless Development Center (WDC). Last year, our partners showcased many new and highly innovative 3G services in the Partnership Conference held in Hong Kong. Together with operators and our partners, we fully intend to steer these applications to the market for user evaluation.
Our key objective is to construct a life-style infrastructure for the future society. This involves assisting operators put together the architecture capable of restructuring people’s life and work styles, and so we’re determined to become a major partnership driving force. In addition, we’ll cooperate with third parties to enrich this architecture by bringing in different content. This will establish a large, well-managed “supermarket” consisting of software applications that will enable a perfect match between end users’ needs and offered content. Eventually, end users will be able to quickly find, purchase and experience enhanced services.
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Editor: Chen Yuhong [email protected]
MEDIA INSIGHT
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40
China Mobile has been using its business analysis support system (BASS) to explore the huge potential of BI technology.
By Huang Hua
24APR 2008 . ISSUE 40
MAIN TOPIC
BIBusiness Intelligence empowering your brain
hang Ping, a sophomore at Shenzhen
University in Southern China, likes
the latest and most popular ring
back tones (RBT), but because of high service
charges he had not changed it for months.
Right before Christmas 2007, Zhang Ping
received the following text message: “Dear Sir/
Madam: You have not changed your ring back
tone for quite some time. If you have been using
the RBT service for three consecutive months,
you can change your music in the fourth month
for only RMB5 (USD0.71). You are also entitled
to a free upgrade to senior membership in the
Wireless Music Club. Select a number from the
following and send it back to immediately change
your music: 1. Has Anyone Ever Told You? 2. The
Left Side 3. Faraway 4.The Old Man and the Sea.”
Zhang Ping chose a number and changed
his RBT right away. This scenario shows how
a marketing activity works at China Mobile.
To put the brakes on decreasing RBT change
rate, the operator’s BASS analyzes marketing
data for the past 6 months, detects patterns
in ring tone changes and targets marketing to
increase revenue.
Z
MAIN TOPIC
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40
Business Intelligence empowering your brain
Launched as early as 1996, BI is usually thought of as a tool that converts existing enterprise data into practical knowledge to assist enterprises in making informed business decisions. BI features integration of services, information, personnel, processes and technologies. It is related to a wide range of subjects including: social science, popular psychology, management s c i ence , marke t ing , s t a t i s t i c s , and information technology (IT).
At present, BI is stepping into a new era. A Gartner survey shows that from 2000 to 2004, security investments topped IT spending in enterprises. BI, which was in the 14th position on the enterprise expenditure list in 2000, jumped to the first place in 2007. The proportion is still on the rise, and by 2009, investment in BI software could reach USD3.4 billion.
The Chinese telecom industry has referenced the experiences in many developed countries and avoided a lot of mistakes in BI development. As a result, BI has been developed in China from the outset with the most advanced schemes and rapid R&D. China Mobile’s BASS is a good example of using cutting edge BI technology for business analysis, assistant operations, and information operations.
Original value in business analysis
During routine operations, China Mobile needs to quickly understand the enterprise operation status and master business development trends to make corresponding decisions and take sound action based on solid information.
Huawei’s BASS provides a unified business view to China Mobile. The key performance indicator (KPI) service monitoring subsystem gives warnings for key service indexes such as, subscriber quantity, traffic, revenue, average rate per user (ARPU), and average minutes of usage (MOU). If no response is received in a set period of time, the subsystem will send alarms through text messages, multimedia messages, emails, wireless application protocol (WAP) terminals, and TV terminals. People can then get real-time
information of services wherever they are.The KPI service monitoring subsystem
also provides many analytical modes, including report analysis and task tracing. Employees can learn the details of key services and locate alarms through ranking analysis, tendency analysis, comparative analysis and various reports. In-depth analysis on faults can be assessed along with key service details and the location of alarms by using fixed reports and online analytical processing (OLAP). Solutions can then be implemented to pinpoint the source of faults in the system, and keep them from repeating, thereby increasing stability and profitability.
Prime value in assistant operations
Once the KPI service monitoring subsystem generates an alarm and exposes an operational fault, efforts should be made to find the best solution. The analysis is then executed to improve operations.
Take the RBT service as an example. The RBT service is a new service targeting
25
subscribers that desire individuality. To gain more profits and expand markets, new subscribers are required.
This is how China Mobile used the BI technology to expand their subscriber base.
After analyzing and exploring data in the subscriber grouping model and the RBT-correlation model, China Mobile decided that for different RBT user groups, different marketing schemes should be used. The marketing schemes include providing rich RBT content, tied-in sales of preferential services, and enticing new subscribers to order the RBT service.
China Mobile adopted a series of specific marketing strategies. They bundled the RBT service and basic monthly service charge into a single package, and offered free concert tickets for pre-paid RBT, and DIY RBT. Rich service content, such as the RBT Music Box and the Wireless Music Club, are also offered as incentives. Personalized RBTs were provided to groups to retain group and individual users within the groups. And top RBT downloads are recommended to the existing subscribers.
After the marketing scheme is worked out, the marketing person starts designing marketing activities through the BASS campaign management platform (CMP). The act iv i t ies are submitted to the managing department for review through the workflow enabled by the system, and the result is immediately returned to the designated marketing activity performers.
After receiving a task, the marketing person selects an execution channel (such as the business system, customer service system, key account manager, and other electronic channels) for the activity in the CMP subsystem. The selected execution channel will receive marketing activity requirements, and a list of marketing objectives. Sales staff, customer service personnel, and key account managers then can execute the marketing activities through such means as business contacts, outgoing calls, emails, and customer care services.
The execution results and customer feedback will be written in the BASS. The CMP subsystem will evaluate the activity model and marketing effects according t o th e i n fo rma t i on and f e edback . Evaluation results are used to optimize the
China Mobile has applied the BI technology in a rich variety of fields, not only in single services such as the RBT, but also in customer acquisition, customer retention, revenue assurance, income stimulation, tariff combination & optimization, campaign management, channel optimization, and customer service quality improvement.
Huawei Technologies
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40
analysis model and marketing activities, and marketing data retained for future reference.
China Mobile has applied the BI technology in a rich variety of fields, not only in single services such as the RBT, but also in customer acquisition, customer retention, revenue assurance, income stimulation, tariff combination & optimization, campaign management, channel optimization, and customer service quality improvement. At present, the BASS provides strong support and assistance for marketing activities, making routine operations run smoother.
Enhanced value in information operations
The development of digital technologies has gradual ly blurred the boundary between mobile communications and the media, leading to mixed services on both sides. Mobile advertising has evolved from the integration and is an important service in the fifth media, or the mobile phone media market.
China Mobile’s mobile advertising service is a wireless data value-added service (VAS). They send advertisements to the public through various carriers, including WAP, short message service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS), RBT, interactive voice response (IVR), mobile newspaper, mobile TV, and their 12580 website.
China Mobile has applied the BI technology to target market ing. By classifying the existing audience into small groups, BI technology analyzes the subscriber’s usage and consumption patterns to select the most effective advertising resources based on different user groups and management techniques. The behavior and values of the audience and the analysis result are combined with the business data to form an audience and advertising base. Products, commodities and advertising information can then be sent to specific user groups.
By using the BASS advertising channels to pinpoint precise mobile advertising, China Mobile can study the effectiveness
of mobile advertisements on different channels and match advertising channels with content to help sponsors to choose either single-channel advertising or multi-channel combined advertising.
The precise mobile adverting platform provides the ad launch feature and audience analysis function to convert the service language of each ad into data language. In case the advertiser requests audience quantification, the advertising platform can filter the audience in various dimensions through the audience search engine to extract the most sui table audience list. If the audience cannot be quantified, the advertising platform can explore potentialities among the audience to meet advertising requirements. An audience grouping and correlated analysis model can be set up to help the sponsor find the precise target audience group.
The advertising platform offers idle resources management for the audience and can help resolve conflicts in audience r e s o u r c e s a n d m a x i m i z e r e s o u r c e profitability. After setting a reasonable price in orientation to the target audience group, China Mobile sells the information of different audience groups to advertisers or advertising agencies as advertising positions.
The prec i s e mobi l e ad p l a t fo rm prevents excessive spamming and keeps audience irritation levels to a minimum. This module can prevent advertising information from exceeding the upper limit in a period, and avoid the sending of advertisements during specific periods like bedtime.
The precise mobile ad platform can evaluate the audience model and the precise effect of the advertising. The operator can easily analyze the response to ads by totaling up return text messages, or the subscribers clicking on a link.
The precise mobile ad platform can not only improve the targeting of ads and increase returns, but also decrease spam and junk ads to maximize value. BI’s value for information operations will definitely become the core competitiveness in mobile advertising.
Optimal value in inter-system interaction
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After constructing business support systems (BSS), such as the billing and accounting system, operation support system (OSS) and customer service system, China Mobile had multiple units ready, and all they needed was a brain to give commands. In a customer centric market-oriented environment, the BASS used in decision making and marketing can be the brain and send signals to an enterprise IT system to drive service processes. The operator then needs to convert indicative analytical results into concrete instructions for execution. However, the BASS cannot be isolated and should interact with other systems for task fulfillment.
