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Features Telecom Services

OSS/BSS: Choice Is Yours...

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VoicenData Bureau
New Update

The Indian telecom market is in its growth phase, despite

recent regulatory issues. With the new minister expected to deliver on removing

the bottlenecks by the second quarter of 2003-04, action is likely to begin

again on implementation of growth strategies by different operators, both mobile

and fixed line.

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However, the factors that will drive the market and the way

business will be done will be extremely difficult. The major qualitative changes

that the market will encounter are as follows:

n Second

Round of Growth: Free incoming regime will mean new entrants. Most of the

new users will join as prepaid users. That will see an explosion in prepaid

subscriber base. So far, the operators have not started new marketing campaigns

targeting new users. Once the regulatory pressures are off and the tariff regime

becomes clearer, they will market it to new users.

n Network

Quality Will Be Marketed: In mobile, airtime rates have fallen to all-time

lows. These are probably the lowest rates anywhere in the world. This will not

only grow the subscriber base, but also see a spurt in airtime usage. That will

lead to more pressure on the networks and quality will be an issue. Operators

will not only have to work on this, but also market network quality. To some

extent, companies like AirTel have already started doing that.

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n SMS

Applications Will Be Key Differentiators: For GSM operators, SMS, that has

already become popular, will continue to drive up ARPU. Peer-to-peer SMS will

grow on its own in terms of number of SMS sent per day. However, operators have

to create premium content and look at contests and promotions. That will see SMS

becoming a strategic tool.

n Multimedia

Applications Will Grow: With Reliance taking pioneering steps, both CDMA and

GSM operators will focus a lot more on games/video and other such multimedia

applications. That will change the way the telecom service is positioned today.

All this will have a direct impact on the billing and OSS

strategies of operators. While broadly, content billing will grow as an area, a

lot more focus will be on service activation and service monitoring, while the

initial planning for network optimization/operations optimization will begin.

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Billing:

What to Look For While Buying?
PARAMETERS COMMENT
SERVICES Give equal,

may be more importance to the services while deciding on a product. Even

if the product is good on features, if they are not properly implemented

for you wither by the vendor or its partner, you may not be able to take

the full advantage.
PARTNERSHIPS With which

integrators does the company work globally? This means that even if at a

later date you go for new systems, like say CRM, you have a wide choice to

choose from integrators which can smoothly integrate a CRM with the

billing system. Similarly, if the consultants that you plan to employ for

process development, know the system, it is always an added advantage.
SUPPORT Does the

company have adequate support facility in India? What does he promise?
UPGRADEABILITY This is

different from scalability. As investment protection today is a major

worry for you, you do not want that to again be an issue. Do you? So is

the billing system easily upgradable to take care of new services without

affecting your processes?
MIGRATION

PATH		 What

is the future plan? Is the company working on the next version? What new

features will the next version include? Are those the ones you are likely

to need?
CONVERGENT Does the

company has three products for three services or just one platform?

Important if you plan to provide multiple services?
CONTENT/DATA

CAPABLE		 You

may not be doing that today. But sooner than latter, you will have to

charge for content/application in some form or other. So is the product

ready. Do not ignore this parameter.
RELIABILITY Well, you

can test for new products. For old products and/or companies, reference

sites is what matters.

Where Are the Gaps?



Broadly speaking, there are only a few gaps, but they are so crucial that

they impact not only the overall output of the systems but also the entire

business process.

n OSS

and BSS Remain Distinct Functions: The biggest gap is that OSS strategies

and BSS strategies are on their own distinct paths and there is very little

integration between the two. Let us consider two examples to see how the OSS/BSS

integration will bring value to the users. First a mobile operator who provides

a content service, say where consumers can send an SMS to get

scores. Today, not many operators can boast of a reverse credit when the SMS

request does not get fulfilled. Typically, a true OSS/BSS integration would

provide information on the service request that could not be fulfilled and

accordingly reward the user for non-performance. On fixed line services, a VPN

service taken from a service provider never gets the due credit, as there is

seldom a sure-shot way in which an operator can prove/disprove service

availability. Most operator SLAs are yet to conclusively cover this area.

