Challenge
With the imminent demise of several 2G and 3G networks, and the increased launch of LTE and VoLTE networks, the customer needed to upgrade its existing services to support mobile data technologies – both to remain compliant with welcome messaging regulations, and to ensure the continuity of voice services when roaming. This meant enhancing its Welcome SMS and Steering of Roaming platforms, which TOMIA has been providing to the customer since 2016.
The Customer’s existing implementation of these services supported legacy network technologies, however operators in some countries, such as the United States, were retiring their 2G and 3G provision. Existing subscribers could potentially experience a lower quality of service wherever older network technologies had become obsolete, while upgrading the steering capabilities would ensure a consistent and seamless user experience.
Without TOMIA’s support, the customer would not have been able to assure the same ‘home’ quality of user experience for its roaming subscribers.
Moreover, without the support of VoLTE – and in the absence of 2G/3G – a WSMS wouldn’t have been sent, which could lead to regulatory fines, complaints, billing disputes and, ultimately, churn. The voice services could also be interrupted, forcing subscribers to fall back on OTT solutions (such as WhatsApp and Messenger) which are beyond the operator’s control. Furthermore, business users are unlikely to use OTT for business calls, and the same goes for enterprise mobile applications that rely on telecom voice service.
Without a VoLTE roaming agreement in countries where the preferred network has shut down the 2G and 3G, the customer would have to steer its subscribers to a non-preferred network (for the same reasons as above), which would increase the roaming costs.
Solution
Our approach was to upgrade both the Sparx, Campaign management and IPN Steering of Roaming products, to support LTE and VoLTE service network technologies, respectively.
Both Sparx and IPN are software-based and cloud-hosted, so the enhancements needed no changes to the customer’s existing hardware. What’s more, being a cloud service, TOMIA’s operations team was able to provision the required changes far more quickly than any on-premises deployment. The network integration went fairly straightforward and according to the customer’s requirements.
We also provided the customer with an ‘Onboarding Service’, whereby we assisted in the configuration of a number of campaign messages alongside on-the-job training, to enable the customer to configure future VoLTE campaigns independently.
Although we draw on a common set of core technologies for most customers, and the real work lies in the integration, one feature that was important for the customer was the Sparx Insights dashboard. By also upgrading this, we gave them peace of mind from knowing they could continue monitoring and managing their services, including roaming subscribers on 4G, in a familiar way.
Result
The immediate benefit is that nothing bad will happen. Regulators won’t come knocking on the operator’s door to ask about the absence of Welcome SMS alerts, and subscribers won’t receive poorer service when roaming in countries with only LTE networks. Support of VoLTE means that the customer is now better placed than before to support 5G networks.
Another advantage is that the customer’s roaming team can align the company’s wholesale business strategy with the additional benefits that come with VoLTE technology. VoLTE calls are less expensive than Circuit-Switch (CS) voice calls, which means that by connecting outbound roamers to VoLTE networks, the customer will pay less to the roaming partner for every call made, improving margins. The IPN VoLTE upgrade allows IPN to also have the VoLTE cost-saving element become part of the steering decision criteria – i.e., intelligent network selection.
From an inbound roaming perspective, VoLTE roaming presents an opportunity to increase and protect roaming revenues: first, through new roaming agreements – e.g., with LTE-only networks; and second, by preventing the inbound roamer from being steered away to national competitors that also offer VoLTE.
For the customer, the ‘do nothing’ option would have brought future costs, of fines for failing to comply with Welcome SMS regulations, risk of being forced to steer roamers to non-preferred networks with higher wholesale prices, and reduced customer satisfaction from providing a sub-standard steering service.
So, with the upgrades in place, the customer’s roaming offering is ready for the foreseeable future. While further technologies may evolve, VoLTE support now means they’re ready to roam as networks around the world start moving toward 5G.