Inter-system interact ions are not confined on the data layer, but involve mostly interactions between end-to-end service processes that are initiated by enterprise employees such as marketing staff and customers. Service processes triggered by enterprise employees are always from the BI, while the service processes triggered by customers are always from the unified customer contact platform, including entity channels and electronic channels.
So far, the BASS has been interacting with the business and operation support system (BOSS) and the customer service system concerning marketing processes and business operation analysis. Interactions between service processes dr ive the operator to event-driven operations and make the operator pay more attention to getting rid of delays in service processes.
Nowadays, operators throughout the world are using the BI technology to improve their core competitiveness and come out on top in the market.
Huawei is devoted to providing simple, open, and real-time BI solutions to the telecom industry. Rather than being a single system, BI is oriented to service processes and embeds the analysis function in certain service processes. BI creates value and obtains systemic vitality by combining and interacting with the service system in business analysis, assistant operations, and information operations.
Editor: Xue Hua [email protected]
MAIN TOPIC
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40
What makes a first-class OCS?
he onl ine charging system (OCS) p rov ide s f a r more functions than just onl ine cha rg ing . It i s ne i the r an
intelligent network (IN) system with simply upgraded charging functions and enhanced flexibility, nor a traditional billing system integrated with an online processing mechanism. It i s a next-generat ion charg ing sys tem that i s significantly advanced in respect to the basic system model, core technology, and development mode.
The OCS inherits the carrier-class outstanding performance and the high reliability of a traditional IN. It also incorporates the flexible modes of excellent traditional billing systems in response to customer requirements and market changes. As an invaluable aid to marketing and accounting departments, the OCS helps optimize the system by separating business activities and reducing not only technical and vendor dependency, but also decreasing the time-to-market for new services.
Approximately 30 operators worldwide have started OCS development plans in 2007 according to statistics. Compared with new services, new tariff promotions can be more easily accepted by end users, and new products will immediately win popularity if the tariff promotions cater to subscriber needs.
It is a sure bet that increasingly more operators will start developing their OCSs.
Four key criteriaWe can assess the OCS core technologies
Let’s accelerate the
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By Wang Wei TOCS
MAIN TOPIC
Huawei Technologies
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40
based on four criteria as follows:
Openness on the network side and dynamic adaptation
The OCS is compatible with the peripheral NEs through standard interfaces, which meets the preconditions for future network evolution. The OCS standard specifications defined in 3GPP clearly state the position of the OCS in the network and protocols used for interworking with peripheral NEs. This ensures smooth interworking between multiple systems provided by different suppliers, and these specifications can serve as criteria for evaluating the OCS.
However, the specifications themselves cannot foresee all the changes on the network side, nor define the contents of each interface item in detail. In addition to meeting the specification requirements, the OCS has to be able to dynamically extend the interfaces, and configure or resolve new parameters based on external service NE changes and message content, to accommodate future charging requirements from the network side and marketing strategies.
Dynamic online charging configuration capability
The OCS is a customer-or iented functional entity, and needs to be flexible enough to provide a dynamic online charging configuration. There are two key assessment criteria: 1) Whether or not the OCS can provide dynamic online introduction and the prompt implementation of new charging factors without hard coding or software upgrades; 2) Whether or not the charging rules that are based on different charging factors can be flexibly customized online, and whether the charging rules can be understood or even defined by the marketing personnel.
The above two criteria are among the most outstanding advantages of the OCS over the traditional IN network.
Customer-oriented foundation model
The quality of the foundation model directly affects the capabilities and flexibility
of a system. To construct a stable platform that is adaptable to market changes, a universal common basic model is of prime importance.
Retail businesses that feature highly developed marketing models could serve as an example. In a retail business, a customer-oriented foundation model should be followed in regards to product design, customer purchases, and payments. Customers can easily purchase any products that are on display and there are convenient payment options.
In the OCS, the product design should be separated from the subscriber attributes. Customer can freely subscribe the off-the-shelf products. Being prepaid or postpaid does not serve as the primary precondition for market segmentation as in a traditional solution; instead, they are just payment methods. All the attributes of customer, product, account, payment and the relations between them should be flexibly and somewhat independently defined. Only with such a foundation model in OCS, can the unmatched flexibility be achieved in online changing environment.
Carrier-class, real-time processing performance
Integrated charging for multiple services, increasingly more diversified charging factors, detailed market segmentations, and real-time processing throughout the process all add exponentially to the processing load. They put great demands on the real-time processing performance of the system. Among those technologies adopted in the OCS relating to performance optimization, the memory database is considered to be one of the key technologies, and more vendors are now adopting it. The efficiency levels of the system vary depending on the operation modes of the memory database. Generally, there are three modes:
Mo d e 1 i s t o u s e t h e 3 rd p a r t y commercial memory database with the standard SQL for the database-related operations. The most obvious advantage of this mode is simple implementation and mature technology. This mode is adopted by many vendors. Nevertheless, due to the limitation of the SQL in terms of efficiency, the overall processing performance of the
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system is affected. Mode 2 maps the memory of the 3rd
party memory database to the address space of the application program. This mechanism is much more efficient than the traditional invoking mode between processes, but the implementation of this mechanism is technically more difficult. It also poses great challenges to shared memory management, c o n f l i c t a v o i d a n c e , a n d e f f i c i e n t coordination between different vendors.
Mode 3 universally designs and manages the application and memory database to achieve optimal resource sharing and overall coordination in addition to ensuring high reliability for carrier-class real-time processing. This mode features the highest performance out of the three, yet has stringent requirements for technological development, and only a few providers are currently qualified for this mode.
Practice makes perfect
None of the technologies or models described above can be individually regarded as brand new, but they pose unprecedented challenges to us. The challenges are how to smartly integrate the technologies and models, implement them in end-to-end and real-time charging processes as required both currently and in the future, while maintaining carrier-class performance and reliability. This requires the OCS suppliers to improve the architectural design of the OCS to fully integrate core technologies in real-time charging system with the customer-oriented product design ideas and modes in offline billing.
It is believed that all the technologies and products, however superior they might be, must go through a field verification and optimization process. Only by putting the products and technologies into long-term and large-scale application in live networks, can we discover the latent defects and continuously improve the original design.
In conclusion, practical implementation is the ult imate val idation for a new technology. There’s no shortcut to obtain experience from live applications, as each new application will present its own unique value.
Editor: Pan Tao [email protected]
MAIN TOPIC
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40
O&M outsourcing a common choice
hile telecom operators are developing into integrated i n f o r m a t i o n s e r v i c e providers, it is necessary
for them to solve problems concerning O&M in order to maximally benefit from the new value chain.
During the early stages of network construction and operation, operators n e w ly en t e r ing
the market and those in developing regions normally have to adopt business support systems (BSSs) to facilitate swift telecom service deployment. Most of these operators, however, have heavy maintenance burden and insufficient operational support. For these operators, solutions to O&M outsourcing can result in the fast and accurate implementation of all service operation chain links, including service design, deployment, operation and analysis. Global mainstream operators
are also searching for solutions that shift their emphases to core business concerns, while decreasing O&M costs.
In t radi t iona l equipment ma in t enance , a g ap e x i s t s between the equipment O&M and customer- and partner-oriented O&M. Such a gap can slow the provision of customer-centric services and negat ive ly impact quality of service (QoS). E q u i p m e n t O & M r e f e r s t o s y s t e m a n d a p p l i c a t i o n
maintenance, as well as service guarantees. The customer- and partner-oriented O&M focuses on service provision, charging support and customer care.
For example, data concerning the prov i s ion o f a new se r v ice ex i s t in equipment network elements (NEs), new service NEs and operation support system (OSS) components. Due to new service planning and some network problems, t h e bu lk o f s e r v i c e d a t a may l a ck synchronization, which affects final service experience and thus potentially revenue.
Challenged with the above problems, operators require timely service integration and equipment delivery from suppliers. Services must be managed more effectively, and customized O&M solutions must be implemented to facilitate legacy O&M system transformation from equipment-oriented to customer-oriented.
In th i s s i tua t i on , mos t t e l e com operators apt to outsource O&M in order to enhance core business focus, decrease operation expenditure (OPEX), and guarantee smooth service transformation. Some multinational operators, such as MTN and Etisalat, employ bundled
O&MNew direction foroutsourcing
Entangled in the global mesh of network and service transformation, telecom operators have been forced to focus on
enhancing their core competitiveness. This has in turn driven operation and maintenance (O&M) outsourcing in a new
direction.
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By Wang Ge
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New direction for O&M outsourcing
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40
Huawei Technologies
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40
managed services to construct OSS networks, which reduces costs and O&M difficulties. KPN in the Netherlands, for example, requested managed OSS services during the construction of its billing system.
Then, what features do operators require in terms of O&M outsourcing?
Outsourcing requirements
Telecom systems include switching networks, service networks and OSSs. Each system normally comprises three layers : equipment, network and service flow. These layers differ significantly from each other in terms of skill requirements, service complexity and entry threshold for O&M outsourcing. Especially large variations exist between the first two layers and the layer three. In general, telecom O&M outsourcing needs can be classified into managed operation (MO) and business process outsourcing (BPO).
