BSS Deployments [351]: T-Mobile [Austria] Selected Openet's Virtualized Solution

Openet announced that "T-Mobile Austria has selected its extensive solution set to support a fully converged and virtualized charging solution. Openet’s Evolved Charging Solution (ECS) will provide T-Mobile Austria with next generation rating and charging capability to manage their existing services, as well as ensure new services are well supported and effectively monetized .. Openet provides a virtualized end-to-end solution capable of creating dynamic and personalised offers for T-Mobile Austria’s prepay, postpay, consumer and enterprise subscribers.

Niall Norton [pictured], CEO, Openet said: “We’re delighted to have successfully fought off some intense competition to secure T-Mobile Austria’s business. This deal not only validates the quality of our technology, it also demonstrates the technical strength of our team and its ability to carefully articulate the future value of virtualization to MNOs globally”

At the end of 2014, T-Mobile Austria had 4M subscribers, a 1.7% decreased compared to the previous year.

See "Openet’s Evolved Charging will replace the existing legacy Intelligent Network to enable the flexibility to deliver on T-Mobile’s current and future real-time charging requirements" - here.

BSS Deployments [350]: VIPNET [Ivory Coast] Selected Alepo

Alepo announced a ".. new agreement with VIPNET, a major internet service provider in Ivory Coast, to support its launch of a new 4G LTE network. As part of the deployment, VIPNET will leverage Alepo’s Service Enabler 9 (SE)– a complete BSS/OSS framework that spans CRM, charging and billing, and customer experience management.

VIPNET cited the need for advanced mobile broadband speeds to increase data ARPU as a main driver behind the LTE project. With a complete Alepo charging and billing core, VIPNET will be able to readily deliver, manage, and monetize 4G LTE services, upon launch and as those services and market demands evolve. Alepo’s Convergent Charging and Billing platform readily enables advanced LTE use cases including data rollover, application-based charging, shared and family plans, and many others, giving operators like VIPNET the ability to differentiate its business and stand apart in the emerging LTE marketplace" 

See "Alepo Lands LTE Charging and Billing Deal with Ivory Coast’s VIPNET" - here.

Alepo Enhances BSS w/Data Plan Advisory & Self Provisioning

Alepo announced the "latest release of its signature BSS / OSS framework, Service Enabler 9.2, which boasts new and advanced capabilities for the creation, monetization, and delivery of innovative data plans and promotions. 

SE 9.2 is already in live production at a major fixed mobile operator in West Africa with numerous deployments underway.

In SE 9.2, Alepo introduced:

• Package Advisor – an intelligent tool that assists subscribers in the online shopping experience by guiding them to select the best data plan based on their usage patterns, habits, or other criteria. The Package Advisor helps customers to navigate the mass of choices at a time when communications service providers’ product offerings and promotions are burgeoning with personalized and differentiated plans.
   
• enables service providers to bring new products and offers to market faster than ever, whether family plans or shared plans, data rollover, loyalty rewards, free apps, or others. Service providers can quickly create and push these offers via automate promotional campaigns towards specific customer segments". 

See "Alepo Introduces Package Advisor for a Smarter Online Shopping Experience for Data Plans" - here.

Openet Launches Virtual, Partners Enabled, BSS Infrastructure

Openet announced that it has "..virtualized its real-time charging system. This builds on the existing virtualization of Openet’s policy and mediation systems, its secure API gateway technology and its Fusionworks platform .. By fully virtualizing its BSS infrastructure, Openet will enable mobile operators to more rapidly monetise new capabilities including VoLTE QoS management, shared data plans and sponsored data in a matter of weeks (rather than months or in some cases years with traditional legacy systems). 

By removing the need to create a full hardware-based environment, Openet has simplified the deployment process, enabling operators to focus on creating new revenue streams without having to deal with issues around integration, deployment and infrastructure management".

Related post: "Openet to Use VoltDB In-Memory DB for NFV" - here.

Openet's Virtualized BSS architecture

For several years, service providers have been interested in enabling a multi-sided business model where the operator acts as an enabler between upstream partners (software developers, content providers, OTT, M2M, Healthcare etc.) and downstream consumers and enterprise customers.

