Articles
Convergent Billing: The Future of Telecom Billing
by Kumud Dixit Seo ExpertThe rapid change in the telecom industry has seen the addition of new services
for improving the user experience. Operators across the world are
striving to match pace with emerging services and increasing the
number of subscribers.
It has become difficult for telcos to use the same old
traditional systems and keep up with the emerging requirements. The
conventional prepaid intelligent network (IN) systems along with post-paid
billing systems are looking like stumbling blocks for operators
to launch new services. In this difficult situation, the conception of a
convergent billing solution has come across as a breath of fresh air.
THE EMERGENCE OF CONVERGENT BILLING SOLUTION AND OCS
The convergent billing solution trounces barriers of rudimentary
vertical charging/billing systems and allows for combined online
charging for all services and customers. This further allows operators
to rapidly offer services and extend their customer base.
With passing time, operators have begun to reconstruct their
extant charging systems and are replacing it with the new and improved OCS(online charging system). At this present moment, for most
telcos the OCS has become the core of the convergent billing transformation.
CHALLENGES FACED BY TELCOS USING TRADITIONAL BILLING SYSTEMS
It is more than likely that many operators would have come
across such a situation as mentioned below:
The marketing team comes up with innovative promotional offers
that provide a sure shot way to win customers’ trust. However, the traditional
IN system is unable to match up to the requirements of this new strategy. The
telecom operator goes looking for the vendor of IN software
and asks him to make the necessary changes, so his IN system can serve out the
new plans for attracting customer.
The software vendor performs the task and makes the necessary
changes. But, by the time he delivers the new and improved solution, the window
of opportunity is gone. Your competitors who are using
state-of-the-art convergent billing solutions have exploited the situation to
its maximum and have made huge profits, but you are left with nothing to show
for your efforts.
Situations like the one mentioned above are all the more common
for telecom operators across the globe that still rely on erstwhile telecom
billing solutions. However, such challenges can be easily handled by
using the latest convergent billing solutions.
TRADITIONAL IN-BASED SYSTEMS DO NOT SUPPORTALL-SERVICE CHARGING
BUT CONVERGENT SOLUTION DOES
The introduction of IN came at a time when voice services were
the only focus of subscribers. So, when a new service is conceptualized, an IN
vendor normally adopt proprietary protocols in their extant billing systems,
without giving any attention to industry norms. When industry
specifications are not met, it becomes difficult for the IN to interconnect
with other systems. Hence, IN becomes a liability as it cannot be used for new
services easily.
Moreover, the burden on the telcos utilizing such obsolete IN
solution increases as it does not fulfill the operational requirements for the
combined online charging for all services. This hampers the growth of the
telecom operator and he loses out to competition. Hence, it has become
essential for telcos to be proactive in their thought process and understand
the situation thoroughly and come up with a modern convergent billing solution
that can address the requirements for both present and future.
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About Kumud Dixit 
Seo Expert
1,072 connections, 23 recommendations, 2,637 honor points.Joined APSense since, November 2nd, 2014, From Noida, India.
Created on Mar 27th 2019 09:27. Viewed 552 times.
