How does Sprint Use Network Intelligence?

 

A recent article by Maisie Ramsay (pictured) for Wireless Week discusses the limited use of Network Intelligence by the leading US MNOs.

 "Operators are putting information about traffic and subscribers to work, but have so far shown little appetite for the upsell business .. wireless networks are more than just conduits for voice and data – they’re veritable gold mines of information on traffic and subscribers. With the right probes and analytics in place, operators can glean information on demographics, location, mobile content, applications, traffic and devices"

The article expands on the use of Network Intelligence (NI) by Sprint (see quotes below) and mentions also AT&T and Verizon - and concludes that NI is mostly used for traffic analysis. Nevertheless, as we saw recently, there is also "active" use for NI - for example for tethering detection (AT&T - here, Verizon - here) and Congestion management (Verizon - here).

"At Sprint, network analytics are being used to help call center workers handle subscribers’ calls about their wireless service. The information also helps Sprint stay ahead of massive increases in data traffic, allowing it to see where congestion is currently occurring and predict where capacity will need to be increased in the future .. The operator has seen a year-over-year doubling in data traffic, and that growth has increased its need to accurately predict trends on its network"

"Sprint isn’t interested in using its analytics to upsell its customers on premium services, which would go against the ethos of its all-inclusive unlimited plans. For now, primary use of the information is making customers happy and keeping Sprint ahead of usage trends that could impact its network"

See "Networks Smarten Up" - here.