The Prepaid Press - October 15, 2008 - (Page 12)

CALLING CARDS October 15 · 2008 - 12 The STaTe of PrePaid Technology by Ken Osowski Will the Coming Market Bring You Problems or Opportunities? With sector, regional and demographic market demands shifting and the global economy contracting, it’s clear that we are in increasingly uncertain times. For many prepaid services executives, staying afloat and on track revenuewise will demand far closer scrutiny than you may be accustomed to. Some of this month’s recommendations – delivered in the form of questions – may be familiar to prepaid service providers already accustomed to closely manthis may be the right time to expand with new routes and services, such as supporting multiple users per subscriber account. That’s another question that only you can really evaluate and answer. The question is raised both because service expansion may still make solid sense, and to remind you that now – more than ever before – it is critical that you proactively watch for potential demographics shifts in your target markets. How are you evaluating service delivery costs? The high entry point costs and rigid services of Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) are rapidly giving way to the industry’s migration to IP services. Whether you are taking a “cap and grow” approach, doing a full IP migration, entering the market economically via SIP trunking, or even wondering if you can stay put on your legacy infrastructure for a few more cycles, the fact is that you’re competing head to head with smart, hungry competitors–so buckle in. In some ways, ‘newbies’ have it easier. For the first time, new and potential prepaid service providers can enter the market and economically expand by taking advantage of the increasingly-pervasive IP infrastructure and the Service Initiation Protocol (SIP) services ecosystem. IP supports long-term service provider opportunities and business model flexibility in ways that were unimaginable only a year or two ago with traditional TDM networks. IP networking, and especially prepaid services based on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), are rewriting the economics of Prepaid services. SIP technologies have scaled and matured so much over the last few years that it now takes only nominal investments to enter the market with a solution that provides the maturity, service density and scale to run a business. Aside from capital outlays (for example, a single 1RU Linux box can typically support around 5 million minutes of prepaid a month), IP’s rating flexibility is compelling, and can significantly broaden your addressable market. As markets and usage patterns shift, the agility of an IP service delivery platform – along with the savvy to manage your business ‘hands on’ and continuously ask tough questions – can help you survive and even thrive in a downward trending economy. Ken Osowski is the VP of Marketing & Product Management at Pactolus Communications Software. He can be reached at keno@pactolus.com. For the first time, new and potential prepaid service providers can enter the market and economically expand by taking advantage of the increasingly-pervasive IP infrastructure and the Service Initiation Protocol (SIP) services ecosystem. aging their service demand and revenues. But they are important to keep in mind whether you are a veteran or ‘newbie.’ How is your existing subscriber base? Is it becoming less active? I appreciate that there is a fine line between being careful about monitoring demand and maybe getting just a little obsessed about it, but this cycle we’re entering is one where diligent pulse taking will be important, especially if you are targeting a creditchallenged or shifting demographic. Is it time to add some new service features? A good service solution lets prepaid service providers readily adapt and evolve their individual services and policies, with or without external assistance and delays, to continuously and more effectively optimize revenues. One fairly recent service feature that is worth considering is Credit Limit Monitoring (CLM), especially if you are operating on an IP service delivery platform. CLM affords new granularity to closely monitor and control the amount of credit extended to an individual customer at a provider-defined per-minute charge. CLM lets service providers supplement their prepaid per-minute charges with tightly-defined ‘value’ bundles of minutes that the subscriber then consumes. CLM can help convert incidental subscribers into loyal ones. What’s more, CLM services can be tied to home and ANI-based services, wireless phones, etc. and let you provide a middle-ground service for credit-challenged customers, defining softlimit thresholds, notifications and additional provider re-provisioning options. Are you feeling pressured to lower service rates or institute new ease of use features? If your Service Delivery Platform (SDP) allows you to do so on a no-cost or low-cost basis, SIP technologies have scaled and matured so much over the last few years that it now takes only nominal investments to enter the market… then with competition heating up, it is worth considering. And before you do expand your offerings, project and comparison-shop both the total and incremental wholesale capacity aggressively to see if your new services should be tied to older service contracts. Rates have changed, and wholesalers are worried too. Maybe you were thinking about extending your company’s network interconnects and IP service POPs to support new features. Does it still make sense to do so? Oddly enough, http://www.wcgltd.com http://www.wcgltd.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Prepaid Press - October 15, 2008

The Prepaid Press - October 15, 2008 Oblio Wins Judgment Mobile Remittance Providers Look to Latin America Contents The Retske Report: The Game Changer Regulatory Rundown: New Rules and Requirements Likely for 2009 5 Minutes With Saul Bienenfeld, President of Pop2Call Prepaid Wireless Roundup MetroPCS Sues Virgin Mobile Wireless in Brief Leap’s Cricket Service Introduces Cricket PAYGo Virgin Mobile USA to Launch the Shuttle New Study Shows Mobile Phones Merging Roles TracFone Launches SafeLink Wireless in FL IVI and Titan Sign Agreement with YA Global Boost Mobile Launches New Phone The State of Prepaid Technology: Will the Coming Market Bring You Problems or Opportunities? Calling Cards in Brief The Legal Line Tata Awarded Cisco Powered Status IDT Fails to Meet NYSE Listing Standards BillSoft Offers New Taxation Service Dialogic to Acquire NMS Platforms Business STi Acquires Sprint’s Calling Card Business TelcoBridges Introduces ToolPack System Manager Hypercom Increases Multilane Team Mobile Banking: CGAP Spurs Market Prepaid Resources Introduces PORTABLES Bancorp and Obopay Introduce Payment Card Verities, Inc. Partners with BBB and i2c Inc. The Bancorp Bank Partners with LeagueSafe Donor Dialogue Partners with Springbok Services Mercator Offers New Merchant Report Travelex Launches Budget Calculator MPOWER Companies Join Clinton Global Initiative Payments in Brief Promotions Evolve into Must-Have Marketing Strategy for Prepaid Sector Access Launches Cash-Back Rewards VendTek Partners with United Bank Card Flash Foods, Tedeschi Partner with Pinnacle Prepaid 101: Basics of PINs Gasoline Cards to Benefit Armed Forces, Veterans i2c Inc. Signs Agreement with Diestel iPayStation Partners with Pronto Envios Sodexo Releases Prepaid Incentive Card Heartland Leverages VeriFone Managed Services Retail Focus in Brief Our Advertisers Contact Us

The Prepaid Press - October 15, 2008

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