Smart Billing Helps Operators Maximize Revenues from Next-Gen Networks

As more advanced services become available on next-generation networks, innovative pricing and billing models are more effective than flat-rate plans to help operators maximize revenues and improve their subscribers' overall experience, according to a Comverse presentation for the upcoming CTIA Wireless 2009 conference.

"Legacy billing systems have forced operators into an ‘all-you-can-eat' trend rather than sophisticated pricing models and bundling, and operators are not extracting their networks' full value for themselves and their subscribers," said Gabriel Matsliach, General Manager of Billing and Active Customer Management at Comverse.

Operators also recognize this dilemma. According to a recent Yankee Group research report, in which Comverse received the top ranking among global Business Support System (BSS) providers, most operators believe the flat-rate business model is not sustainable when providing cutting edge, value-added services.

"To extract full network value, operators must have a sophisticated billing and customer management system that can support any charging model, including hybrid prepaid/postpaid models," Matsliach said. "These systems also make it easy to create and modify innovative bundles of services and get them to market quickly."

At CTIA Wireless 2009, Matsliach will address the critical need for "smart" billing within IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS), which are next-generation networks that enable operators to offer such rich communication services as converged messaging, visual voicemail, address book management, presence, and third-party applications, all of which potentially combined with residential and business voice, video and data.

By working with the Comverse ONE Billing and Active Customer Management solution, which supports any combination of services, networks and payment types through a single unified system, operators can find the best business model and then charge for the value perceived by subscribers. At the same time, the real-time marketing capabilities of the solution encourage more usage.

"Every subscription, every attribute, and every transaction is available in real-time throughout the system," Matsliach said. "With our single data model, operators get a true 360-degree view of the customer, which allows for the best customer management. A single system also increases efficiency and reduces costs for maintenance, hardware and training."

Matsliach will speak during the panel session, "IMS: An Acronym for the Future," on April 2, from 2:30 to 3:45 p.m.

Posted to the site on 31st March 2009