Pre-/Postpaid & Fixed/Mobile Convergence: Why and How? Dr. David Watrin, Swisscom Innovations,...
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Pre-/Postpaid & Fixed/Mobile Convergence: Why and How? Dr. David Watrin, Swisscom Innovations, Billing Area Manager [email protected]
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Transcript of Pre-/Postpaid & Fixed/Mobile Convergence: Why and How? Dr. David Watrin, Swisscom Innovations,...
Pre-/Postpaid & Fixed/Mobile Convergence: Why and How?
Dr. David Watrin,
Swisscom Innovations,
Billing Area [email protected]
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Agenda
FMC in Swisscom Context
The 6 degrees influencing the Billing Organization and Infrastructure
Summary
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Swisscom is the Swiss incumbent having Fixed and Mobile Units
Swisscom Innovatio
ns
CEO
Group Communications
Group Human Resources
Group Operations & Related Business
Group Client Management
Group Finance & Controlling
SwisscomMobile AG
SwisscomFixnet AG
SwisscomSolutions AG
SwisscomIT Services
AG
Group Headquarters
Group Companies
Billag AG
Swisscom Broadcast
AG
Swisscom Immobilien
AG
Swisscom Eurospot
AG
Bluewin AG
Cablex AG
Directories AG
SICAP AG
Strategy & Group Steering
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Swisscom Fixnet
Within Swisscom Fixnet the different business areas generally act independently:
– Retail Business (sale of network services and products)
– Swisscom Fixnet Wholesale (sale of network achievement)
– Customer Care
– Operator Services (information services)
– Payphone Services (public call boxes)
– Cards (Taxcards, Prepaid Cards)
– Bluewin (sale of Internet services and products)
Swisscom Fixnet in figures
Net turnover 2004 (consolidated)
CHF 5.715 billion
Private customers
2.9 million
Business customers
300'000
ADSL subscribers
802'000
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In addition to the decline of prices, fierce competition from Cable Operators, Fixnet is observing a new trendFix and Mobile usage in differentcountries (in %)
Source: Lars Finger, Swisscom Mobile, based on a Nokia customers survey Oct 2004
“Mobile-only” users in Switzerland : 5,5 %
A shift in customers’ bevaviour can be perceived
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Swisscom Mobile
Switzerland's leading provider in the Swiss mobile communications market with a 66% market share
3.8 Mio NATEL® customers
25% of Swisscom Mobile's shares are held by the British-based Vodafone Group Plc and the other 75% by Swisscom Ltd.
Swisscom Mobile Customers
Prepaid / post-paid customers (in Mio)
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However Mobile Operators are also threatened by new technologies
2/3 of the mobile communications could be conveyed through other
communication mean (Fix line, VoIP…)
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Swisscom is then investigating how a better future could be made out of convergence
FMCA
Swisscom launched the unique Unlimited Service in September 2004
Swisscom will launch Bluewin TV in 2006
– Acquisition of strategic shareholding in leading Swiss content provider
– Re-integration of the ISP, Bluewin, within Fixnet
Swisscom is a founding member of the FMCA
Swisscom offers 21 TV channels over UMTS via Vodafone Live! since September 2005
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Our definition of Fixed Mobile Convergence
Convergence is the digitized takeover of communications and information in a network and device agnostic manner producing new services
Network Convergence
Voice and Data Circuit-Packet
Service Convergence
Fixed-Mobile, One Bill Unified Channel, Bundled Services
Device Convergence
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In today’s implementations the degrees of convergence are not respected in the same way
Network
Service
Device
Still to come!!
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IMS could help Swisscom to face its challenges
IMS offers the technology allowing the transformation of a vertically structured company to a horizontally one
Loca
l
Lon
g d
ista
nce
Wir
ele
ss
Inte
rnet
IPTV
Vertical, Integrated Horizontal, Disaggregated
Content/Applications
Community Applications
Communication Services
Devices
IP Network
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A simplified overview of IMS –IMS is not just about IP…
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IMS challenges the Billing Architecture and Processes on many levels
Business View
Technology View
New AAA mechanisms * Diameter
New concept of a session * ICID/GCID * Bearer
New charging paradigm * Real-time everywhere?
