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Middle East Report

this transition is gradual), demand for “off-the-shelf” systems will rise, and the need for customization between BSS sys-tems and the network will ebb.

The Fall of the Mighty PricesCurrently, the large billing vendors’ main advantage for operators is dependent on the ability to integrate Business Support Systems with network elements based on a specific technology. The transition to IP networks will eliminate this advantage. Furthermore, as I mentioned, greenfield operators will need mainly “off-the-shelf” billing systems that can handle changes more flexibly, and at lower cost (opera-tors pay only for licenses). Therefore, one issue that should bother the large billing vendors, especially Amdocs, is whether there will be a drop in prices through-out the billing market, after major bill-ing vendors start competing in tenders issued by greenfield operators.

Another trend emerging in the bill-ing market is integrating BSS systems to provide bundles of services. Currently, in most cases, subscribers are billed sepa-rately for each service (cellular, wireline, Internet), even if they receive all the ser-vices from a single operator. The preva-lent industry view is that a bundle of ser-vices can prevent churn. Yet, if subscrib-ers must deal with separate call centers for each service, each time talking to dif-ferent agents, then the situation is much the same as if they received these services from several operators. A unified BSS can solve this problem. This means that com-petition over the billing market will focus to a great extent on the ability of Business Support Systems to combine all services the subscriber receives, from all types of networks, into one identity.

Users will want to be able to choose dif-ferent payment methods for each service. Another prominent trend in the billing market is a transition to converged post-paid-prepaid billing systems. For exam-ple, parents can decide that their child’s phone line will be charged by postpaid for all voice calls, and by prepaid for games and music applications. In coming years, converged billing systems are expected to produce significant growth for the billing market.

A rating engine for a converged billing

system must work in real time, because of the prepaid element. Any delay in dis-connecting a subscriber whose budget is used up will cause losses to the operator.

A key element in converged billing systems is an intelligent network (IN). It provides real-time indications of ev-ery activity occurring on the network. The IN is installed above a switch, from which it collects all data passing through, transmitting it to the prepaid rating en-gine. The moment a user initiates a transaction, the IN activates a meter that measures his budget. When the budget is used up, the IN cuts him off.

Comverse has its own IN, which is

connected to its rating engine. Other large billing vendors such as Amdocs base their rating engines on software that interfaces to the IN of communica-tions equipment vendors. Since Com- verse has its own IN, it interfaces more effectively to its rating engine. Therefore, Comverse’s prepaid system works in real time, while Amdocs’ prepaid engine is ca-pable of near real time, which is slower than Comverse’s system.

All-in-OneOne of the bottlenecks that slow rat-ing engines down is the data collection process. Billing systems need all the de-tails of the users: their identification, which services they are allowed to ac-cess, their rates for each service, etc.

To prevent data collection bottlenecks, there’s a need for databases that are part of the network, and for BSS systems ca-pable of managing in real time immense amounts of data from many locations (on the network), from many networks, and from many types of services.

The existing databases, used in TDM networks, can include a given number of users, and are situated in a specific physi-cal location. Every time the rating engine needs data about a subscriber, the system searches for the database in which his details are stored, and then searches the database for the relevant details.

The partitioning of the data (among several databases) creates a bottleneck, which hampers real time data collection and management of subscribers’ data. For example, when a user wants the “friends and family” service, the system has to obtain data situated in several partitions, each of which includes the data for each one of the “friends and family” group’s members.

The transition to fixed mobile con-vergence (FMC) further aggravates this problem, because each user’s data will be dispersed among several databases. The billing system must obtain each user’s data from all of the partitions, on all of the networks, each of which is in a differ-ent physical location.

The solution can be a single global da-tabase of all subscribers. The Israeli com-pany Xeround Systems has developed technology enabling an operator to use a single database, the processing power of which grows linearly as the operator adds subscribers to the network. Since this da-tabase is pervasive, the user can connect to the network from any location, with the same number, and his data will be avail-able to the billing system in real time.

Searches for data in this database are conducted using routers. Xeround’s tech-nology assigns the search index to the user’s IP address, and the routers execute the search in the database. The technol-ogy is designed to solve the problem of blocking that arises during a search. V

Hadass Geyfman, our Middle East Editor, has over 13 years of experience as a telecom and technology researcher and reporter. She can reached at hgeyfman@vonmag.com.

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Advanced billing solutions (and their rating engines) are emerg-ing as the key to providing flexible service bundles.

Keep It Real-Time

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The need for a magic ingredient–one that prevents churn, helps operators recruit new subscribers, allows sophisti-cated bundles of services and makes the new-generation networks an attractive investment–is sending operators on a quest for advanced billing solutions.

Rating engines are becoming the life-blood of communications operators, and an essential tool in the struggle for mar-ket share. Without a sophisticated rating engine, capable of working in real time, or at least in near real time, operators will be unable to provide bundles of services in a speedy time-to-market.

With the transition to IP networks, op-erators will need a sophisticated rating engine enabling them to provide flexible pricing models such as those used by air-line companies.

Service tariffs will vary according to a wide variety of parameters, such as the capacity provided to the user, the type of content, etc., similar to the models used to determine airline ticket prices. The rating engines will have to handle a broad diversity of rates in real time.

Another challenge facing billing systems for IP networks is flexibility. Operators will want to add and remove in real time new services that will be priced according to models not known in ad-vance. For example, during vacation sea-son, applications suitable for vacations, such as MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) that looks like a real postcard, can be provided at attractive prices. An operator who doesn’t add the service at the start of the vacation season will miss the window of opportunity.

These developments create a fertile soil for technologies complementary to Business Support Systems (BSS). As I wrote in the April issue, the fact that bill-ing giant Amdocs is based in Israel has inspired Israeli companies to develop

technologies complementary to billing systems and which collaborate with BSS. One such company is Xeround, which we’ll discuss below.

The Greenfield OpportunityWhile most of these new technologies target IP networks, the big billing ven-dors for the foreseeable future will be quite busy with the traditional operators. As long as the trend towards mergers in the communications market continues, and as long as the merging operators are

busy integrating their infrastructures, the transition to an all-IP infrastructure will be too risky for them. The telecom in-dustry prefers an evolutionary approach rather than a revolutionary one.

In the coming years, telecommunica-tions giants, especially the tier-0 players (created by mergers among tier-1 opera-tors), will need large billing systems ca-pable of handling tens of millions of sub-scribers; therefore, they’ll prefer the large billing vendors.

Amdocs is currently working on major billing projects for AT&T, Sprint-Nextel, and Cingular. Following the acquisition of BellSouth by AT&T, Amdocs’ project at AT&T is expected to expand by about 15 to 20 million additional wireline sub-scribers.

In Europe, the trend of mergers be-tween operators is sprouting green shoots, with Telefonica’s acquisition of O2. The market’s three prominent billing players, Amdocs, Convergys and Comverse, are probably getting ready for the big battle over the budgets of the European com-munications giants-to-be.

The Russian communications market also harbors a huge opportunity for large billing vendors. The vast growth expected in this market will provide fertile ground for billing vendor activity, and competi-tion over it is already in full swing. Since the major billing vendors will be busy bat-tling over the traditional communication operators, they probably won’t focus on the greenfield operator market any time soon. This greenfield market, therefore, constitutes an important opportunity for small billing players providing “off-the-shelf” billing systems. Nevertheless, as more traditional communications opera-tors switch to all-IP networks (although