MO
MO mainly refers to routine network and NE maintenance and management. Outsourcing can either partially or entirely cover the range of maintenance and management responsibilities that usually fall under the umbrella of an operator’s OSS department. MO gives operators direct maintenance services from telecom equipment suppliers and IT equipment vendors, hence improving network quality and decreasing OPEX.
The needs featured in MO are as follows: Equipment maintenance outsourcing: Part of
or all telecom equipment maintenance tasks are outsourced to service providers, including base station, switch and IT equipment maintenance. Outsourcing content includes alarm monitoring, routine checks, and solving equipment faults.
Application maintenance outsourcing: Part of or all maintenance tasks for service platforms and the application software that runs on network equipment are outsourced to service providers. This includes maintenance on the service control point (SCP), voucher center (VC) and network management system. Outsourcing content covers alarm monitoring, routine checks, and troubleshooting for application software.
Active maintenance outsourcing: Part of or all active maintenance tasks are outsourced to service providers including health checks, equipment performance optimization, and software patch management.
Spare parts management outsourcing: Part of or
all spare part management services are outsourced to service providers, including network design, warehouse construction, logistics construction and management, inventory management, and repairs.
Third-party equipment outsourcing: Considering QoS and strategic cooperation, operators normally select existing equipment suppliers as outsourcing service providers. However, to achieve economies of scale, operators stipulate that one equipment supplier maintain all equipment, including any procured from a third party.
BPO
BPO mainly concerns routine business process maintenance and management. Outsourcing content can cover part of or all BSS operation and management responsibilities regarding specific business processes. BPO aims to focus on core businesses that enable the rapid deployment of new services and features. Effective BPO is expected to stimulate business process optimization and regrouping.
The needs featured in telecom BPO are as follows: Go-live management outsourcing: Part of or all
new service configuration and deployment tasks are outsourced to service providers. Outsourcing content includes scheme customization before new services are either tested or go live, and data setup for new marketing schemes.
Problem management outsourcing: Part of or all service consulting and troubleshooting services are outsourced to service providers. Outsourcing content includes the problem handling on both active preventative services and passive responsive services.
Data management outsourcing: Part of or all configuration data updating, modification, deletion and process change tasks are outsourced to service providers, who then become responsible for key performance indicators (KPIs) and service level agreements (SLAs).
Interconnection management outsourcing: Part of or all tasks related to the interconnection between managed service products and other communication products are outsourced to service providers. Outsourcing content includes configuring the interworking of network equipment and number segment data, and the planning and implementation of interconnectivity tests.
Skill management outsourcing: Part of or all tasks concerning cross-departmental products and work skill enhancement are outsourced to service providers. Outsourcing content includes training and knowledge base construction.
Report management outsourcing: Part of or all
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New direction for O&M outsourcing
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Fig. 1 E2E process of the managed service for convergent billing
FO: First-line support (including field support) in managed servicesBO: Second-line support (including NOC support) in managed services
IT system
E2E processEquipment
vendor
BO
FO
Departmentin need
Customer
Consultation/ fault
IT service management
Change requirement
Result confirmation
Patch release management process
Training process
Business process outsourcing
Problem management system Configuration/change management system
Configuration/change management
Skill management system
Skill managementEvent and problem management Application management
Task/requirement management system
Managed operationService package
Active service process
Emergency/event
Operation requirementand function requirement
Problem m
anagement
process
Event managem
entprocess
Requirement
managem
ent process
Knowledge
managem
ent process
Configuration m
anagement process
Changem
anagement process
tasks related to report composition, check, auditing and archiving are outsourced to service providers.
Managed service for convergent billing
In orientation to MO and BPO needs concerning O&M outsourcing, Huawei has developed its range of managed service products. For example, Huawei’s managed service for convergent billing helps operators rapidly deploy new services, decrease OPEX and enhance maintenance capabilities. On the maintenance and operation layers, this service compensates for deficiencies in O&M and operational processes.
Huawei’s managed service for convergent bi l l ing s t imulates bus iness p ro c e s s optimization. It is mainly designed on the basis of the best practice for IT services as archived in the information technology infrastructure library (ITIL). Integrating a range of unique features, the service combines IT service management ideas with the end-to-end (E2E) BPO service delivery process, as illustrated in Fig. 1.
In the sub processes that are based on product features and IT ser v ice management ideas, Huawei’s managed service for convergent billing can be used
to design IT systems such as Netforce (electronic O&M), global customer request management system (GCRMS), customer requirement management system (CRMS), change order management system (COMS), customer equipment archive system (CEAS), and knowledge base (KB). In terms of convergent billing equipment, the service guarantees high KPI and SLA, and facilitates the swift deployment and operation of new services.
The managed service for convergent bi l l ing is based on over 170 service platforms and 24 software research centers around the world. It is able to quickly solve the technical problems found in managed services, and respond quickly to operator requirements. Thus, it can rapidly develop and deploy new services.
Your reliable outsourcing partner
Huawei has been actively exploring the managed service field and has accumulated a rich array of practical experience. For example, mobile operator A’s network serves millions of subscribers. However, its business and operation support system (BOSS) was plagued with problems most notably poor maintenance quality
and high maintenance costs. These were caused by technical complexity coupled with frequent specification changes. The operator was eager to improve network maintenance, decrease OPEX, and accelerate service development and deployment.
In early 2006, Huawei began providing the operator with comprehensive OSS maintenance services, including daily maintenance, t roubleshooting, bug handling, service configuration, and monthly settlement and billing. Other services include system optimization, service queries, training, technical support, and the online evaluation of new services.
By the end of 2007, the operator had improved its maintenance capabilities and reduced OPEX. As a result , i t s maintenance KPI over 2007 increased by 10%. By focusing on its core business, the operator has been efficiently expanding its market penetration rate and enlarging both its subscriber quantity and revenue.
So far Huawei has provided managed services for convergent billing for intelligent networks (IN), online charging system (OCS) and BOSS for 18 opera tor s worldwide. Huawei is also cooperating with IT software providers, including ITS and LogicalCMG, to provide enhanced managed services aligned to operators’ OSSs.
Editor: Xue Hua [email protected]
Huawei Technologies
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Huawei Technologies
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HOW TO OPERATE
The operation support system (OSS) has played a significant role during the robust development of the telecom industry. It has proved invaluable in a number of aspects including customer services, service provision, service guarantees, forecasting, planning, charging, and accounting. What, then, is the OSS’s development direction?
Evolution path
Phase 1: Independent OSS construction on demand
n the first phase, operators construct OSSs based on service development needs. As a result, they establish independent fixed or mobile OSSs
that are applicable to various services. Moreover, operators construct many OSS-related specialized subsystems, including ones for prepaid service charging and content-based service charging. This mode mitigates the impact of new services on the existing system, allowing it to run normally. In the past, all operators adopted this mode for OSS construction.
Increased network traffic makes more demands on the separated fixed and mobile services, voice and data services, and postpa id and prepaid ser v ices . Consequently, the first phase mode of OSS construction reveals many deficiencies, which restrict further service development. Examples can be found in operational and management complexities, as well as failures in cross discounts and bundled sales for provided services. Telecom operators are eagerly seeking solutions to these problems.
During phase 1, OSS standardization lacks systematic consideration. Relevant standards include the telecommunication management network (TMN) framework
released by the International Telecommuni-cations Union (ITU).
Phase 2: Operation-oriented convergence
At present, many operators around the world are intending to construct, or have already begun constructing, an operation-oriented convergent billing system. The new system breaks the barrier between product lines and services, and enables unified customer services, service management, product management, and unified charging and accounting via integration and convergence.
The TM Forum (TMF) conducted extensive research into OSS and its standardization through new generation operation system and software (NGOSS). The NGOSS standardizes the OSS in terms of system, process, information and application. This facilitates gradual evolution, interoperabi l i ty, end-to-end management and high-level OSS automation. The corresponding eTOM Solution Suite Release 5.0 has been accepted by the ITU as an international standard.
In phase 2, the OSS has undergone end-to-end, multi-service and multi-product-line convergence. Operators can provide customers with cross discounts for various services. The following figure exhibits that service bearer and operation support are separated during this phase.
I
Development and evolution of OSS
By Wang Ziqing & Guo Zhongjie
The service bearer components, such as the service control point (SCP) and the mobile data service platform (MDSP), realize service connection and authentication. The operation support components are responsible for service charging and management. The billing system can conveniently implement convergent billing for real-time and non real-time services, as well as voice and data services.
Phase 3: Experience-oriented convergence
T h i s p h a s e e m b o d i e s a n a t u r a l evolutionary step from phase 2. The IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) and the service delivery platform (SDP) are being developed and constructed in phase 3, which leads to the implementation of experience-oriented convergence.
At present, IMS technology is attracting much attention across the industry, and is regarded as a current development trend. Designed with a hierarchical architecture and flexible service and resource control functions, the IMS is able to provide flexible charging modes. However, its complexity has heaped new requirements on the OSS, forcing IMS-based operation support and charging to emerge as a major development direction.
P h a s e 3 a c h i e v e s t h e f u r t h e r development and application of the SDP. In this phase, operators’ abstracted network capabilities are exposed to third
HOW TO OPERATE
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parties to ease value-added service (VAS) creation. SDP provides personalized service environments and customers can achieve outstanding service experience.
