We are already pretty familiar with the leading market opportunities: VoLTE, 5G, and IoT roaming. But is that all there is to it? Operators face increased pressure on margins. This explains investment (and expectation) in these three opportunities. However, operators cannot afford to wait until these opportunities come to full fruition in the market. In our second blog post on Steering of Roaming (SoR), we take a look at the quick wins that can improve wholesale business performance – Right here. Right now.
To deliver quick results, roaming managers face two main challenges:
- Quickly implementing changes in a dynamic environment
- Gaining control on the data granularity.
Let’s look further at these two challenges.
- Time Is Money
In the context of SoR, this means that the longer it takes to execute a change, the higher the cost is. Cost is painful! Based on TOMIA’s research, the average cost due to long reaction time can reach $380K annually (for a tier-1 operator).
There are plenty of cases where one needs instant steering changes: such as when applying deals with new conditions and rates, when commitments have already been achieved, or to reach a specific commitment faster. Instant steering means triggering immediate traffic redistribution from devices in roaming to optimize costs.
Sophisticated systems offer steering recommendations, and their execution also needs to be executed fast. These automated recommendations are based on traffic forecasts and agreement performance. They are extremely valuable as they help manage complex group commitments. They also reduce substantial manual effort in translating commercial targets into technical configurations. With Steering on Demand, operators can apply smart recommendations in a matter of seconds.
- Beyond the Needle in the Haystack
Operators are moving from ‘one-size-fits-all’ to individual agreements that address specific enterprise needs. In addition, with so many offerings targeting multiple consumer segments, it’s becoming imperative to move from a “partner-level” to “subscriber-level” control. By zooming in to the subscriber-level, roaming managers can define network policies for specific segments without affecting other segments. This allows more flexibility and cost savings.
As operators expand their VoLTE roaming footprint, they need the flexibility to handle exception cases. They will face situations where roamers are latched onto LTE-only networks, but with no ability to use voice services. This happens, for example, when subscribers do not have VoLTE roaming enabled on their handsets, or when VoLTE-enabled devices are registered on networks where VoLTE service is not yet enabled. Operators cannot identify these scenarios manually – it’s too much of a hassle. They require automated VoLTE detection capabilities to prevent the next customer complaint. Once such cases are identified, they can either notify the subscriber with instructions on how to activate VoLTE roaming or apply Steering on Demand to move them to another network where the voice service will be available.
Steering on Demand is also useful to ensure that VoLTE-capable devices are attached to preferred LTE networks. The cost for a CS (Circuit-Switch) voice call is 5x more expensive than a VoLTE call. It fixes leakages by moving an entire segment away from more expensive networks.
To learn more about Steering on Demand, VoLTE detection, and subscriber-level control or to request a live demo, please get in touch via: marketing@tomiaglobal.com
