GPRS -> Challenges

GPRS call records are generated in the GPRS Service Nodes. The GGSN and SGSN may not be able to store charging information but this charging information needs to be processed. The incumbent billing systems are often not able to handle real time Call Detail Record flows. As such, an intermediary charging platform is a good idea to perform billing mediation by collecting the charging information from the GPRS nodes and preparing it for submission to the billing system. Packet counts are passed to a Charging Gateway that generates Call Detail Records that are sent to the billing system.

However, the crucial challenge of being able to bill for GPRS and therefore earn a return on investment in GPRS is simplified by the fact that the major GPRS infrastructure vendors all support charging functions as part of their GPRS solutions. Additionally, a wide range of other existing non-GSM packet data networks such as X.25 and Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) are in place along with associated billing systems.

It may well be the case that the cost of measuring packets is greater than their value. The implication is that there will NOT be a per packet charge since there may be too many packets to warrant counting and charging for. For example, a single traffic monitoring application can generate tens of thousands of packets per day. Thus the charging gateway function is more a policing function than a charging function since network operators are likely to tariff certain amounts of GPRS traffic at a flat rate and then need to monitor whether these allocations are far exceeded.

This is not to say that we will end up with the free Internet Service Provider model that has become established on the fixed Internet in which users pay no fixed monthly charge and network operators rely on advertising sales on mobile portal sites to make money. There is a premium for mobility and there is frankly a shortage of mobile bandwidth that limits the extent to which that bandwidth is viewed as a commodity. And given the additional customer care and billing complexity associated with mobile Internet and nonvoice services, network operators would be ill advised to reduce their prices in such a way as to devalue the perceived value of mobility.

Tariffing
Decisions on charging for GPRS by packet or simply a flat monthly fee are contentious but need to be made. Charging different packets at different rates can make things complicated for the user, whilst flat rates favour heavy users more than occasional ones.

We believe that the optimal GPRS pricing model will be based on two variables - time and packet. Network operators should levy a nominal per packet charge during peak times plus a flat rate, no per packet charge during non peak times. Time and packet related charging will encourage applications such as remote monitoring, meter reading and chat to use GPRS overnight when spare network capacity is available. Simultaneously, a nominal per packet charge during the day will help to allocate scarce radio resources and charge radio heavy applications such as file and image transfer more than applications with lower data intensity. It has the advantage that it will automatically adjust customer charging according to their application usage.

As such the optimal charging model could well be a flat rate charge during off-peak times along with a per packet charge during peak times.

Customer Service
Value-added network services such as mobile data, mobile Internet and unified messaging all generate certain specific customer problems and requirements, thereby requiring customer service personnel to be aware of these issues and know how to solve them.

Nonvoice services are surprisingly complex - involving unique configurations of phone types, data cards, handheld computers, subscriptions, operating systems, Internet service providers and so on. Some network operators require customers to opt into certain value added services rather than including them as part of the core subscription - necessitating a customer service process. It is even possible to write a 350 page book about the SHORT message service (it is called "YES2SMS")!

In theory, the need for dedicated customer service for Circuit Switched Data, SMS and other nonvoice mobile services will decrease in the future as terminals and services become easier to use and as the services themselves are used more widely for customer service purposes.

The reality in the short and medium term is that the need for customer support for value-added services will increase not decrease as awareness of services and their usage increases, and as new services and terminals come onto the marketplace.

Rather than keeping everything in-house or outsourcing everything, we are a proponent of an approach that keeps first line support and customer contact in-house, whilst outsourcing the difficult specific customer service problems arising from connectivity issues and so on. In this way, the network operator is aware of and in control of the kinds of questions and problems its customers are asking.

It is well worth incurring the cost to get the customer aware, educated and initially set up with data services, because, for example, once the PC data card has been successfully connected to the laptop to the Internet software and so on, the same configuration can be repeatedly used. The one-off customer requirement leads to ongoing usage.

Source Mobile Lifestreams