To deliver convergent services, the telecom industry has reached an agreement t o in t eg r a t e IMS ’s mu l t i -ne twork convergence capabilities with SDP’s service creation and execution capabilities. The IMS and SDP, coupled with the contributions of SPs/CPs, will enable operators and their partners to quickly and cheaply launch new services. The OSS is expected to offer effective service provision support in order to maximally apply the inherent strengths of both the IMS and the SDP.
The SDP can be used, for instance, to combine location-based services and advertisements. Customer information held by operators can be employed by the SDP to send service information to subscribers via the IMS. This can, for example, detail a range of leisure activities relating to shopping malls, movie theaters, entertainment facilities, restaurants, bars, and so on. This function can operate regardless of whether the network environment is GSM, WCDMA, WiMAX, or Wi-Fi.
Influential factors
IMS
The IMS adopts a hierarchical system
that breaks static relationships among existing customers, services and related resources. This has prompted large-scale changes in service provision, guarantees, and charging.
The IMS supports both online and offline charging (OCS and OFFLINE). The OCS interworks with the OCS t h ro u g h I M S e n t i t i e s s u c h a s t h e application server (AS), cal l session control function (CSCF), and other network entities such as gateway GPRS support node (GGSN). These provide real-time authorization and control for sessions. The OFFLINE system collects charging information after each session ends, and then submits it to the billing system. The IMS supports various billing modes including call duration, traffic, and content. The IMS also supports flow-based charging.
SDP
The key features of the SDP are its ability to screen complicated technology and its open service capabil ity. It is generally held that the SDP comprises mul t ip l e l aye r s inc lud ing ne twork abstraction, service release, creation and execution, as well as content and media delivery.
The network abstraction layer abstracts lower-layer network service capabilities to form standard interfaces that include call management, multi-party service, messaging service, user location, and
charging and account management. These can be further abstracted into services and released to a service catalog to be used by SPs and CPs.
The SDP enables service customization according to user needs. Enterprises can utilize the exposed capabilities to create business applications, and SPs can open their services to enable multi-party cooperation. This service mode involves multi-party participation and cooperation and is set to significantly boost telecom service development. As greater number of SPs, CPs and customers become involved, new services and applications will be continuously released and reach into all aspects of life, spanning home, work, entertainment, social and commercial activities.
The OSS has two important lifecycles: product management and customer service. In the SDP, these are condensed to a compact process that covers service planning, development, deployment, delivery, and operation and maintenance (O&M).
The business support system (BSS) i s responsible for managing market requirements, product plans, resource plans, customer support, charging and accounting, and partners . The OSS manages the complex value chain and flexible service modes. It negotiates with, manages and subsumes the SDP into a unified enterprise operation system. The OSS can either open its support functions to the SDP, or provide accessory support
Development and evolution of OSS
Product management
SP/CP management
Customer service
Charging and accounting
……
CRM CC
User authentication
Content release
Customer management
Call access
Monthly/daily settlement
Customer info.
Real-time charging
Account balance
Near real-time charging Customer
service
Integrated accounting
Product management
SP/CP management ……
Integrated settlement Deduction
Customer info.
Account balanceService enable/
suspensionCustomer
management
Near real-time charging
Real-time charging
Monthly/dailysettlementCC
Rating and charging
Service enable/suspension
User authentication Content release Call accessDeduction
MDSP
BOSS
IN MDSP SCP
C&B
Phase 1: Independent OSS construction on demands Phase 2: Operation-oriented convergence
CDR
CDR
Huawei Technologies
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functions to drive SDP development.
IMS and SDP combined
The IMS provides an effective system that integrates lower- layer network capabilities. It can combine with the SDP to work as the latter’s network abstract layer. The SDP subsequently enables service creation, release and execution, and can form the IMS’s application environment plat form. A complete solution can be generated by combining the SDP and the IMS.
However, the IMS and SDP combination may result in a service model that is both horizontally and vertically complex. To enable normal operations, the OSS needs to consider the influences from both d i rec t ions tha t a re caused by product or service bundling. Horizontal complexity derives from the interplay of various services and partners, while vertical complexity arises from multi-layer abstraction and reference of services, resources and service capabilities.
Challenges ahead
The IMS and SDP result in OSS convergence. While providing a richer service experience, the two also challenge the capabilities of the OSS in a number of ways.
Charging information complexity. As the IMS adopts a hierarchical architecture,
multiple entities generate c h a r g i n g i n f o r m a t i o n during the same process. The billing system has to correlate and integrate all charging information to form a unif ied charging message. The SDP’s service delivery process is similar, in which SDP allows all related entities and components concern ing lower - l aye r s e r v i c e s , c o n t r o l a n d bearer to generate charging information. Owing to the horizontal combinations of services, service charging and settlement may involve
complex relationships among multiple sub services.
The complicated charging information r e s u l t s i n m a n y b i l l i n g s y s t e m complexities. As online charging affects service delivery, the billing system must offer high processing performance. In addition, consideration must be given to the expression, storage, transmission and use of charging information.
Service complexity. The IMS integrates the Internet and telecom services, and supports precise charging. Based on the SDP, services can be conveniently created and customized. With the deployment of many services, operators are able to construct flexible marketing schemes, such as cross and combined discounts. The OSS must manage services with varied operational characteristics and charging requirements, and manage complicated marketing schemes.
Innovation and control. An open environment is prioritized for the IMS and the SDP, and service innovation i s s t imula t ed th rough mul t i -pa r ty participation. The OSS possesses sufficient flexibility and adaptability to stimulate innovation, but effective control measures regarding service innovation and usage should be employed to protect the benefits of all parties.
How to tackle?
To address the above challenges, a Editor: Liu Zhonglin [email protected]
number of corresponding measures should be taken to optimize and improve the OSS. The major ones are as follows:
OSS standardization and capacity expansion. Research on the NGOSS has prompted the TMF to actively drive OSS standardization. Other organizations, including the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the OSS through Java Initiative (OSS/J), and the Internet Protocol Detail Record (IPDR), have also been striving to boost the charging components’ s tandardizat ion. SDF s t a n d a r d i z a t i o n b y t h e T M F h a s accelerated both the standardization and convergence of operation support and service delivery. Meanwhile, operators’ operational support capabilities have been gradually opened up to their partners.
More complex but flexible service processing. The OSS is required to handle many services based on the IMS and the SDP such as flexible tariff policies and bundled services. It has to establish complex customer and service models to meet service needs, and should enable swift changes to respond to rapid launches of new services. These requirements demand flexible and adaptive OSS architecture.
Enhanced stability and reliability. Some serv ice components involved in service operations need to directly participate in real-time or near real-time service delivery. These conditions necessitate carrier-class stability and reliability. Due to OSS complexity, service components are differentiated according to their participation in service delivery.
More intelligent service processing components. Based on product types and service characteristics, the OSS controls the behavior of the service components involved in service delivery. It adopts unified policies for service and charging controls. The OSS provides configuration management, which can interwork with the SDP for automatic or semi-automatic service configuration, thus enabling plug and play. Strong service support is required from vendors. To meet competition, vendors should form long-term and close relationships with operators to provide support and customization in the context of specialized services.
External application
AS1
CRM Near real-time charging OCS
Account management Product management Service enable
……
ASn Media delivery
Session management
Enterpriseapplication Security
SDP IMS
C&B
Phase 3: Experience-oriented convergence
External application
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Best Tone,the voice Google
Best Tonethe voice GoogleBy Cao Yiming & Cai Xiao
Huawei Technologies
APR 2008 . ISSUE 40 36
service for two major reasons: First, there are more than 800 million
telephone users in China, and voice calls are the most important, popular and convenient form of communications. The 114 directory service platform has built up a strong brand image and gained a large customer base during the past 20 years. Wherever they are, customers can use the rich services offered by Best Tone. Based on the 114 directory service, Best Tone can be easily accepted and recognized, cutting costs for promotion and market cultivation.
The second reason is that, Best Tone is of special significance for China Telecom in innovating its business model. By fully exploring and integrating phone number information, China Telecom can extend the traditional directory service to handle information queries from customers. The 114 directory service has become an integrated information service platform, on which agents can convert customers’ queries into key words. This strengthens China Telecom’s ab i l i ty to prov ide differentiated services by increasing the accuracy of queries in the information database and by effectively making up the lack of vertical queries in the network.
Best Tone has gained outstanding economic and soc ia l benef i t s s ince its launch in 2006, and the traffic of information queries overall has doubled. It is estimated that in 2012, there will be over 3 billion incoming calls for the Best Tone service, and the revenue will make up more than 10 percent of the total. Best Tone will open a “blue ocean” for China Telecom.
In August 2007, Best Tone became
Best Tonethe voice Google
In today’s fast moving telecom industry, traditional operators have some tough questions to answer. What measures should be taken to avoid being downgraded to pipe providers? How can they tackle the challenges posed by slow traffic growth, increased customer retention costs, and decreased service profitability?China Telecom is transforming to an integrated information service provider and has inspired many other operators by launching the Best Tone service.
an independent service operated by Best Tone Information Service Co., Ltd., a new subsidiary of China Telecom. So far, China Telecom has formed a support system comprised of independent subsidiaries and dedicated teams in provincial branches to guarantee the business, financial and value chain operations of the Best Tone service.
