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policyPolicy and ChargingControl Solution Brie

BRIEF

Starent Networks oers a proven 3GPP Standards-based

end-to-end Policy and Charging Control (PCC) solution that

provides one o the lowest total cost o ownership on the

market today without compromising perormance or

unctionality. A total cost o ownership analysis conducted

by Network Strategy Partners showed that with Starents

integrated unctionality (Mobile Gateway, Deep Packet

Inspection, In-line Services), operators can realize operational

savings o 30-40% over leading competitor oerings with

multiple box solutions. They are able to rapidly deploy

services rom a wide variety o standard services or deploy

new services to improve the quality o experience or their

subscribers and oer new revenue generating services.

Operators also have the protection o a uture-proo solution

that supports both 2.5G and 3G solutions today with only a

sotware upgrade to 4G.

Are you looking or ways to increase customer satisaction and reducechurn? Would you like to quickly oer personalized services and other

new applications to your mobile subscribers? Do you need a way to contain

network costs as the data trafc increases? Can you rapidly create new services

to monetize the mobile broadband tidal wave?

To survive these tumultuous conditions and continue to

thrive in an evolving market, established operators must

reconsider how they manage network trafc, move beyond

at-rate service models to tiered and personalized services,

and reconsider what core revenue streams they count on.

Yankee Group, The Policy o ProtectingCustomer Experience, September 2009

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FunctionsThe Starent solution supports the three key capabilities

required or a Policy Charging Control Solution: Policy,Enorcement, and Charging.

Policy

Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF)

The Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) houses

the individual policies dening network, application, and

subscriber conditions that must be met in order to successully

deliver a service or maintain the QoS o a given service.

PCRF is standardized in 3GPP as part o the LTE solution.

Subscriber Profle Repository (SPR)

The Subscriber Prole Repository (SPR) is a logical entity that

may be a standalone database or integrated into an existing

subscriber database such as an HSS. I t includes inormation

such as entitlements, rate plans, etc.

Enorcement

Policy and Charging Enorcement Function (PCEF)

Enorcement is a critical component o a policy solution. The

Policy and Charging Enorcement Function (PCEF) is responsible

or enorcing policies with respect to authentication o

subscribers, authorization to access and services, and

accounting and mobility. Starent has embedded the PCEF

unctionality into its ST-Series multimedia core platorms.

Charging

Online and Oine Charging (OCS/OFCS)

The Online Charging Subsystem (OCS) provides online

(or real-time) credit control and quota management or

subscriber data sessions. Quota management may include

multiple data sessions whereby the balance manager

component o the OCS keeps track o the subscribers usage

and remaining quota balance. Online credit control may be

used to support policy enorcement or both pre-paid and

post-paid subscribers.

The Oine Charging Subsystem (OFCS) receives charging

data in the orm o Charging Data Records (CDRs) and

diameter accounting messages rom network elements

ater the subscriber incurs network resource usage. The

OFCS does not have an active, real-time role in the

processing o charging policies.

ServicesStarent oers PCC services that are grouped into three

main categories:

1. Resource Management

2. Service Personalization

3. New Revenue Creation

Resource Management

Bottom line is that operators need an improvement in the

quality o experience or their subscribers to improve

customer satisaction and reduce churn. Resource

management services assure the proper allocation o

network resources based on what the subscriber has

purchased and what the network can deliver.

Key Benefts:

Fair Usage:Track, monitor, and enorce compliance withusage and allowance caps to ensure air usage or all users.

Trac Optimization: Manage capacity growth coststhrough network-based trafc optimization. Real-time

adjustment o allowance caps based on application in use,

and network congestion levels. i.e. P2P detection with

QoS enorcement.

Page 2 Policy and Charging Control Solution Brief Starent Networks, Corp

The explosion o data trafc on the mobile operators network combined withdata revenue streams growing at a slower rate is causing signicant challenges

to operators. How can you improve the quality o experience or your

subscribers and at the same time keep your network costs rom

exploding due to the increase in data trafc?

