There is fierce competition for market share in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, and an operator’s only new subscribers are the competitors’ subscribers.  Lowering prices in voice services is one obvious way to win market share, but negatively impacts ARPU, increases churn and is destructive to long term value.  The more sustainable alternative is to offer new value-added services to increase ARPU while simultaneously reducing CAPEX/OPEX. 

This simple concept of introducing new ARPU-rich applications has been embraced by management at most operators in Asia and has trickled-down to the network planning level and is being pushed by marketing departments.  Yet, while new network-based technologies are planned, procured and implemented, not enough attention is paid to how charging and billing systems will also have to be changed to fully capture the value of these new technologies.  After all, if the operator cannot properly rate, charge and monetize for new value-added services, then what is the point of investing in these new technologies? 

Asia - A More Complex World Today

With mobile penetration rates as high as 105% in Taiwan and  80%-95% of subscribers are postpaid in North Asia, it is not about reaching out to a new subscriber segment that is driving the need for real-time charging in this region, but it is the ever-growing complexity of business needs, the roll-out of new services and applications and the effective management of the growing revenue significance of on-net and off-net content providers.  Throw-into the mix: 3G networks, IMS, fixed-line and fixed mobile convergence, and the result is major complexity driven by the network planning divisions within the operators that graft massive capacity and ultra-fast data networks onto legacy charging and billing systems only built to handle 2G billing needs. 

The need for a future-proof and unified charging platform able to address all access-technologies and seamlessly support the roll-out of new services is more important than ever.

Convergence – a Threat or an Opportunity?

When operators talk about convergence today, they are usually referring to the transformation of the core network to becoming IP-based and the distinction between traditional mobile and wireless IP access technologies like WiFi/WiBro/WiMAX are starting to blur.  In this context, new data-centric services hold great potential in increasing ARPU and creating differentiation, yet they also hold the threat of encroachment from IP-based service providers who have not had to invest billions in new networks, but can also offer compelling services. 

A new 3G handset can be a powerful revenue enabler for the mobile operator, but is also a window to allow new service providers such as Skype to erode value in core offerings. 

Equally dangerous is the emergence of traditional fixed-line service providers entering the mobile market.  For example, in the Japanese fixed-line market, service providers such as eAccess/eMobile and Softbank are already rolling-out hybrid IP-based (WiFi and WiMAX) and mobile networks; and Korean operator, Korea Telecom, is launching mobile WiBro. 

As mobile networks converge with the previously fixed-line IP world, the capability to flexibly control, manage, and rate and charge IP services in real-time becomes critical to monetizing value quickly.

If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them. . . What Real-Time Means

Data is an inherently different business than voice or messaging.  The huge success of SMS is not as easily repeatable in the data world for operators.  Though it seems that every vendor claims to have “real-time” offerings, there is a fundamental distinction between how Redknee delivers real-time charging and how others deliver it.

The vast majority of billing vendors began with traditional postpaid platforms that did not require real-time.  But today, most of these vendors have simply repurposed them to offer “real-time”.  Their offerings are based on the mediation of CDR’s on a hot-billing basis – or near “real-time”.  Because there is no industry standard definition of “real-time”, there is often confusion about what it really means.

Real-time rating and charging is the foundation of Redknee’s technology and has been since our inception.  In a data sense Redknee’s IP Rating & Charging Solution is based on packet-based inspection – and not CDR mediation.  IP Rating & Charging takes real-time packet information from network elements such as the GGSN/PDSN and Deep-Packet-Inspection (DPI) and performs rating and charging in real-time on a session-basis.  When deployed, Redknee’s solution captures the required information (e.g. media, volume, time, duration, event, etc.) and rates it in real-time and sends the rated CDR directly to the operator’s existing billing system. Operators are able to distinguish between different types of content and offer much more than flat rate plans such as personalized plans for different user groups (families, enterprise, residential, groups).

Without real-time rating and charging capabilities with deep packet inspection, operators are exposed to revenue leakage and are unable to capitalize on the total revenues that IP services bring.

From an IT perspective, this eliminates the need to perform complex correlation – no more painful and slow changes to the service logic in the mediation platform each time marketing has a new requirement.  New services are rolled-out, rated, charged and integrated with the existing billing system in days instead of months. 

IP Rating & Charging: Proven, Future-proof and Ready to Deploy

Redknee’s IP Rating & Charging Solution is widely deployed and currently monetizes over 100 million transactions every day in over six tier one operators around the world representing over 42 million subscribers handling 2G, 2.5G, 3G/UMTS and WiFi traffic.  Furthermore, Redknee’s IP Rating & Charging is standards-based and 3GPP/3GPP2 compliant (Rel-5, 6 and 7) and functions as the Online Charging System (OCS), so you can be sure that as your core network transitions into IMS and is supporting your future needs.

The current release of the solution is now generally available for operator deployment worldwide. To find out more about IP Rating & Charging from Redknee, download the solution bulletin or read the full news here.