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n Too

Much Dependence on Vendors: Yet another short-term approach, it not only

makes the whole thing expensive, but also prevents operators from getting an

independent perspective so as to see the future problems. This, despite the fact

that India is home to some of the best system integrators in the world, like

Wipro, Infosys, Satyam, and TCS. BSNL, with its CDR-based billing project, has

taken a step in working with SIs. Private operators have to do it sooner or

later.

n Postpaid

Billing Migration for GSM Operators Is Complete, but Issues Remain: Most of

the mobile operators have changed their billing systems and have standardized on

one vendor. But in most cases, they have gone for the history of the vendor–or

simply the number of years behind him–than the actual product quality and

support capability. While this does not suggest that all the older vendors

should be shunned, many CIOs ‘confess’ that day-to-day issues are so much

that none has any time left to do long-term planning. So most of them have gone

for a reliable name and promise for a smooth migration, rather than flexibility

and how future-proof the system is. This means ‘postponing’ the problem,

rather than ‘solving’ it. While this year may be smooth, expect nightmares

again in 2004.

n Prepaid

is Still Neglected: While most operators have changed their postpaid billing

system, there is still no major decision on prepaid. Partly because prepaid

users are not the priority customers for operators (despite their large number)

and partly because CIOs are not too familiar with the existing prepaid system.

Many others are waiting for a true prepaid-postpaid convergence, which remains

elusive. And till that happens, they are not doing anything to standardize on

customer care and a common database.

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n CDMA

Operators Haven’t yet Launched Prepaid: CDMA operators, who are banking on

its affordability have also not done anything on prepaid. This is surprising

considering the fact that almost the entire low-end price-conscious market in

GSM is prepaid.

n SMS

Is not Getting the Attention It Deserves: While most of the operators do

acknowledge the criticality of SMS to their businesses, none of them have a way

of charging for SMS other than a flat rate. As content becomes more prevalent

and enterprises look at using SMS for their B2C, B2B, and B2E applications, not

only will the SMS system have to be reliable, functionalities such as billing

for premium content, reverse credit, and reverse billing will have to be

incorporated.

n BSNL

and MTNL are Treating Services Differently: BSNL and MTNL, which provide

wireline, CDMA wireless and GSM wireless have treated these services as

independent services. They are not leveraging their existing subscriber base and

hence not utilizing their inherent strength to tackle competition. Imagine a

BSNL user getting a single bill for all his usage of GSM and wireline with

incentives on large usage. Such moves will give BSNL a huge advantage over

mobile operators.

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n Mediation

Is Still an Afterthought: For Indian operators, who decided the importance

of a system based on how much it cost, mediation was something that did not need

a rethinking. For most of them, it was the billing vendor that provided

mediation and provisioning. A mediation system can actually tell an operator

whether he is going to make or lose money by introducing a service, especially

if the operator actually goes for value-based charging from time/data size-based

charging. As Indian operators go for differential price-based services like GPRS,

a good mediation system is a must.

Tips

So, what do service providers focus on? Experts give some food for thought.

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n Streamline

Processes: The main reason behind numerous billing complaints that operators

encounter everyday–many of which charge them of being unscrupulous–is not

that the billing systems do not have the capability to provide those basic

functionalities. Neither it is any faulty implementation of the billing or

customer-care system. In seven out of 10 cases, they are related to incorrect

processes. Take for example, the case of a mobile user in Delhi. He did not

receive his bills for four months. He could not even get outstanding amount for

the first month, and when he asked, he was given a consolidated amount with no

monthly bill break-ups. What is more, when he paid up, even after three weeks of

the money being deducted from his account, he could not get a confirmation. Do

you believe it’s the fault of a billing system?

This is an example of customer dissatisfaction. There can be

revenue leakage, churn, and even fraud when processes are not in place. This,

according to experts, is the highest priority area.