The powerful voice Google
The 114 directory service was upgraded to Best Tone, and became a voice search engine similar to Google, which was nicknamed “Voice Google”. In addition to offering phone number inquiries, China Telecom selects some key industries according to industry information and business development plans. For target cus tomers , Bes t Tone can enab le a marketing model that includes priority recommendations, call forwarding, and voice business cards.
The basic services of Best Tone are: individual service, enterprise service, industry-specific applications, directory service, and value-added service. A series of premium services have been launched, inc luding the convergent Centrex , government service, travel, food and drink, and service outsourcing. Provincial branches of China Telecom have also developed hundreds of applications according to their service features.
Information publishing: The directory service is the most basic service of Best Tone. In addition, by cooperating with government agencies, Best Tone offers information about credit rat ings of
New wine in old bottles
he traditional voice market is saturated, and revenue from voice services is dropping due to lower tariff rates. The fixed-
line phone market has become a “red ocean”. China Telecom’s fixed network has lost 1.02 million customers according to a report released on March 26, 2008. As a result, the total number of customers decreased to 218 million, or 5.41 million less than the same period of last year. Fixed network customers have been steadily turning away.
Despite the challenges, China Telecom raked in about USD9.55 billion from non-voice services in 2007, which made up 38.2% of the main business revenue, an increase of 6.8 percent from the previous year. Broadband services and value-added services (VASs) are the major forces that drive the increased revenue, showing that strenuous marketing efforts in recent years have certainly paid off.
In 2 0 0 4 , C h i n a Te l e c o m b e g a n i t s t ransformation to an integrated information service provider. In the second half of 2005, China Telecom launched two new services - Biz Navigator and Best Tone. Best Tone originated from China Telecom’s 114 directory service. It is a joint name for all VASs based on the 114 directory service platform and is similar to the 1-800-Free-411 free directory calls in the United States. By calling 114/118114, customers can get all kinds of information and quality services related to business and daily life.
China Telecom chose the 114 directory
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local industrial and commercial businesses, as well as information about government workflow. Through Best Tone, reservations can be made for government hotlines. These facilitate public information queries and strongly support the “open administration” practice of government, creating both economic and social benefits.
In early 2008, when many southern Chinese provinces were inundated by the worst snow storm in 50 years, Best Tone offered timely and useful information to help stranded travelers and other people affected by the poor weather conditions. Customers could dial 114/118114 to get information regarding airlines, railways, road conditions and ferries, including delays, cancellations, ticket changes, refunds, and the updated schedules of flights, trains, buses or ferries. Best Tone also offered 72-hour domestic weather forecast during this period to assist travel planning.
Travel: With the economic development in China, more people are taking trips for business and personal purposes. This has resulted in a huge market for traveling, and Best Tone offers specialized services, including hotel reservation and ticket booking. Based on its huge enterprise customer resources, China Telecom has been quickly developing their business travel service. In developed provinces such as Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Best Tone commanded 30 percent of the business travel service market (mostly in ticket booking) in 2007.
Enterprise recommendations: This service is mainly oriented to public service providers, such as movers and water delivery companies. Best Tone auctions the recommendation priority to related industries. In this mode, backend customers’ rankings and recommendation priorities depend on their offered prices. According to an analysis from Norson Telecom Consulting, the earnings from backend customers comprised over 95 percent of the total revenue derived from customers in 2006. The traditional business model for voice queries has changed from front end customer charging to backend customer charging.
Communications assistant: China Telecom pays a lot attention to activating and increasing values of traditional communication products while making innovations in services.
For example, China Telecom Suzhou integrated the Centrex service to offer directory service, secretarial service, information agent, fax agent, conference call, agenda reminder, and travel arrangement. Taking advantage of the reconstruction of private branch exchange (PBX) switches among local enterprises, China Telecom Suzhou promoted the routine maintenance outsourcing service and attracted many enterprise customers. Projections indicate that the convergent Centrex service will form a huge market of more than USD140.85 million within three years. By contrast, the traditional Centrex service can bring in only
USD21.13 million each year.
How to deploy?
How can China Telecom upgrade the 114 directory service to Best Tone without building new networks or reconstructing the existing networks? In fact, in the second half of 2005, China Telecom started reconstructing its 114 directory service into a Best Tone system in its provincial subsidiaries.
Network support: The traditional 114 narrowband voice-access contact center is transformed to an integrated service center by using an IP contact center (IPCC) that supports narrowband, broadband, and multimedia services. The IP technology enables the separation of resources and services, thus information service centers can be set up in areas with low service costs to reduce operational expenditure. IP technology can also support Internet-based access service capabilities and various service modes, such as small offices and home offices (SOHO).
In addition, China Telecom places various information service centers under the networked IPCC. This reduces response time, increases reliability, and allows flexible scheduling of service resources according to the business environment.
Platform support: Best Tone takes the contact center as the core and provides a rich variety of services. The computer telephony integration (CTI) platform, which is a contact center’s middleware, supports intelligent routing, service level agreement (SLA) and forecasting of outbound calls. The CTI platform also enables intelligent call processing to further improve customer satisfaction and system efficiency.
For example, the SLA capability can distinguish different customer levels, so as to provide different services. The service usage process of each customer can be traced and relevant service tracks can be used to provide more individualized services.
Service support: China Telecom has established an operations management platform that manages partner relationship, information, services, and settlements. Using the integrated information service environment (ISE), the platform can store a large volume of data and manage data of different types and formats through configurations. The ISE offers the virtual operation function to support hierarchical information and service operations. The platform also supports coexistence and convergence of multiple services through open architecture.
China Telecom is seeking close partnerships with equipment suppliers and service providers to jointly forge a win-win value chain through flexible business models, such as hosting and revenue sharing. As a close partner of China Telecom, Huawei has built 70 percent of the Best Tone systems for China Telecom by the end of 2007.
Editor: Chen Yuhong [email protected]
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Best Tone,the voice Google
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BOSS boosts China Mobile Shandong
By Li Hui from China Mobile Shandong
38
With more than 36 million subscribers, China Mobile Shandong was ranked the nation’s No. 2 regional operator in 2007 based on customer base and profitability. This considerable achievement can be attributed to the company’s business and operation support system (BOSS).
p e r a t o r s d i f f e r i n b o t h o p e r a t i o n a l s c a l e a n d organizational structure. How e v e r, a l l p r i o r i t i z e
product retail via appropriate channels coupled with the provision of related s e r v i c e s . Ch ina Mob i l e Shandong accurately planned and executed its corporate strategies with a customer-oriented emphasis during i ts BOSS construction. Focusing on three core factors - products, services, and channels - it continuously launched and optimized system functions. The technological advantages of the IT employed gradually became evident in the competitive arena, securing China Mobile Shandong its dominant market position.
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major issue. To win and retain subscribers, operators need to ensure high service quality. With this in mind, China Mobile Shandong constructed a customer-oriented BOSS.
By arranging and optimizing service processes, different systems are integrated including the BOSS, contact centers and the online customer service center. A unified customer information database stores customer contact records and information from different channels. After optimization, service functions are accessed through various contact channels and these can be conveniently extended to new channels.
As the short message service (SMS) increased in popularity, China Mobile Shandong launched an SMS customer service center to facilitate service processing and contact center-derived traffic distribution. At present, the SMS customer service center handles 30 million service records and sends more than 150 million query messages each month, bringing significant convenience to subscribers and improving service quality.
Being a core service system, the BOSS forms a major platform used by service personnel, and the system’s ease of use positively influences customer service quality. To optimize operation processes and enhance BOSS usability, China Mobile Shandong initiated a user-centered design (UCD) project in 2007, in which 120 people were interviewed and classified into 9 groups using the BOSS. In response to the problems encountered by the interviewees, China Mobile Shandong optimized and reconstructed the BOSS in terms of functions, interactive architecture, ease of familiarization and use, and interface style. After reconstruction, BOSS usage satisfaction exceeded 94% and efficiency saw a 30% increase.
Expanding service channelsIt is not enough to simply provide high-quality
products and services. Equally important is the need to boost business development via the access convenience and experience of products and services. This requires effective communication channels between the operator and customers. China Mobile has adopted various channels to form a marketing service network, the two most important current aspects of which are the entity and electronic channels.
During rapid channel expansion, many problems will inevitably occur. Firstly, when channels are expanded and widely distributed to meet a range of requirements, services do not reach all of the
Flexible product packaging and differentiated pricing
For mobile operators, each product reflects a combination of services and tariffs that change with time. This is largely due to the constant shift of service content from voice and data services to rich, value-added services. In a climate of competitive homogeneity, operators are forced to implement differentiated marketing strategies. Key areas involve the flexible combination of various services, a reasonable price structure, and a product launch strategy that targets specific customer groups.
Despite its image as a developed province on China’s east coast, Shandong features notable variations in its economic development. The rural/urban disparity creates a market with varied needs in terms of mobile communications and thus the products that operators supply.