Virtualization makes this possible. The ease with which virtualization allows different combinations of BSS components to be deployed in a multi-tenant fashion on a common platform allows an operator to create “tailored” solutions for specific market segments. By exposing this capability to external entities such as MVNO or Enterprise customers, the operator can enable new business models and revenue opportunities

Opening Virtualized BSS to Partners / New Service Enablers

See "Openet virtualizes its entire BSS infrastructure" - here.

[Survey]: Operators Prefer Specialty BSS Vendors; Moving to Virtualization

 
A recent research, conducted by Telecoms.com Intelligence (sponsored by Openet),  incorporates the input of more than 100 operators worldwide, finds that "truly flexible BSS solutions from specialty vendors are the best option to improve service and pricing innovation, multi-vendor interoperability and system flexibility ..  The survey highlighted key benefits of working with specialist BSS vendors relative to those provided by network equipment providers. Over 72% said that specialist providers enabled a faster time to market for new pricing models, 75% said they enabled better service and pricing innovation, and 76% felt specialists provided greater system flexibility".

Regarding virtualization - ".. nine per cent of respondents have already begun commercial operation of virtualised BSS and 23 per cent of respondents have begun trials of virtualized BSS environments only 34 per cent of operators currently have no plans to embrace virtualised BSS. However it is likely this sentiment will change as the industry becomes more comfortable with the prospects". 

See "Study Shows Best-of-Breed BSS Solutions Best Serve Operator Business" - here.

[Analysys Mason] CSPs Spent 6.3% of Revenues on IT (39% of Capex)

A new report by Dean Ramsay, Larry Goldman [pictured] and Justin van der Lande, Analysys Mason finds that "USD127 billion was spent worldwide on telecoms IT in 2012. This spending represented an average of 6.4% of overall telecoms revenue of more than USD2 trillion .. IT spending accounted for only 10% of opex and 39% of capex worldwide in 2012".

"Spending on OSS/BSS accounted for 50% of IT spending worldwide – USD63 billion in 2012, up by 3% year-on-year. Just over one third of IT spending in 2012 (USD48 billion) was spent by the CTO or network/product group, on SDPs and apps, and on network management systems (NMSs)".

See "IT spending by communications service providers worldwide 2012" - here.

[Informa]: OSS/BSS Market CAGR - 4.7% for 2013-17

 
Alex Leslie reports to BillingViews that a recent market forecast by Informa Telecoms and Media (here, subscription required) finds that  "The BSS market will grow faster than the OSS market between now and 2017 .. By 2017, the BSS market will be worth $42.8 billion (from $30.6 billion in 2013), with OSS at $31.8 billion (from $28.4 billion in 2013) .. Informa do not see huge growth in cloud based BSS, nor indeed OSS .. Clearly real-time is now a priority for operators who need to ‘think like internet providers.’"

Informa also finds that:

• "The most important driver behind OSS/BSS revenue growth over the forecast period be LTE. 
• Major trends shaping the BSS sector are transformation, outsourcing and the drive towards centralized BSS. 
• OSS growth will be relatively strong in network management, data collection and presentation, particularly in terms of outsourced-management and software-management tools".

See "The OSS/BSS market to grow by $12 billion in next four years" - here.

Amdocs Integrates PCC and OTT Monetization into BSS/OSS Suite

Amdocs announced the release of "Amdocs CES 9, the company's latest product suite which revolutionizes the customer experience .. Spanning business support systems (BSS), operational support systems (OSS) and network control domains, Amdocs CES 9 is the only integrated suite that enables service providers to unleash the power of experience by rapidly launching and monetizing innovative offers, personalizing every interaction with real-time insight, and empowering customers to take control of their experiences across any channel, network, service or device – while delivering operational efficiencies"

Among the new features integrated into Amdocs' main product suite are  "Amdocs Omni Convergent Charging integrates Amdocs' real-time charging, policy control, enterprise product catalog, and service platform to allow service providers to define, deliver and dynamically monetize any convergent service and allow their customers to choose any package at any time and pay for it à-la-carte and Amdocs OTT (over-the-top) Monetization enriches partner price plans with quality of service capabilities and predictive analytics for business optimization. Enables service providers to partner with content and app providers and increase revenue from these providers by up to 25 percent*, and allows end users to benefit from higher quality of service and personalized experiences when consuming OTT content such as streaming video"

See "New Amdocs CES 9 Suite Redefines the Service Provider's Operating Environment to Revolutionize the Customer Experience" - here.