Migration Challenges

The

billing migration task is indeed a complex exercise. Some of the major

challenges that operators face are as follows.

l Data

migration: Migrating huge billing data itself is a complex exercise,

as any IT manager involved with large migration projects would know.

l Functionality

mapping and gap analysis: Not any two the billing systems do the same

thing in same way. There are always slight variations between the system’s

functionalities. Most of the services that are based on the older billing

system have to be exactly offered in the same way in the new billing

system. Else, there will be customer dissatisfaction, confusion or revenue

leakage or both.

l Third-party

application migration: The older billing systems, at the time when

they get replaced, consist of not just the core billing system but also

third party applications. They need to be migrated to the new system so

that there is no gap with the earlier functionalities and billing

capabilities. The challenge becomes much more complex when a group has

five different operations in five circles and all operators have different

third party applications. The deployed core billing systems are a handful

in the market. The third party applications could be numerous. That adds

to the complexity.

l It

is real time: The times, however, do not stand still while an operator

is migrating the billing system. Especially in a fast evolving market like

India. So the operator not only will have to tackle the issue of

continuity of business, in some cases, it has to quickly respond to market

changes even while the migration is on. For example, while Orange in

Mumbai was changing its billing system, AirTel launched its service,

introducing some new rate plans. Orange had no option but to respond. No

CMO would take no for an answer from the CIO at a time when the market

demands a change.

l Processes:

The smoothness of migration depends on the internal processes. No

matter, how good the system is, a smooth migration is not possible, unless

internal processes are correct.

l Lack

of professional integrators: Unlike most markets, Indian service

providers have not worked with integrators that would have taken a lot of

burden from their shoulders. Ironic, considering the fact that India is

known for its software services skills globally and some of the Indian

software giants have huge global experience in telecom practice. In many

markets, the vendor does not even get involved in the project. It is the

integrators who front-end and ensure the smoothness of migration. A good

professional integrator reduces the complexity, uncertainty, and duration

of migration. Lack of an integrator has added to the migration woes of the

operators.

n Don’t

Get Married to a Vendor: While turning vendor relationships into long-term

partnerships is a good practice, an operator cannot afford to be dogmatic about

it, especially when the vendor does not have some capability. If a vendor is not

able to offer something, it is time to look beyond. This does not necessarily

mean that one has to sever the relationship but merely look outside for

solutions. That leads to the next point.

n Be

Comfortable with Add-ons: You cannot change your billing system everyday.

But you have to keep pace with the changing demands of the market. This means

that if the vendor is incapable of providing something when the market demands,

an operator can look outside (for small application developers that are in

plenty in India) for point applications, that would run with the core billing

systems. Many Indian operators have already done that but are still not

comfortable with the idea. The problem: managing multiple relationships and lack

of accountability if the systems are not functioning properly together. What is

the solution? Over to the next point.

n Work

with Independent Professional Services Companies: Once an independent

professional services company takes charge of the billing system management, it

is his responsibility to ensure that you get what you want as and when you do,

and without any major hitches. This also means that you will not remain hooked

to your vendor and he cannot blackmail you.

n Prepare

for Outsourcing: Working with professional services companies could be the

first step toward being comfortable with ‘outsourcing’. The way this

business is moving, you will have to do it sooner than latter. And why not? When

India is betting big on doing BPO for the entire world, why can’t we do that

within India?

Prepaid-postpaid Convergence: Whose Purpose will it serve?

Like many markets, and unlike many others, India has chosen the prepaid path. Today, there is not an iota of doubt in anyone’s mind that only prepaid can grow the mobile penetration in the country to a significant level. Different estimates project it will stabilize at anywhere between 60 to 75 percent of the total mobile user base.It means prepaid has become the core business of mobile operators. Operators now have to face two realities. One, prepaid users have to be treated at par with the postpaid users. Two, at the same time, efforts have to be made to steadily (even if slowly) take up the prepaid ARPU level over the next few years.

So far, the operators had two options regarding offering services to prepaid users. One was to deny services, where authentication is difficult (mostly data services), to them. The other was to provide those services, but remain prepared for compromising on real time authentication, and thus leaving scope for revenue leakage.