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BOSS boosts China Mobile Shandong
China Mobile Shandong optimized and reconstructed the BOSS in terms of functions, interactive architecture, ease of familiarization and use, and interface style. After reconstruction, BOSS usage satisfaction exceeded 94% and efficiency saw a 30% increase.
China Mobile Shandong has implemented BOSS management for its products’ lifecycles that span definition, launch, adjustment, and exit strategies. On the basis of market planning analysis, the company abstracted 200 configurable services and items in order to quickly respond to market needs.
Based on its yearly market survey, China Mobile Shandong has released hundreds of products oriented to different customer groups. According to different market conditions and phases, it launched a range of discounts and promotions and quickly enlarged its customer base under BOSS support. In May 2006, China Mobile Shandong employed its market evaluation, planning, and BOSS product management function to launch its Easyown sub-brand with a focus on the rural areas in the west of Shandong. In just 6 months, the brand attracted 1 million subscribers and gained early market access.
Excellent customer serviceCompetition reveals that mobile operators’
products can be easily copied and that price is a
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existing unified management channels of a given municipal company. Secondly, as economic and technical conditions vary between channels, different capabilities and service handling modes need to be provided to access the BOSS under a diversified cost structure. Thirdly, as channels increase sharply in quantity, they occupy greater numbers. Consequently, the amount utilized will fall and resources will become inadequate. Fourthly, more flexible payment support capabilities become necessary.
In order to address these issues, China Mobile Shandong established a BOSS support system consisting of three levels: city, county and town. The system then sub-divides these channels according to features such as area, region, cooperation mode, and channel grade. These facilitate the distribution of channel management functions. For different agent channels, the system delineates specific dedicated lines, a broadband and virtual private network (VPN), a general packet radio service system (GPRS), and voice and SMS access modes. These operate in line with the traffic, economic strength and technical conditions of each agent. Voice and SMS modes curtail costs, and are important for rural area channels. The BOSS enables flexible area code sharing sources, and facilitates number transfer, allocation and sharing. It supports number selection through SMS and mitigates the number resource shortage. Moreover, a payment index base has been established to support real-time and periodical calculations, which increase payment mode flexibility to cater for the varying payment policy requirements, services and competitive conditions that arise from different channels.
To date, China Mobile Shandong has extended mobile customer service centers and agent points into stores and communities. In rural areas, it has constructed a rural service network with customer service centers located in towns to cover all rural villages. There are currently 140,000 mobile service points in rural areas throughout Shandong, which form the largest customer service center network for rural subscribers in China. Over 80,000 service agencies operate in
villages to deliver mobile communications services to each rural household.
BOSS to play a greater roleNu m e r o u s c o m m e r c i a l m o d e l s
are created for mobile services by the penetration and convergence of mobile communica t ions , Inte rnet , media , finance, and business. Location saturation and dominance demands that mobile informatization achieves breakthroughs and progress in a range of aspects.
Informatization serves the individuals. End users require personal ized and convenient mobile communications, and wish to immediately satisfy consumption needs wherever they are, be it music, video, or destination information. This includes task-based services including purchases, payments and stock transactions. Effectively “putting the world in your pocket”, the multi-purpose tool to realize this is the mobile phone.
Informatization serves industries and user groups. With an “everywhere” characteristic, mobile communications c a n s e t u p q u i c k a n d c o n v e n i e n t communication channels for enterprises and their employees and customers. A company can establish a rapid information dissemination channel to release, for example, books, magazines, and music. Mobile communications can facilitate information transfer between equipment
and app l i ca t ions and thus ach ieve informatization and industrialization convergence. While these applications have been put into practice, their operation models are not yet mature. The provision of suitable conditions, however, will stimulate their large scale application.
Informatizat ion ser ves society. The constant development of mobile in fo rma t i z a t i on w i l l s i gn i f i c an t l y influence life, work, and entertainment. Mobile communications will bear more responsibility for social development and create greater societal value.
To cater to future service developments, the BOSS should undergo three-fold optimization. The first embodies a flexible and real-time billing capability in which BOSS offers real-time information, and implements a complex billing mechanism based on various services. This also supports settlement and profit division for an increased number of value chains. A premise of convergent billing is that the legacy BOSS is already very complicated. As services constantly develop, i t is anticipated that the billing system will be divided according to function and service modes under a unified design framework that enhances efficiency, maintainability, and creates an accurate billing mechanism.
The second optimization feature involves more complete product management and swift service deployment. The above analysis demonstrates that the informatization process will result in more informatization-based products as well as higher market requirements for service provision speeds.
The third measure concerns improved customer service convenience. The BOSS should assist faster service and product delivery for customized and managed services that satisfy customer needs. The electronic channel - as represented by the Internet and mobile terminals - represents the preferred channel for customer services.
Future challenges will position BOSS as a major tool for mobile operators to realize customer management, services, and enterprise revenue guarantees. It is expected to cooperate with various services and technical platforms to establish a new eco-environment of communications.
Editor: Xu Ping [email protected]
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Future challenges will position BOSS as a major tool for mobile operators to realize customer management, services, and enterprise revenue guarantees. It is expected to cooperate with various services and technical platforms to establish a new eco-environment of communications.
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Stuck IN bottleneck
he global telecom market is currently embracing tremendous changes as i t move s t owa rd s mu l t i - indus t r y convergence and multi-dimensional
competition. This shift significantly impacts service requirements and insists that operators confront the challenges involved in maintaining profits, creating new services, and identifying potential for growth. The highest priority for traditional operators who already provide a large number of telecom services is to develop and evolve legacy value-added voice services in order to maximize profits.
In Europe, traditional operators have been providing intelligent network (IN)-based value-added voice services for a relatively long time. However, a bottleneck in INs and their corresponding services is increasingly problematic. Firstly, customers have become more critical of service functions and experience as both are unsatisfied via traditional
TIN services. Secondly, network architecture has increased in complexity due to the simultaneous deployment of PSTN, GSM, NGN, and IMS. As a result, operators need to construct multiple service systems within the traditional IN, but doing so greatly increases maintenance costs. Thirdly, the compatibility between traditional INs and new networks is poor. Traditional services cannot be conveniently accessed by customers to new networks, and rapidly deployed service innovations based on new network capabilities remain unsupported.
These problems are generally encountered by traditional telecom operators. But, is the situation the same for telecom market newcomers?
Obviously, new operators can plan and launch services free from traditional service and IN platform restrictions. However, they need to consider a highly competitive environment a n d s u c c e s s f u l l y m e e t n u m e r o u s r e q u i r e m e n t s
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NGIN breaking the IN bottleneck
SOLUTION
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NGIN breaking the IN bottleneck
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for ensured growth. These include low network deployment and maintenance costs, the capacity to support complex existing and future networks, and the capability to rapidly achieve and deliver service innovations.
NGIN breaking the bottleneck
The core needs of both traditional o p e r a t o r s a n d n e w c o m e r s c a n b e
summarized as follows:For traditional operators, a
major profit stream and the basis for further
growth still derive f rom exi s t ing
services. The continuous
development of these services is the foundation for operators.
However, the ser v ice innovat ion capabil i ty of the tradit ional service p l a t f o r m m u s t b e i m p r ov e d . T h e subsequent, advanced service platform needs to support swift service development and comprehensive service management, and integrate multiple network-side call control and IT enablers.
Operators’ network deployment and maintenance costs have to be reduced considerably. Telecom networks are increasingly complicated. Therefore, a service solution that supports multiple network capabilities such as PSTN, GSM, and NGN can effectively reduce the costs of deploying and maintaining multiple vertical network-based service systems.
Future-oriented, open and convergent network architecture is required to inherit the traditional IN’s capabilities and to
support smooth future network evolution, including IMS transformation.
In l ine with these requirements , Huawei has designed its Next Generation Intelligent Network (NGIN) solution. Based on i t s open, future-or iented architecture, the solution is compatible with traditional IN and delivers unified and convergent services. The NGIN solution also supports multiple network types including IMS, and integrates multiple external enablers to facilitate further service innovation.
Future-oriented open architecture
The Huawei NGIN system is based on the service-oriented architecture (SOA). Each module exists in the form of a service so that the NGIN system can be conveniently connected and combined with current network’s existing systems
breaking the IN bottleneck
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By Ren Peijun & Zheng Yichu
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through open interfaces. The system’s hierarchical architecture allows the
resource adapter to process service access in multiple modes. The service capability servers (SCSs) provide interfaces and capability components that are unrelated to the access layer, and the service logic execution environment (SLEE) supplies the service execution environment.
The Huawei NGIN system pre-integrates a number of capability components such as the INAP adapter, CAP adapter, circle switched domain, user interface, messaging, and number analysis. Moreover, customers can independently develop new capability components themselves. The NGIN system is able to flexibly manage interfaces and components, and the entire system is opened for service capability development to al low upgrades according to customer requirements.
Compatible with IN, supporting network and service convergence
The Huawei NGIN is completely compatible with the traditional IN. It is able to interact with existing service systems through service brokers to ensure the development of existing services. Traditional IN services can be directly developed in the NGIN for traditional network customers. The NGIN separates services from access protocols with the protocol packaging mechanism (SCSs layer), and enables access capabilities through multiple network protocols. An NGIN service platform can provide services for customers in different networks such as PSTN, PLMN, NGN, and even IMS. Based on its open architecture and scalable capabilities, the NGIN can adapt to various potential situations to ensure the smooth evolution of the service solution.