FMCMultiparty business models
Content
IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)
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Diameter is a robust and flexible AAA protocol
Diameter Base Protocol can be enhanced for specific purpose (e.g. Diameter SIP, Diameter Credit Control)
The protocol supports Real-Time requirement (Ro interface)
Diameter’s command (AVP) can be made vendor specific. More than 500 of them already exists… (e.g. Offline: Accounting Request/Answer; Online: Credit Control Request/Answer)
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However can your organization or your infrastructure handle such a flexibility? Diameter is a young standard (specified in
2001)
Diameters requires a high expertise
Diameter based services are not yet widely developed in Telco’s environments
Questions are then:
– Does your mediation platform provide the necessary plugins? Does it allow you to process different CDR formats in a timely efficient manner?
– Does your charging platform manage the Ro interface?
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IMS revolutions the concept of a call session
A key aspect of IMS is that it allows service interaction in a single customer session.
The correlation of charging information for an IMS session is based on the use of IMS Charging Identifiers (ICID)
The first IMS network entity within the SIP signalling path is responsible for assigning an ICID
ICID then be passed along the whole SIP signalling path in an end-to-end manner
For the charging correlation between the PS domain and the IMS, one or more GPRS Charging IDs (GCID), which identify the PDP contexts of the session, are passed from the PS domain to the IMS (be transferred from the GGSN to the P-CSCF)
The GCIDs are passed by the P-CSCF to the S-CSCF and the AS using SIP signalling. Along with the ICID, the S-CSCF passes the GCIDs to online and offline charging functions
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IMS revolutions the concept of a call session
However on certain details the specifications are not always precise. Therefore it is not sure that the ICID/GCID features are well implemented.
Should this be a task for the mediation platform?
Furthermore even if QoS is well addressed by IMS. What happens when the customer roams between different bearers? Can the QoS be guaranteed when a customer is moving from a WLAN network to EDGE while watching a video stream? Is this our customer’s issue or ours? If ours, can we offer SLA-based billing?
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CCF
CGF
MRF
HSS
SIP ApplicationServers
BGFCGGSN
SGSN
ChargingGateway
I-CSCFS-CSCFP-CSCF
Rf
Ga
Billing System
Bi
Offline
IMS also defines charging mechanisms: Offline & Online Charging
Event Charging
Bearer Charging
MRF
HSS
SIP ApplicationServers
BGFC
GGSN
SGSN
OnlineChargingGateway
I-CSCFS-CSCFP-CSCF
Ro
CAP
Session Charging
CorrelationFunction
Account
Rating
ISC
Billing System
Online
Online: Charging information can affectin real-time the service rendered
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Our Marketing department favors the on-line approach
The traditional boundary between prepaid and postaid should vanish!
Prepaid Postpaid
Customized charging Online Balance Management
Itemized bills Specification of thresholds per account and/or per
service
Same service availability Differentiated alert management
Enhance sponsoring capabilities
Overall discounts
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However the commitment for a budget is hard to have and the technical departments are still fighting for which approach to choose
IN a
ppro
ach
IT a
ppro
ach
Network Department IT Department
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Can your infrastructure easily handle new contents?
IMS is designed to easily provide all sorts of content: Video streams; Gaming; Instant messaging; white board etc.
These topics are sold by the vendors since many years.
But how many Business Cases allowed to replace/update telco’s legacy environments?
Do your mediation platform, your rating engine allow a quick release of new content?
– Configuration/programming of new billable formats (e.g. lists)
– Flexible rating schemes
– New layout
– Flexible testing environment?
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IMS is an open platform allowing Third Party Content to be integrated Once IMS will be more widely implemented,
partnership will provide key market differentiator.
Big players are already here
IM and basic voice
Calender, address book
Web hosting
Photo album,Blogging
E-commerse, Job hunting
Games, news, stocks
Video streaming
voice, video
Address book
Web hosting
Photo album
Blogging
E-commerse
Games
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However how the operators prepared to handle these partnerships? Operators are still enjoying a dominant position
Can a Business Case be based on today’s revenue share agreements?
How well do you treat your partner?
– Are you transparent with him? Do you provide a real time assessment of your partners’ revenues?
– How well do you implement your revenue share? Is it based on statistics or on real usage?
– Are you willing to share the risks?
Are you considering Digital Right Management? Are Open Mobile Alliance DRM 1.0/2.0 the right solutions?
The SIMPAY initiative has been dismissed. Will we keep on imposing walled garden? Will M.I.A. create apostles?