Today, the CEOs have realized that denying services to 70 percent of users mean losing out on huge amount of revenues. The ARPU-starved operators certainly cannot afford that. So the new directive to the CIOs: "do something about it.". What goes unsaid is of course, "without significant revenue leakage."

That is a tough task for someone who till yesterday never seriously bothered about prepaid. Traditionally, prepaid has been part of IN and so has been the responsibility of the network head.

Quite naturally, the CIOs have turned to the people that they are most familiar with–the postpaid vendors.This is the first and non-contentious part of the story.

The next part is more interesting, which postpaid vendors term as a deliberate conspiracy theory.

And here it goes. Already worried about the loss of licensing revenue once the postpaid user base stops growing, the postpaid vendors realize it is their last chance to hold the empire from falling. So globally, especially in Europe and Asia, campaigns begin to bring the prepaid to the postpaid fold.

So the issue–a more flexible billing mechanism for prepaid users–gets redefined to what is arguably the biggest OSS market hype in recent times: prepaid-postpaid convergence. An extra item gets added to the billing wish-list of the mobile operators. Today, prepaid-postpaid convergence is the biggest talking point in industry. What do you think about it?

While full billing outsourcing may take some time, one could

start with facilities management.

n Time

to Invest in aCRM: With competition becoming intense, analysis of

information to help take service creation and marketing decisions is something

that operators need to invest in this year.

n Prepaid

Issues Are Waiting to Explode: Be more proactive. Observers believe that

Indian operators have not given enough attention to prepaid billing systems. The

IN billing systems are not best for taking care of all future requirements and

the converged prepaid-postpaid billing systems that many CIOs are waiting for,

may not become a reality anytime soon. The operators, therefore, need to have

their act in place in terms of prepaid billing systems.

n Treat

OSS as a Strategic Tool: This is more discussed than practiced. With intense

competition on the tariff front, operators are likely to continuously create

niche segments and try to address them over a period of time, thus establishing

a position for themselves. This means that new products–whether voice-based or

more importantly SMS/data-based–would have to be created on a weekly, if not a

daily basis. In other words, billing has to be treated as a strategic as well as

a tactical tool, and not as a back-office function.

EXPERTS

PANEL

Ashwani

Vaccher, Chief Solutions Architect, Portal Software
Bithin

Talukdar, Market Development & Alliance Manager, Software Global

Business Unit,
Hewlett

Packard India
Anu

Bajpai, Head Convergence Software, Escosoft

Who’s Who: Vendors

l Agilent



Product Portfolio: Fault Mgmt., Service Mgmt.,

Performance Mgmt.



Website: www.agilent.com/comms/oss

l Bharti

Telesoft



Product Portfolio: Billing and customer care,

switching and network management



Deployments in India: Bharti Cellular



Website: www.bhartitelesoft.com

l BrainRoots



Product Portfolio: Convergent Billing



Website: www.brainroots.com

l CinShyam



Product Portfolio: Inter-carrier settlement

solution, OSS, CRM, Call management and service provisioning system, IVR,

Prepaid system



Deployments in India: Shyam Telelink (Billing),

Heaxcomm, Hutchison (Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Karnataka) (Interconnect

billing)



Website: www.cinshyamindia.com

l Comptel



Product Portfolio: Mediation & provisioning

(global leader), other OSS/BSS products



Deployments in India: Bharti Telenet (all

circles), Tata Teleservices (all circles), Idea Cellular (all circles),



Website: www.comptel.com

l Comverse

Network Systems



Product Portfolio: Prepaid billing



Deployments in India: Bharti prepaid (Andhra

Pradesh, Kolkata, and Chennai), Reliance Infocom (CDMA)



Website: www.comverse.com

l Convergys

Corporation



Product Portfolio: Billing for wireless, xSPs,

broadband, application suite, IP suite, settlement suite, mediation manager,

activation manager



Website: www.convergys.com

l CSG

Systems



Product Portfolio: Full suite of billing and

related applications for Wireline, Wireless (prepaid and postpaid), broadband,

IP services; mediation



Deployments in India: Bharti Cellular (all

circles), BSNL (all zones), Tata Teleservices (all circles)



Website: www.csgsystems.com

l Digiquant



Product Portfolio: A convergent billing

platform



Deployments in India: Web based Customer Care

module at Jaipur for a European ISP



Website: www.digiquant.com

l Escosoft



Product Portfolio: CRM, billing



Deployment in India: Escotel



Website: www.escosoft-tech.com

l Eftia



Product Portfolio: Integrated OSS suite for

service order management, circuit and asset inventory mgmt., number mgmt., and

trouble mgmt.