With the uni f i ed and convergent NGIN platform, operators do not need to establish multiple independent service systems. CAPEX and OPEX are reduced, and customers in different networks can enjoy the same service experience.
Enabling service innovation
The basis of service innovation rests with the capacity to support numerous network control enablers and external enablers, such as SMS, MMS, USSD and Mail. Capability components can be flexibly loaded and unloaded to and from the NGIN system. Customers are able to flexibly load the required external enablers in order to integrate their capabilities for service use.
A h i gh l y e f f e c t i v e s e r v i c e d eve l opment environment is essential to stimulate service
innovation. The Huawei NGIN ameliorates service development complexity by providing the integrated development environment (IDE), which integrates service development, test, simulation and deployment. The NGIN supports standard open service interfaces such as Parlay/X specification and the web service interfaces to enable external service development. Operators are in a position to invite more partners to develop services based on the NGIN system, the openness of which even allows enterprises to develop customized services themselves.
The opening of service capabilities may also prompt innovations in terms of business modes. For example, telecom operators can cooperate with Internet advertisers to provide communications capabilities on advertisers’ web pages. Links permit Internet advertisers to charge their customers, and telecom operators who provide the communications capabilities can also benefit from advertisements.
In order to improve services for operators, Huawei is committed to establishing a developer alliance and providing both service platforms and development tools. Huawei hopes that the developer alliance can attract more companies adept in service innovation and development, so as to establish a robust industry environment.
Experience speaks for itselfWe are fully aware that the development of
telecom operators is not only related to product or technology selection. Future service applications, business modes and market trends are hard to be accurately predicted, so it is essential to choose a reliable partner that is totally dedicated to the telecom field. In this way, telecom operators can benefit from the continual and powerful support to further develop their commercial activities.
The fruit of more than a decade’s endeavors has positioned Huawei as a leading supplier in the traditional IN market. We have accumulated extensive experience in an array of service fields including voice service, and have enjoyed cooperation with numerous telecom operators worldwide. Based on the large number of existing traditional IN services coupled with a solid awareness of the service development, Huawei offers its NGIN solution as a core solution of its Application & Software Product Line. We hope that this solution can help operators solve their problems, change their business modes in a way that guarantees sustained growth and future success.
Editor: Xu Ping [email protected]
NGIN breaking the IN bottleneck
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your billing support system
The business support system (BSS) of operator X involves
multiple rating and charging systems. Prepaid voice services
are rated through an intelligent network (IN) system; content
services are rated through a dedicated content rating system;
post-paid voice services are rated through the billing system;
while multimedia messaging services (MMS) are rated through
the MMS center.
Operator X is left chasing the rising tides of stiff competition.
A new rating system is constructed when each new service is
added and the existing billing system has to be reconfigured and
interconnected. The separated rating systems not only increase
operational expenditures, but also make it more difficult to
provide diversified tariff packages.
It appears to be high time to change the billing support
architecture. During recent meetings on operations, they
discussed this topic at length and came up with some solutions.
By Xie Qingrui
Reshape
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Four advantages of convergent billing
onvergent billing has become a hot topic in the telecom industry. The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) defines in the R6 specification, the
framework and interfaces of the online charging system (OCS) for convergent charging support.
Huawei, with more than 10 years experience in the IN, BSS, data services and charging systems, has developed a complete convergent bil l ing solution (CBS) offering high flexibility and open characteristic of IT systems, plus carrier-class reliability. Based on the core engine and modular design, the Huawei CBS supports step-by-step implementation according to network status and future evolution strategies.
Rule-driven engine shortens the TTM
The Huawei CBS adopts a telecom platform and an IT core, based on a rule-driven engine for online and offline charging. Rule-driven means that during system implementation and operations, an operator or others can compose new rating or billing rules with simple language, such as IF…THEN…, AND, OR, >, <, and ==.
The rule-driven engine covers three functional fields: rating, charging, and charging off. These fields are frequently changed in a billing system. Through the rule-driven engine, operators can response to new requirements more quickly with the help of hierarchical configuration interfaces that are encapsulated for different operation personnel.
Instead of deployment taking several days to several months, in some cases implementation time
can be cut to several minutes, resulting in a significant improvement in market
competitiveness.
Real-time billing, real-time care
Traditionally, the prepaid service adopts a real-time billing mode, while post-paid service is not in real time. The CBS gives the operator a choice of implementing real-time or non-real-time billing for both prepaid and post-paid services. In the real-time billing mode, post-paid subscribers can get real-time service navigation, balance prompts and tariff notices, and get answers to queries about usage and their account balance. Real-time billing can improve customer satisfaction, and more importantly, help the operator to minimize the bad debt risks.
Convergent management reduces costs
The traditional separated billing systems require a high overhead in terms of configuration of human resources, equipment investment, and operations and maintenance (O&M). When all these are integrated, operational costs are significantly reduced and management simplified. The Huawei CBS supports a full collection of mobile and fixed infrastructure networks, including GSM/GPRS, CDMA, UMTS, CDMA2000, PSTN, NGN, IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), WiMAX, WLAN, xDSL network, and also future supports the long-term evolution (LTE) network. Convergent operation and management can lead to a better segmentation of customer groups, multi-service bundling, and cross-service bonus to remain competitive and gain market share.
Open architecture, flexible integration
The CBS has four layers: the service control and mediation layer, convergent rating and charging layer, convergent billing layer, and the unified customer care and marketing layer. The solution supports all interface types commonly adopted between the service control and mediation layer and the network. It includes the intelligent network application protocol (INAP), CAMEL application protocol (CAP), wireless intelligent network (WIN),
mobile application protocol (MAP), session initiation protocol (SIP), Diameter,
and file transfer protocol (FTP) interfaces.
The conve r g en t r a t i ng and charging layer and the convergent billing layer are both supported by the rule-driven engine and can be used in either the loosely c o u p l e d m o d e o r t h e t ightly coupled mode. In the t ightly coupled
Reshape your billing support system
C
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mode, the two layers can provide high-performance, flexible rating, charging and billing functions. In the loosely coupled mode, it is possible to deploy the convergent rating and charging layer only. This layer integrates with the third-party billing system on top, and with core network or service enablers on the bottom, which complies with the OCS framework defined by the 3GPP. Furthermore, the convergent rating and charging layer or the convergent billing layer can be integrated with upper-layer customer care and the marketing layer through common interfaces like the web service interface.
Based on open architecture, the operator can deploy modules step-by-step to fulfill the evolution towards end-to-end full convergent billing. For example, the operator can first deploy the OCS and integrate the OCS with the existing BSS. Then the operator can implement replacement of the billing system or the customer care system.
Two leading productsThe launch of the Huawei online
charging system (OCS) and the convergent billing solution (CBS) has made it much easier to customize products according to different application phases, existing network conditions and the current status of the billing field.
OCS
Huawei’s OCS is in the same position as the OCS defined by the 3GPP. The OCS is the first phase of the operator’s evolution towards end-to-end convergent billing. The OCS enables rating and charging based on transactions and events. It offers some traditional IN functions, such as announcement playing, number collection, and voucher management. However, it does not offer the billing function. The OCS is able to offer Web-based customer care itself or integrate with the external customer care system or the customer relationship management (CRM) system through the web service interface.
The Huawei OCS is proposed to operators who serve both prepaid and post-paid subscribers in similar proportions but do not have a pressing need for convergent
billing on prepaid and post-paid services. By using the Huawei OCS, operators can provide abundant tariff plans or packages to prepaid subscribers and shorten the time-to-market for new charging features.
Compared w i th the end - to - end convergent billing solution, the OCS requires less network reconstruction and consequently less risk. The prepaid system and the post-paid system require d i f f e rent dep loyment schemes and network resources. For example, in a large network, the OCS should be deployed in a distributed way to guarantee high performance. Offline charging systems can be constructed in a concentrated mode. Prepaid subscribers need real-time response for charging, and good signaling links should be allocated to bear real-time responses. Post-paid subscribers do not need real-time charging, and less links are needed. The OCS and the offline charging system can be deployed separately to simplify the network architecture, making it even more efficient and cost-effective.
CBS
The Huawei CBS supports end-to-end convergent billing for online and offline charging, for prepaid, post-paid and hybrid subscribers, and for all networks. The Huawei CBS provides a rich variety of functionalities, including charging access, rating, balance management, charging off, account receivable, IVR, voucher management, partner relationship management ( s e t t l ement ) , s e r v i c e provisioning, customer care, and CRM. It does not offer business intelligence (BI) or operation support system (OSS) functions. To meet project requirements, however, the Huawei CBS can integrate with third-party systems such as the existing customer care or CRM system.
The Huawei CBS i s proposed to operators who are constructing whole-new networks, newly licensed, or those needing convergent billing on prepaid and post-paid services. It is also proposed to operators who expect to reduce their OPEX through end-to-end convergent billing.
By using CBS from the beginning, an operator with a new network or new license can have a much stronger BSS than their Editor: Pan Tao [email protected]
competitors and support flexible marketing strategies. For other operators, the adoption of the CBS in the entire network can avoid the formation of multiple “stovepipe” billing systems and significantly decrease the OPEX.