OSS/BSS Consolidation: Redknee to Buy NSN BSS

  

Nokia Siemens Networks announced that Redknee has reached " a definitive agreement to acquire Nokia Siemens Networks’ Business Support Systems (BSS) business. Nokia Siemens Networks’ BSS business provides real-time charging, rating, policy, and customer care solutions to more than 130 communication service providers, including half of the top 100 global mobile operators .. Approximately 1200 employees would transfer to Redknee, underpinning current service levels and quality for customers .. The acquisition is anticipated to close in the first half of calendar year 2013".

In the last months Redknee announced it has secured $20M credit facility (here) and C$17.5M bought deal financing (here).

"Redknee expects to finance the transaction through a combination of cash on its balance sheet and debt facilities. Such debt facilities are subject to conditions and will be entered into on, and subject to, closing of the acquisition. The total consideration paid by Redknee for the BSS business will include 15 million euros in cash at closing, plus a maximum of 25 million euros for certain performance-based cash earn-outs expected to be paid over 12 to 36 months post-closing" 

See "Redknee plans to acquire Business Support Systems from Nokia Siemens Networks" - here.

Tekelec: "the problem is BSS/OSS is the effort and money it takes to bring those systems together"

    

Amy Kucharik interviewed Lane Liley (picture), Director of Product Management, Tekelec, to TELECOM ENGINE about " customer experience management, among other strategies, might provide a way for operators to stay profitable while keeping their customers happy"

See "Customer experience management and the demand for mobile data services: Tekelec one-on-one" - here.

Some quotes:

• The difference-maker for operators is if they can demonstrate improvement in both the network and customer service experiences

• Customer experience management covers a large gamut of metrics and interactions between subscribers and their service providers. At the recent TM Forum Management World conference, Susan McNeice (picture) at Yankee group defined the customer experience into four groups:  pricing and offering simplicity, network/services performance, customer care and billing
   
• Tiered services, going beyond buckets of data, are an elegant and simple way to define the quality of service and help ensure that everyone has the network access they're paying for. Andy MacLeod at Vodafone presented .. a direct link between network management and tiered plans. Once Vodafone began actively managing users based on their tiers, customer satisfaction rose across all groups. We believe this is because subscribers knew what to expect and still had quality network performance.[See: Vodafone Uses DPI and Policy Management to Improve QoE (and the vendors are..) - here]

Ericsson to Buy Telcordia for $1.15B

 
It took almost 6 months since the rumors were spread (see "Telcordia for Sale" - here) to today's announcement by Ericsson - "that it has reached an agreement with Providence Equity Partners, LLC and Warburg Pincus to acquire 100 percent of the shares of Telcordia, a global leader in the development of mobile, broadband and enterprise communications software and services, for USD 1.15 billion. Closing anticipated to Q4 2011 with full effect Q1 2012."

See "Ericsson to acquire Telcordia" - here. Telcordia was sold to its current owners by SAIC more than 6 years ago (Nov '04) for $1.35B (here).

The PCRF angle - both vendors have a PCRF product - Telcordia's Real-Time Policy and Ericsson's Service-Aware Policy Controller (SAPC). Maybe the quote below hints which is going to stay:

"One of the main challenges for operators is how to handle the growth in mobile and fixed broadband traffic, as well as the new types of connected devices, services and applications and the high expectations on user experience, while at the same time increasing the efficiency in business and operations. OSS and BSS are critical areas to handle this challenge and to simplify the processes that support the business. They drive the customer experience and serve as the engine to monetizing traffic, offerings and products that operators sell. All in all, these systems are crucial to create the experience users expect in a cost efficient manner .. The deal creates the leader in Service Fulfilment, Service Assurance and Network Optimization and gives Ericsson a leading position in real-time charging and significant capabilities to support operators end to end. The combination will address the needs of Communications Service Providers to deliver mobile broadband and operational transformation to their subscribers".