Website: www.eftia.com

l Hewlett-Packard

India



Product Portfolio: OSS Suite, mediation



Website: www.hp.com/go/telecom

l Hughes

Software Systems



Product Portfolio: Mediation product and

integration services



Deployments in India: Bharti Cellular, Escotel,

Hughes Tele.com, HFCL Infotel, BSNL (South)



Website: www.hssworld.com

l Infozech

Software



Product Portfolio: Customer Care and Billing

and Settlement solutions



Website: www.infozech.com

l Intec

Telecom Systems



Product Portfolio: Inter-carrier billing and

mediation



Deployments in India: Bharti Telesonic, VSNL,

BSNL



Website: www.intec-telecom-systems.com

l Lifetree

Convergence Ltd.



Product Portfolio: Retail billing, OSS, web

self-care, content settlement, EBPP, customer care,



Deployments in India: Spice (Karnataka &

Punjab)



Website: www.lifetreeindia.com

l Portal

Software



Product Portfolio: Billing and mediation



Deployment in India: VSNL, HCL infinity,

British gas, Global (ISP), Data Access (both voice and data)



Website: www.portal.com

l Protek



Product Portfolio: Full suite of billing

applications



Website: www.protek.com

l SchlumbergerSema



Product Portfolio: Billing and customer care,

messaging



Deployments in India: Hutch and Idea are

standardized on Sema (all circles), BPL (all circles), RPG Cellular (Chennai),

Escotel (all circles)



Website: www.slb.com

l Siemens

Information Systems Ltd



Product Portfolio: Prepaid and postpaid

billing, mediation, prepaid management



Deployments in India: Prepaid and postpaid

billing for Reliance Telecom GSM operations (Eastern India),



Website: www.sislindia.com

l Subex

Systems



Product Portfolio: Design, development,

implementation and support of Revenue Maximization



Website: www.subexgroup.com

l Suntec



Product Portfolio: Billing, customer care and

e-commerce transaction management solutions



Deployments in India: BSNL, HFCL Infotel (CDMA

Network), I-Serve



Website: www.suntecgroup.com

l Tata

Consultancy Services



Product Portfolio: In the areas of customer

care & billing, mediation & provisioning, interconnect accounting

system, CRM, datawarehouse and business intelligence, ERP, integration based on

an EAI framework and e/m-commerce solutions



Worked in India with: Bharti group, Idea

Cellular, Tata Teleservices and MTNL



Website: www.tcs.com

l TCIL-Bellsouth



Product Portfolio: Software solutions and

services including project consultancy, offshore/onsite design and development

of OSS, training and turnkey project implementation



Deployments in India: BSNL



Website: www.tbladm.com

l Ushacomm



Product Portfolio: Service management, business

intelligence, convergent mediation, Billing and Customer Care



Deployments in India: Aircel



Website: www.ushacomm.com



Billing & Mediation Who is using what

Billing

& Mediation Who is using what
SERVICE

PROVIDER		 COMMENT POSTPAID-PRESENT POSTPAID-PAST MEDIATION

& PROVISIONING		 PREPAID

(PRESENT)
MOBILE
Bharti Group (15

circles/metros)		 Centralized CSG

Systems (Arbor)		 HSS
Delhi Sema

(CABS 2000)		 Ericsson IN
Karnataka Sema

(BSCS)		 NA
Andhra

Pradesh		 Sema

(BSCS)		 Comverse
Kolkata Wipro,

LHS* (BSCS)		 Comverse
Himachal

Pradesh		 Ushacomm,

Lifetree		 NA
Chennai Sema

(CABS 2000), Ushacomm		 Comverse
Punjab,

Mumbai, Kerala, Maharashtra,		 New

circles
Tamil

Nadu, Gujarat, Haryana,
MP,

UP (West)
Hutch Group (7 circles/metro) Standardized

on SchlumbergerSema (BSCS)
Hutch-Delhi Will shift to

SchlumbergerSema (BSCS)		 CSC Intellicon (ISIS) No change in the past Wipro Siemens IN
Orange-Mumbai SchlumbergerSema (BSCS) Sema (CABS 2000) Wipro Ericsson-IN
Command-Kolkata Will shift to