Previously, an operator whose prepaid subscribers were above the 90 percent might have the need to construct a BSS to support the remaining 10 percent of post-paid subscribers, and despite heavy investment, the operator still might not get good post-sale service. Now operators using the Huawei CBS can have one unified system to meet all subscriber requirements, improve their experiences and cut the OPEX.
Successful implementation
The Huawei OCS/CBS has been a resounding success for China Mobile Guangdong, Mobile-8 in Indonesia, and Novator in Iceland. AIS in Thailand and KPN in the Netherlands are also deploying the solution.
The OCS has enabled China Mobile Guangdong to offer their customers number portability (NP) between prepaid and post -pa id mode whi le keeping balances and counters. The real-time credit control function decreases bad debt risks among post-paid subscribers, and the convergence of online charging and offline charging facilitates system integration.
Mobile-8 has decreased their network OPEX with an end-to-end CBS and offers many customer-centered operations and services, such as unified settlement and unified top-up. The OCS/CBS systems of China Mobile Guangdong and Mobile-8 have been running stably and smoothly since implementation. Collectively, with over ten million satisfied subscribers, these success stories offer a true testament to the high performance and reliability of the systems.
CBS construction is now included in the aforementioned operator X ’s annual plan. By constructing the new system, operator X can expect to remove any barriers to state-of-the-art BSS development.
LEADING EDGE
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faces fresh challenges
he next-generation broadband mobile network has greatly enriched mobile data services and accelerated its integration with the Internet. While mobile operators are providing richer and more diversified
services, mobile charging support system has been confronted with a range of new challenges.
By Gao Lei & Li Chun
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LEADING EDGEMobile charging support system faces fresh challenges
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Mobile charging support system
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Charging & billing for LTE/SAE network architecture
Mobile networks have adopted many technologies during their development inc luding GSM, GPRS/EDGE and WCDMA/HSDPA. Moreover, long-term evolution (LTE) will make its debut before long on the global technical stage. The inception of LTE/SAE (system architecture evolution) network architecture will transform the charging architecture as follows:
Firstly, the LTE network environment illustrated in Fig. 1 requires that operators deploy a network entity to detect and acquire service traffic information, and implement charging control by interacting with the online/offline charging system.
Secondly, LTE/SAE architecture supports access for LTE and 2.5G/3G networks, and also for non 3GPP access mode radio systems such as WLAN and WiMAX. LTE/SAE architecture should enable user terminals’ network handover processes that are supported by the charging system.
The 3GPP SAE adopts packet data network gateway (PDN-GW) between the SAE core network and the PDN, which acts as a data control gateway under different access modes. As a core network central control node, the PDN-GW is similar to the GPRS network’s GGSN in that it can detect service data flows and implement traffic collection. The mechanism is connected with the online/offline charging system through the Ro/Rf interface.
The PDN-GW forms the anchor for various access modes. It controls connections, disconnections and all access mode switching. Unified service flow detection and traffic collection through PDN-GW form the optimum charging solution when LTE/SAE architecture is adopted. Online charging should prompt its corresponding system to manage charging session handover and the tariff changes that are triggered by mobile access mode switching.
FBC and QoS differentiated charging
Next-generation broadband network development towards ALL IP brings quality of service (QoS) challenges as all services, including voice, run on the IP network. Users’ requirements differ significantly to the extent that QoS demands can vary greatly for one service. Thus different service level agreements (SLAs) and charging modes can respond to individual requirements, rendering QoS a necessary element for each charging layer.
Every QoS change demands that the charging and billing system selects a corresponding charging mode that ensures a timely, dynamic and precise charging process. Operators are eager to gain the ability to perceive various services, in order to maintain value chain dominance. Content perception and deep packet detection technologies stimulate service flow and content identification, and sufficient flexibility in all charging modes should fulfill each service provider’s varied requirements.
The 3GPP R6 flow-based charging (FBC) system underpins 3GPP R7 policy and charging control (PCC) specifications relating to PCC system architecture. Its purpose is to implement controls under service data flow levels for access, QoS and charging. 3GPP R7 integrates 3GPP R6 service-based local policy (SBLP), FBC and related interface functions. These are positioned within the newly established and unified PCC architecture, the logical structure of which is exhibited in Fig. 2.
Fig. 1 The charging architecture after LTE/SAE network architecture inception
RNCUTRAN
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Application function (AF) describes a f u n c t i o n a l e n t i t y t h a t p rov i d e s applications. These implement appropriate policy and/or charging controls on the user plane in order to provide dynamic application session information to the policy and charging rules function (PCRF).
PCRF includes the policy control decision and FBC functions. It implements service f low-based detection, access control, QoS authorization, and flow-based charging on the policy and charging execution function (PCEF). The PCRF checks whether AF service information is consistent with an operator’s pre-defined policy and with the user subscription information derived from the subscription profile repository (SPR). The PCRF then generates rules according to this information and sends them to the PCEF. The PCRF should also offer QoS authorization for AF service information.
PCEF enables policy execution and FBC functions, and is located in PDN-GW. It is located in a GPRS network’s GGSN and in a WLAN’s package data gateway (PDG). The PCEF controls user plane traffic and QoS, detects and measures service data flows, and interacts with the online/offline charging system. It executes QoS and access control for service data flows according to PCC rules, and reports related service data flow changes to the PCRF.
There are two types of PCC rules: dynamic and pre-defined. Dynamic
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Fig. 2 The logical structure of the PCC
rules are provided by the PCRF to the PCEF through the Gx reference point. Pre-defined rules are directly configured by the operator in the PCEF, and can only be reached by the PCRF. During dynamic configuration, the AF establishes an application session with the PCRF to facilitate a dynamic charging policy. This is issued to the PCEF by the PCRF for execution through DIAMETER.
In 3GPP R6, SBLP and FBC are implemented under different processes that obviate control information interaction. PCC architecture enables both policy and charging during the same process, and enhances its real-time capability.
By coup l ing po l i c y con t ro l and charging operation in the same process, both the number of signals transmitted and time delay within the system are greatly reduced. The interaction of PCC information provides operators with powerful charging measures according to QoS and policy controls.
Multi-service charging correlation
The next-generation broadband mobile network has greatly enriched mobile data services and accelerated its integration with the Internet. This trend requires the charging system to correlate charging information of content layer, service layer
and bearer layer when one service is in use. The charging system can thus flexibly configure charging policies and guarantee precise charges.
Charging correlation comprises two parts. Firstly, when a subscriber uses data services, the charging system receives charging information through the charging interfaces of multiple entities that exist within a hierarchical network. Secondly, the charging system correlates bottom layer data flows with content charging identifiers and service data features of the application and subsystem layer. Consequently, it determines how bottom layer data flows and upper layer services or content applications correspond with each other. Charging correlation shows resource consumption characteristics for one service in different network layers. It allows the accounting system to generate “one-stop” records and helps users to fully understand service usage expenses.
The 3GPP de f ine s the cha rg ing correlation method between the bearer and subsystem layers. This is achieved by exchanging the IMS network’s IMS charging identifier (ICID), the bearer network’s GPRS charging identif ier (GCID), or the charging ident i f ier FlowNumber (when FBC is enabled). The FlowNumber identifies service data flows in the resource reservation and negotiation process. Subsystem and bearer layer NEs write ICID and GCID (or FlowNumber) onto charging data record (CDR) before
sending them to the charging system. The charging system then processes the charging information correlation in line with ICID and GCID (or FlowNumber) correlation.
As data services increase, some prepaid subscribers, or the subscribers who need real-time charging control, require real-time charging correlation. These subscribers are no longer satisfied with the offline charging correlation through which post-service charging is implemented, and instead expect online charging correlation. As such, consideration must be given to online charging interfaces and the charging session process. Compared with offline charging, the online charging system (OCS) generates, allocates and transfers charging correlation identifiers in different ways.
Online charging correlation is not yet mature and further development and standardization are required. In the future, online charging correlation will inevitably form one of the most important OCS functions.
Standardization prospectAs a key standardization organization,
3GPP ha s deve loped and re l e a s ed numerous cha rg ing spec i f i c a t i on s including the OCS, IMS-charging, and push-to-talk over cellular (PoC) charging. In 2007, 3GPP established SAE charging and online charging correlation research programs. Moreover, PCC specifications are under development, and expected to be mature in 2 - 3 years.
Huawei is an important member of and major contributor to 3GPP and the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). It has submitted a multitude of proposals during standardization of charging solutions, and chairs or vice chairs a number of related focus groups such as 3GPP SA2, SA5, and the OMA MCC. Huawei has gladly assumed the responsibility of leading the 3GPP standardization process. With its rich array of experience in the mobile charging field and an extensive understanding of operators’ charging requirements, Huawei will continue dedicating itself to the development and maturity of charging systems’ standardization.Editor: Liu Zhonglin [email protected]
Mobile charging support system faces fresh challenges
Online Charging System (OCS)
Subscription ProfileRepository (SPR)
Policy and ChargingRules Function (PCRF)
Offline ChargingSystem (OFCS)
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Service Data FlowBased Credit Control
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