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Fixed Mobile Convergence is probably the main driver behind IMS FMC doesn’t always mean one Bill. However the
examples are getting more and more numerous
We have to differentiate between two cases: an offline model and an online one
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In the offline model the point of convergence is key
Mediation
Billing
Rating
Fixed InternetMobileIP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)Some circuit SwitchedNEs might still be there…
? 1. Consolidation of print files
2. Adjunct Rater
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These cases proved to be quickly doable and relatively cheap
The main issues with these scenarios are:
– To find a common customer id
– To make sure that the Account Receivable files are right
– To give a consolidated view to customer care
However Telia Sonera proved that this was feasible in less than 6 months
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An online FMC architecture might prove more difficult to build
Mutual Integration +2-3YInternal Convergence
Back OfficeSystems & Processes
Front OfficeSystems & Processes
Data /Content
Customer
Back OfficeSystems & Processes
Front OfficeSystems & Processes
Data /Content
Back OfficeSystems & Processes
Front OfficeSystems & Processes
internetMobileFixed
Customer Customer
Prepaid Prepaid PrepaidPostpaid Postpaid Postpaid
Residentia
l
Residentia
l
Residentia
l
Corpora
te
Corpora
te
Corpora
te
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A typical environment nowadays
MSC
GGSN
HLR
SS7 INAP,CAMEL, MAP CDR
ServiceLogic/Control
Rating
Balance Management
Cust./ProdDB
IN Node
Bills &Invoices
Mediation
VF live!PWLAN VASi-Server
3rd Pty.Server
RatingCust./ProdDB
Payment Collection
IP Mediation(Service Logic)
Real-TimeData control
Real-TimeEvent control
Real-TimeWLAN control
Reload
XDR
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Afterwards an overall Session Control Layer should provide the true convergence
MSC
GGSN
HLRSS7 INAP,CAMEL, MAP
ServiceLogic/Control
Balance Management
IN NodeMediation
VF live!PWLAN VASi-Server
3rd Pty.Server
Middleware (EAI; SOA; PARLAY …)Cust./ProdDB
Payment Collection
Overall Session Management/Control(Service Logic)
Real-TimeData control
Real-TimeEvent control
Real-TimeWLAN control
Reload
XDR
InvoicingRating
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We specialise the environments by factorising common functionalities
MSC
GGSN
HLRSS7 INAP,CAMEL, MAP
ServiceLogic/Control
Balance Management
IN NodeMediation
VF live!PWLAN VASi-Server
3rd Pty.Server
Middleware (EAI; SOA; PARLAY …)Cust./ProdDB
Payment Collection
IP Mediation(Service Logic)
Real-TimeData control
Real-TimeEvent control
Real-TimeWLAN control
Reload
XDR
InvoicingRating
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At the end of the process a natural IMS implementation should have taken place
MSC
GGSN
HLRSS7 INAP,CAMEL, MAP
ServiceLogic/Control
Balance Management
IN NodeMediation
VF live!PWLAN VASi-Server
3rd Pty.Server
Middleware (EAI; SOA; PARLAY …)Cust./ProdDB
Payment Collection
Overall Session Management/Control(Service Logic)
Real-TimeData control
Real-TimeEvent control
Real-TimeWLAN control
Reload
XDR
InvoicingRating
CSCF/ event charging/
session charging/Bearer charging
HSS
HSS
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Pre- & postpaid convergence would be then an enabler of a “mutual integration” approach
InternetMobileFixed
Convergent Billing
Convergent Rating & Discounting
Rating & Discounting
Rating & Discounting
Rating & Discounting
AAA SCM BM AAA SCM BM AAA SCM BM
OSA Parlay,Jainslee,Web Services,XML, …
OSA Parlay,Jainslee,Web Services,XML, …
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Conclusions
IMS offers tremendous opportunities to Telecom Operators
However it might challenge your Billing Organization & Infrastructure
– Know-how should be assessed
– Real-time requirement should be assessed. In this latter case a thorough Business Case should be conducted:
– Which approach should be chosen?
– OPEX should particularly be proven
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Thanks for your attention...Any Question?
For additional information
– about Swisscom: visit www.swisscom.com
– e-mail to: [email protected]
– Swisscom Innovations,INO-SSM,
Ostermundigenstrasse 93,3050 Bern,Switzerland
Phone: +41 79 278 97 73