SchlumbergerSema (BSCS)		 Ushacomm (Unicom) Kingston SCL (Jupiter) Wipro NA
Hutch-Gujarat Centralized

from Gujarat for		 SchlumbergerSema (BSCS) Earlier Version of BSCS In-house, replacing Comverse
Hutch-AP,

Karnataka, Chennai		 SchlumbergerSema (BSCS) New

circle		 Ericsson-IN
SchlumbergerSema (BSCS) New

circle		 Ericsson-IN
aa SchlumbergerSema (BSCS) New

circle		 Ericsson-IN
Idea Cellular Standardized

on SchlumbergerSema (BSCS)
Andhra

Pradesh		 SchlumbergerSema (BSCS) CSG Systems (Arbor) &

Kingston SCL (Jupiter)		 Comptel Nokia IN
Delhi SchlumbergerSema (BSCS) New circle Comptel Nokia IN
Maharashtra SchlumbergerSema (BSCS) Sema (CABS2000) Comptel Ericsson IN
Gujarat SchlumbergerSema (BSCS) Sema (CABS2000) Comptel Ericsson IN
Madhya

Pradesh		 SchlumbergerSema (BSCS) No change Comptel Ericsson IN
aa
BPL

Mobile-Mumbai		 SchlumbergerSema (BSCS) No change SchlumbergerSema

(provisioning only)		 Siemens IN
BPL

Cellular
Tamil Nadu Decentralized SchlumbergerSema (BSCS) No change SchlumbergerSema

(provisioning only)		 Siemens IN
Kerala SchlumbergerSema (BSCS) No change SchlumbergerSema

(provisioning only)		 Siemens IN
Maharashtra SchlumbergerSema (BSCS) No change SchlumbergerSema

(provisioning only)		 Siemens IN
Escotel aa
Kerala SchlumbergerSema (CABS 2000) No change Hughes Software, Shortlisted

Comptel, Wipro, Ushacomm		 Lucent IN
UP

(West)		 SchlumbergerSema (CABS 2000) No change Hughes Software, Shortlisted

Comptel, Wipro, Ushacomm		 Lucent IN
Haryana SchlumbergerSema (CABS 2000) No change Hughes Software, Shortlisted

Comptel, Wipro, Ushacomm		 Lucent IN
Punjab Undecided New Circle Undecided Undecided
Rajasthan Undecided New Circle Undecided Undecided
UP (East) Undecided New Circle Undecided Undecided
Himachal Undecided New Circle Undecided Undecided
MTNL Changing

the system and has shortlisted		 EHPT (Progressor) No change in the past EHPT Lucent IN
SchlumbergerSema

and CSG
BSNL
BSNL-North CSG Systems (Arbor) New

operation		 Ericsson-IN
BSNL-South CSG Systems (Arbor) New operation Hughes Software Systems Siemens-IN
BSNL-East   CSG Systems (Arbor) New

operation		   Ericsson-IN
BSNL-West CSG Systems (Arbor) New operation CSG Lucent-IN
Reliance

Telecom (8 circles/metros)		   SISL (GABS) Siemens

Nixdorf (INTEBIS)		   SISL (GABS)
Spice

(2 circles)		 Lifetree In-house Logica-IN
Aircel-Tamil

Nadu		 Ushacomm (Unicorn) No

change in the past		 NA
RPG

Cellular Chennai		 SchlumbergerSema (BSCS) No

change		 Ericsson-IN
Hexacomm-Rajasthan
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