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Time Based Dierential Charging: Help manage networkcongestion by potentially charging subscribers a

higher rate during peak hour network usage.

Personalization Services

Starents personalization services maximize the value o

network assets by oering services that meet the individual

needs o subscribers and providing them with administration

o those services.

Key Benefts:

Automated Usage Notifcations: Prevent bill shock andreduce subscriber churn by providing real-time notication

when subscribers are nearing/reaching their limit and oer

options to top-up or upgrade service. Subscribers will stillmaintain connectivity but bandwidth level can be throttled

down until top-up or upgrade occurs.

Tiered Services: Improve customer satisaction bypersonalizing service packages to individual usage

patterns, up-sell new oers based on the subscribers

behavior and prole. For example, oer a time-based

turbo service to a heavy video user.

Parental Control: Improve customer stickiness by oeringparental control capabilities like blacklisting particular

websites, control when a child can use their phone (or

example, no usage during school hours or late at night),

as well as control usage levels.

Roaming Management: Protect subscribers rom roamingshock by detecting when they are roaming outside their

network and provide automated notications alerting

them o service rates in the particular roaming area as well

as provide notication when they are nearing/reaching

their limit. Provide options or top-up.

New Revenue Creation

New revenue creation allows operators to take advantage

o the increase in data trafc and better align revenuecontributions with the expense o continually increasing the

capacity and tools needed to manage the network.

Key Benefts:

Turbo Service: Provide subscribers with option todynamically upgrade Quality o Service or a particular

period o time or application. I a subscriber is looking to

watch a 30 minute podcast, they can upgrade their service

or this duration.

Location Based Dierential Charging: Improve customerretention by oering lower service rates to subscribers

who use service when in the ofce or at home versus

land lines.

On Net Preerential Charging: Oer lower or zero servicerates to on net applications or websites versus o net

applications, improving customer traction with network

hosted applications.

Starent Networks, Corp. Policy and Charging Control Solution Brief Page 3

UE/MS RAN SGSN GGSN(PCEF)(CDF)

AF(P-CSCF)

SPRIMS-GWF

S-CSCF

OFCS PCRF OCS AoC

TS 32.280

Re

Rf Rx SpRo

ISC

Ro

Gx Gy

Ga

ISC

Gb

IuPSGn Gi

Um/Uu

Figure 23GPP Rel-8 ArchitectureFigure 13GPP Rel-7 Architecture

Gx

P-CSCF

H-PCRFV-PCRF

PGW(PCEF)

A-GW(BBERF)

SGW(BBERF)

GxbGxa

Gxc

S9 Rx

ePDG

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Copyright 2009 Starent Networks, Corp.

The material contained in this document is or inormational purposes only and is subject to change without notice. No part o this document may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, or

stored in a retrieval system in any orm or by any means without the written permission o Starent Networks, Corp. Starent and the Starent logo are registered trademarks o Starent Networks,

Corp. Starent, ST16 and ST40 are trademarks o Starent Networks, Corp. Any trademarks, trade names, service marks, or service names owned or registered by any other company and used in this

documentation are the property o their respective companies.

Starent Networks, Corp.

30 International Place

Tewksbury, MA 01876

T: +1-978-851-1100

F: +1-978-640-6825

www.starentnetworks.com

Page 4 Policy and Charging Control Solution Brief Starent Networks, Corp

Starent Networks maintains ofces and development centers around the world. For the latest contact inormation, please go to http://www.starentnetworks.com/en/about/global-presence/deault.cm

CONCLUSION

With mobile broadband roll outs, mobile operators recognize that bandwidth consumption is increasing much aster than

revenue. These challenges are driving the development and standardization o Policy and Charging Control solutions that assure

the proper allocation o network resources or the exact task based on what the subscriber has purchased and what the network

can deliver.

Starent oers a complete Policy and Charging Control solution based on the 3GPPs Policy and Charging Control (PCC) standard

(Rel-7 and Rel-8 compliant) enabling operators to realize real-time control o their network resources, control subscriber access to

services, and proactively optimize network capacity, while oering compelling new services and applications.